Is Green Insulation More Effective than Pink in Maintaining Home Temperatures?

Overview

Objectives/Goals My objective was to determine if home insulation batts made from natural fibers were as effective in maintaining home temperatures as the standard, manmade fiberglass batts. Methods/Materials Recycled denim or cotton batt, sheep's wool batt, and fiberglass batt were the samples tested. For each sample, a test wall was made with two pieces of glass and clamps, with an insulation batt in between. One side of the 'wall' was heated. Temperatures of the heated side and the opposite side of the wall assembly were recorded at different time intervals. Average temperature differences from the various trials were calculated and compared. Results The greatest average temperature differences were seen with the denim based insulation followed by the fiberglass and then the sheep's wool. Conclusions/Discussion The natural fiber cotton batt was more effective than the manmade fiberglass and the natural fiber sheep's wool at stopping heat transfer. Cotton is a renewable resource and safety wear is not needed when installing it. The cotton batt is a product made from 85% recycled denim.

Competition history

• CSEF 2008 Materials Science (Junior Division Only) · Entry J1223

Resources

• CSEF project summary ↗

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