Someone once told me that trying to heat or cool your home without proper insulation is like running your a/c in the car with the windows down. Proper insulation is absolutely key to building an energy-efficient home. We have a third party perform Quality Insulation Installation inspection, or QII, to ensure that insulation touches all 6 sides of the interior walls and there are no gaps or indents.
QII improves Title 24 score and is required by both GreenPoint Rated and LEED. Those rating systems also give credit for recycled content and low emissions. The Owens Corning Propink EcoTouch Insulation (pictured to the right) has 47% post consumer and 18% post-industrial recycled content. As the names imply, post consumer material has been used and disposed of by consumers (such as glass or aluminum), and post-industrial is process-waste (like cuttings of jean material). This insulation is also is GreenGuard Certified, which ensures no formaldehyde and low emissions for better indoor air quality.
Another option is blown-in cellulose (pictured below), which is blown into the wall around pipes and electrical. After it’s blown in to the wall cavity it sticks out a bit and is sheared flush so that drywall can be placed over it. Because it fills all the nooks and crannies, there are no air pockets for heat to transfer through, leading to a high R-value and energy savings.
