New Use For Wool

[BigHornRam]

"Sustainable" insulation company from the Nevada/Tahoe area from what I can tell. Will this be a growing use for wool in the future? Will it add to the domestic/wild sheep conflicts in Nevada? Is this business aware of the conflicts, and interested in reducing those conflicts? Hope they do.

Home

We make natural, high performance insulation from 100% sheep's wool. Havelock Wool has a high R-Value, installs easily, meets building codes.

havelockwool.com

 

[Sytes]

Speak of a "renewable resource"!

Hopefully on the pressing concern of domestic / wild interaction, they're involved.

 

[Colorado hunter Tim]

At $135 per 25 lb bag that sure seems like it would get expensive very quickly. No clue how much regular insulation costs though.

 

[BigHornRam]

Much more expensive than fiberglass but also a better, more green product. It will have an appeal to more affluent homeowners. It is already a popular option for the environmental conscious consumers in Europe. Will it become popular here? Maybe, but competitive pricing and availability will be key. It looks like there are long wait times on getting the product, but there are long wait times on other more mainstream building products right now as well.

 

[Trial153]

It will be even more expensive if they paid fair market value for federal grazing allotments

 

[BWALKER77]

Sounds like a bunch of hippy crap that your average home builder won't bother with.

 

[antlerradar]

It will be even more expensive if they paid fair market value for federal grazing allotments

You can not have it both ways. For years environmental groups have argued that doing away with all public land grazing would not increase prices.

 

[Trial153]

You can not have it both ways. For years environmental groups have argued that doing away with all public land grazing would not increase prices.

What environmental group am I? I must have missed the memo.

 

[BigHornRam]

Sounds like a bunch of hippy crap that your average home builder won't bother with.

If the hipster architects start specifying it in their projects and it starts to cut into fiberglass sales even a few percentage points, it will will lead to wool demand beyond current supply, and more domestic wool production. I can see that happening.

 

[MTGamecock]

Much more expensive than fiberglass but also a better, more green product. It will have an appeal to more affluent homeowners. It is already a popular option for the environmental conscious consumers in Europe. Will it become popular here? Maybe, but competitive pricing and availability will be key. It looks like there are long wait times on getting the product, but there are long wait times on other more mainstream building products right now as well.

Do we really know if it's greener or better? The linked ad certainly makes it seem so, but what else would we expect from the company's website? I suspect it may be greener right now, but would it still be greener in the long run if 50% of American houses used wool as insulation? I'm guessing the sheep population in America would have to grow by tens or hundreds of millions and I'm not sure what overall effect that would have on the environment, but I'm guessing it's significant. Like electric vehicles, it seems to me it's green as long as the vast majority of Americans don't adopt the practice.

As far as the cost, it is quite expensive and it's probably important to note that expense doesn't exist in a vacuum. With the cost of building materials skyrocketing across the board, I can't see too many middle-class Americans opting for wool. I agree about the appeal to affluent home owners - I can totally see this as a viable option for the ultra rich who own vacation homes in Big Sky or Jackson Hole who are looking for a way to offset their environmental impacts elsewhere.

 

[MarvB]

Old insulation device...


New insulation devices...


The sheep are scared!

 

[Ben Lamb]

Sounds like a bunch of hippy crap

New sig inbound.

 

[44hunter45]

... It will have an appeal to more affluent homeowners. ...

translation - Rich transplants to the Intermountain West.

 

[BigHornRam]

translation - Rich transplants to the Intermountain West.

I find humor reading about "sustainably" built 20,000 square foot vacation homes in Big Sky.

 

[BigHornRam]

Do we really know if it's greener or better? The linked ad certainly makes it seem so, but what else would we expect from the company's website? I suspect it may be greener right now, but would it still be greener in the long run if 50% of American houses used wool as insulation? I'm guessing the sheep population in America would have to grow by tens or hundreds of millions and I'm not sure what overall effect that would have on the environment, but I'm guessing it's significant. Like electric vehicles, it seems to me it's green as long as the vast majority of Americans don't adopt the practice.

As far as the cost, it is quite expensive and it's probably important to note that expense doesn't exist in a vacuum. With the cost of building materials skyrocketing across the board, I can't see too many middle-class Americans opting for wool. I agree about the appeal to affluent home owners - I can totally see this as a viable option for the ultra rich who own vacation homes in Big Sky or Jackson Hole who are looking for a way to offset their environmental impacts elsewhere.

"Like electric vehicles, it seems to me it's green as long as the vast majority of Americans don't adopt the practice."

That's sig worthy right there!