With the rapidly rising cost of energy, more people are becoming aware of the importance of insulating their homes and businesses to save money. There is growing awareness of the significant impact on the environment in selecting shredded recycled newsprint (cellulose fibre) for ceiling insulation. It will prevent up to up to 89% of the heat generated in the home from escaping upwards through the ceiling.
Cellulose uses harmless household chemicals as a fire retardant that are about as toxic as table salt. This also makes the insulation insect and rodent resistant.
According to the supplier of the product, and producer of the original cellulose insulation in South Africa which it has been manufacturing for 26 years, Thermguard MD Mark Stannard, says research by CIMA shows that recycled newsprint (cellulose fibre) has the lowest estimated embodied energy of any insulation product. ‘Embodied energy' is the energy required to produce and transport materials.
Fibreglass, the leading insulation among homeowners, has ten times more embodied energy and foam products have up to 64 times more embodied energy than recycled newsprint cellulose, says the report by CIMA, www.cellulose.org.
"Cellulose also has the largest amount of recycled content - up to 72% recycled newsprint. It uses less energy than other manufacturing processes for insulation products, for both heat and sound applications," he says. "While any insulation is better than none, we believe strongly that the choice of paper cellulose is greener than others.
"Because large amounts of discarded newspaper end up on landfill sites, using waste paper to produce cellulose insulation diverts waste from landfills," says Stannard.
"Cellulose insulation also prevents the release of ‘greenhouse' gases such as CO2 and methane which are released when newspaper decomposes in landfills.
This newsprint which would have produced CO2 and methane gases is now turned into insulation which saves the burning of fossil fuels in power stations which will in turn give off CO2. Thus cellulose fibre insulation has a ‘Double Green Effect'.
"We feel that the newsprint-based cellulose story has not been fully explained to consumers, contractors and architects and we aim to correct that," he says.
The key to manufacturing the product is to ensure that the chemicals are added to the newsprint accurately and consistently," says Stannard. "However, smaller manufacturers who have copied the product may not be able to achieve this accuracy. If the insulation contains the incorrect mix of chemicals it could lead to a potentially devastating fire in the roof. This scenario actually happened in Great Britain," he adds.
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