Insulation

Basics

• The use of materials to prevent the passage/spread/leakage of heat
• Can improve efficiency
• Can allow for ulra low/ultra high temperatures

Common Materials

Fiberglass

• Sleeve, 1/2" I'd, 1/4 wall -[1]
• 1/4" ID, 9/32 wall - [2]

Rock Wool

• Higher temperature resistance than fiberglass.
• $2/sf, 1" thick - R4 - Roxul - [3]
• Menards R15 batts, $1/sf - [4]

Ceramic Fiber

• 1", $3/sf - [5]

Aramid

• Fabric made of synthetic fibers roughly similar to nylon
• 1/4 I'd, 1/16 wall - [6]

Foamed Plastic

• Polyurethane Spray foams etc
• Easy to apply
• Fills cracks well
• Hard to remove

Aerogel

• Essentially a jell with the liquid being replaced with a gas
• VERY insulating
• Can be complex to make depending on type + materials etc

Vacuum Panel

• Aerogel but with a vacuum (or at least with (heavily) reduced pressure) instead of a gas inside the gel
• The best insulator, but insulation degrades due to gas intrusion

Rechargable Vacuum Panel

• Rechargable Vacuum Panel
• Similar to the above Vacuum Panel, but it has ports and tubing to allow for it to be plumbed to a vacuum pump system to keep it's vacuum strong
• No longer loses vacuum with time
• Does require plumbing and a vacuum pump thus adding complexity (and a small occasional power draw for the vacuum pump motor however)

Ecologically Safe Options

Cellulose Insulation

• Typically mostly cellulose pump/batting from the paper and cloth industries
• Also can roughly include strategies like Hay Bale Insulation or hemp etc
• Additives can be added such as Fire Retardants , Binding Agents , anti bacterial/fungal etc
• Similar ease of installation to "blown fiberglass batting" and some foams (although it won't expand, and may in fact settle)

Bioplastic Based Foams

• Can be done, but requires full development of the more complex Bio-Petrochemistry (distillates and refining them into the polyurothane etc) and the required infastructure
• Thus unlikely near-term

Bioplastic Based (Rechargable?) Vacuum Panel Insulation

• Use bioplastic glazing ( PLA or Cellulose Acetate (latter one is quite flammible) )
• Is this viable?
• If so would be highly insulating, and unlikely to become a host to rodents/microbes
• Unsure on flammability

Carbon Foam Rigid Panel Insulation

• Carbon Foam being utilized in a similar manner to Plastic Foam Rigid Panel Insulation or Drywall (as insulation, not as a nail holding, paintable material etc)
• Can be made in a simple kiln with a mold, and some simple recipe?
• Should be quite straighforeward
• Also is relitively fireproof/resistant (see Carbon Foam )
• Also should be relitively resistant to insects/rodents
• Unsure on mold/microbes as it does have high surface area, but it isn't as "digestable" as cellulose etc?

"GreenCellFoam"

• Some OTS product; mainly marketed for packaging
• Secrative on what material
  • It is corn based, water soluable, and easily biodegradable (ie can be done in a simple backyard pile, not a proper Anerobic Digestion setup like PLA
  • Thus it may be some sort of starch/cellulose etc foam?
• Should be replicable, but in "in wall use" it shouldn't have too much of an advantage over regular cellulose batting, and thus isn't too relevant?

Simply Overbuilding

• IE very thick walls of CEBs or Concrete
• More resource and space intensive, but it "gets the job done"
• VERY simple compared to other methods
• Also no fire/insect/rodent/microbe risk (outside of if they can somehow get into CEBs (need to read up on this)

Internal Links

• Superinsulation

External Links

• Wikipedia List of All sorts of materials and their thermal properties (all in a easy to use graph)
• Survey paper on insulation (English in specific chapters) (Broken Link?)
• super insulation panel technology may offer a 90% savings on heating and cooling energy requirements