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Superinsulated Houses

Superinsulated Houses Superinsulation is a direct response to the fast-rising cost of home heating. Of the many kinds of responses, superinsulation is proving to be the simplest and most cost-effective. Until the oil embargo of 1973 there was little interest in saving heat. Architects, builders, money lenders, and home buyers gave the subject little attention. Most of the existing stock of houses had little or no insulation and even in the newest houses the insulation consisted, typically, of only 3!- inches of fiberglass. Also, houses were loosely constructed : cold air could leak in easily through cracks around windows, doors, and sills. Warm indoor air could escape equally easily. On windy days in winter, infiltration and exfiltration could account for as much as half of the house's entire heat loss. Why this widespread lack of concern? Because fuel was so cheap. The prevailing attitude was: if the house loses heat rapidly, let the furnace run harder and longer! When the price of fuel oil was 1O.e a gallon, this attitude made sense-if one disregarded cold floors, drafts, and the accelerated depletion of the world's oil reserves. When the oil shortage arrived and fuel costs doubled and redoubled, many architects responded, http://www.deepdyve.com/assets/images/DeepDyve-Logo-lg.png Annual Review of Environment and Resources Annual Reviews

Superinsulated Houses

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Publisher
Annual Reviews
Copyright
Copyright 1986 Annual Reviews. All rights reserved
Subject
Review Articles
ISSN
1543-5938
DOI
10.1146/annurev.eg.11.110186.000245
Publisher site
See Article on Publisher Site

Abstract

Superinsulation is a direct response to the fast-rising cost of home heating. Of the many kinds of responses, superinsulation is proving to be the simplest and most cost-effective. Until the oil embargo of 1973 there was little interest in saving heat. Architects, builders, money lenders, and home buyers gave the subject little attention. Most of the existing stock of houses had little or no insulation and even in the newest houses the insulation consisted, typically, of only 3!- inches of fiberglass. Also, houses were loosely constructed : cold air could leak in easily through cracks around windows, doors, and sills. Warm indoor air could escape equally easily. On windy days in winter, infiltration and exfiltration could account for as much as half of the house's entire heat loss. Why this widespread lack of concern? Because fuel was so cheap. The prevailing attitude was: if the house loses heat rapidly, let the furnace run harder and longer! When the price of fuel oil was 1O.e a gallon, this attitude made sense-if one disregarded cold floors, drafts, and the accelerated depletion of the world's oil reserves. When the oil shortage arrived and fuel costs doubled and redoubled, many architects responded,

Journal

Annual Review of Environment and Resources – Annual Reviews

Published: Nov 1, 1986

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