[Greenbuilding] best practice

[Rob Dickinson]

Most of the time when people consider what energy efficiency investments
are economical, they are only considering payback periods of a relatively
small number of years.  My house is 116 years old, and if it had been well
insulated way back in 1900, consider the many, many tons of greenhouse
gases that could have been avoided.  When we remodeled, we were designing
with the idea that it would last another 116 years or more, and in that
case, doing a super good job, even if the performance gains of additional
insulation were minimal, really matters.  That’s why we have 4” of exterior
rigid foam on the outside and 9” of double-stud wall insulation on the
interior.  It’s quiet, comfortable, and costs next-to-nothing to heat and
cool.

Rob Dickinson


On Wed, Mar 16, 2016 at 9:07 PM, John Salmen <terrain at shaw.ca> wrote:

> Good guy advice has to be based on something. If you look at insulation
> performance curves going beyond r12-16 (depending on insulation used) it
> doesn’t make ‘cents’ as the improvement is minimal but it can be easily
> calculated – and make your decision based on that. In a decent building
> energy model you would probably find the best places to insulate that would
> make the best improvement – generally ceilings and perimeter is the result
> more than walls??
>
>
>
> If it is a small house (which 1883 would be) ventilation and heat recovery
> technology would be a better investment as the ventilation requirements
> will be the biggest heat loss as you will be cutting a bigger hole to
> ventilate than the insulation would compensate for – unless it is a really
> strategic design.
>
>
>
> Of course if we are saving the planet....all decisions are based on
> expendable income.
>
>
>
> *From:* Greenbuilding [mailto:
> greenbuilding-bounces at lists.bioenergylists.org] *On Behalf Of *Sacie
> Lambertson
> *Sent:* March-16-16 6:43 PM
> *To:* Greenbuilding
> *Subject:* [Greenbuilding] best practice
>
>
>
> A good guy and relatively young architect (in his 40s, 'young' by my
> standards), tells me it is not worth taking off the siding of an old 1883
> house to add insulation and an air space to the outside.  He says the added
> expense is not worth the additional insulation. That the extra R-value
> above R 23 in walls is thermodynamically not money well spent as long as
> the house is very tightly constructed in the retro-fit.
>
>
>
> The siding is original and in very good shape.  The interior has full
> dimensioned 2x4 walls.  The rooms are too small for me to want to build a
> double wall on the interior.
>
>
>
> What he suggests I do is simply used closed cell foam between the wall
> framing.
>
>
>
> I would appreciate your comments please.
>
>
>
> Sacie
>
>
>
>
>
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-- 
"I still find each day too short for all the thoughts I want to think, all
the walks I want to take, all the books I want to read, and all the friends
I want to see." — John Burroughs (1837-1921) American naturalist, writer
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