Will My Choice of Insulation Really Effect My Monthly Heating & Cooling Bills?
YES!
Different insulations are made from fundamentally different materials. Tests at Oak Ridge and Brookhaven National Laboratories and the University of Illinois reveal that insulations with the same laboratory R-values do not perform equally in real homes. Researchers found that the effective R-value of blown fiberglass plunges during cold weather, while the effective R-value of cellulose actually increases. The researchers also discovered that summer temperatures offer no relief for fiberglass, since its effective R-value withers then, too. Utility bills were 32% lower in the cellulose insulated building.
If you’re serious about saving money heating and cooling your home, about recycling and responsible use of resources, and about saving energy for our country the only insulation to seriously consider is cellulose.
Cellulose insulation is covered by the most comprehensive legal and voluntary standards of any insulation material. To be sold at all cellulose insulation must meet the requirements of the Consumer Product Safety Commission Safety Standard 16 CFR Part 1209. Most cellulose producers adhere to the much more stringent and comprehensive American Society for Testing and Materials Standard C-739 for loose-fill cellulose insulation and C-1149 for self-supporting spray-applied cellulose insulation. The Federal Trade Commission R-Value Rule applies to cellulose — as it does to all residential thermal insulation.
A number of qualified independent product testing laboratories have cellulose insulation certification programs to assure contractors and consumers that the material they buy and install meets or exceeds government and industry standards. The National Association of Home Builders National Research Center certifies the quality and performance of cellulose insulation. The labels of underwriters Laboratories, the United States Testing Company, or other NAVLAP-approved laboratories, or the seal of the NAHB National Research Center are reliable indicators of safe, effective cellulose insulation.
If you want insulation that is best for the nation, for the environment, and for your checkbook, choose CELLULOSE!
Scientists, engineers, and contractors have realized for many years that the most commonly-used building insulation materials are really not the best insulators. Now this “conventional wisdom” of energy conservation has been confirmed and quantified through scholarly research.