“INFOLINK”  INTERVIEW WITH INSULATION INDUSTRY

 

 


NEWS        MAY 22, 2001

Claims guide is biased against foil
Katrina Fox

The Aluminium Foil Insulation Association is calling for the withdrawal of a Housing Industry Association guide on insulation, claiming it is misleading because of its bias towards batt insulation.

AFIA secretary Tim Renouf says the bulk insulation industry has promoted batt insulation so strongly for so many years that the building industry largely remains ignorant of the benefits of foil insulation as an alternative.

The association, which is backed by the Australian Aluminium Council, says: “The greatest single source of heat transmission affecting buildings in Australia is radiation, which occurs for extensive hot periods of the year across the entire continent, stretching from Melbourne to Darwin and Sydney to Perth.

“The best way to reduce heat gain is the correct use of aluminium foil insulation, which stops approximately 97 per cent of all radiation by high reflectivity or low emissivity.”

AFIA has written to the HIA requesting that the booklet titled Insulation Management Guide for Residential Building be withdrawn from circulation.

But AFIA’s claims are refuted by the HIA and bulk insulation manufacturers.

Trevor Rieck, business manager of Partnership Advancing The Housing Environment – the HIA’s national environmental initiative – and author of the guide explains: “The guide is a balanced one for presenting all products on the market to HIA members. We don’t consider the debate to be about bias - it’s about presenting appropriate information and what is in the guide is what is on the market. We do not feel we are excluding any product. That is not our position.”

Bulk insulation is the main market leader, Rieck says. “Foil has its place and in the tropics it is probably a very appropriate form of insulation for under roofs. But it can be difficult to get the right balance. You can do one technique and end up with a compromise. Down south you are talking about keeping the heat in, but then you have the problem of hot summers. In the north, you want to keep heat out and therefore foil comes into its own.”

President of the Fibreglass and Rockwool Insulation Manufacturers Association Tony Dragecevich argues that foil only has a small thermal performance. “It gets thermal performance from the way it is installed and if this is done correctly with the proper air gaps it does increase the performance of the finished system, but in itself it is limited. Also foil has only a minimal performance in winter conditions – it’s only really effective for summer conditions, so for most of Australia we recommend people to insulate correctly for both summer and winter and this is why we recommend Batts.”

But FARIMA has no bias against foil, as member companies manufacture around 90 per cent of foil sold on the market, Dragecevich says. “We sell what we believe best represents the application.”

Pitting one product against another only causes confusion for consumers, president of the Polyester Insulation Manufacturers Association Clark Wright says. “There is a lot of smoke and mirrors in what people say and a lot of technical jargon so it’s hard for consumers to understand. The industry needs a standard and compliance and an accreditation scheme vetted by an independent, government or semi-government organisation such as the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation which has no vested interest in any particular product.”

Senior experimental scientist at CSIRO Robin Clarke agrees. “There is some truth in what both sides are saying. The foil association taking exception to the guide has some justification. There is a tendency to emphasise bulk products. But it is not true to say that foil is a superior form of insulation. That’s like saying an Italian car is better than an American car. It is true or false depending on which cars you are talking about. Foil has certain niches where it is better to use, say on the outside of timber frame, and similarly there are niches for bulk products.

“It is inappropriate for people who are talking about insulation to load the conversation in ways that suggest there is only one type. The HIA gives foil a lesser profile in the guide and it wouldn’t be a bad idea if it were to give it, if not equal billing, then a higher profile than it did”.

AFIA is preparing a submission to the Australian Building Codes Board for a funding grant for the purpose of having all insulation materials tested for high temperatures. “No building material is tested for high temperature radiation to determine the effects on the energy efficiency of building envelopes – that is roofs, walls and glazing,” Renouf says. “This has to be reversed.”

 

 

 

Commentary by Tim Renouf

 

The comments by FARIMA (Fibreglass and Rockwool Insulation Manufacturers Association) are fascinating.

The fibreglass industry make the majority of foil insulation in Australia and market the use of bulk combined with foil insulations often without information as to how the foil functions thermally.

 

Example – in hot western facing walls, there must be a guaranteed airgap between foil wraps and fibre batts, otherwise the inward facing 3% low emitting aluminium surface will conduct 100% of inward radiation into the fibres, causing heat transfer through the batts and onto the internal walls. Roof spaces can typically have temperatures of 50-70 degC, an energy load effect even greater on bulk insulations than in walls.

 

Bulk insulations are officially tested for conducted heat between two fixed temperature plates set at 33 and 13 degC for a four hour duration, known as Steady-State, a test method coming from Europe-USA with cold winter-dominated climates where more heat is lost from buildings than is entering – refer TRUTH in Wren website.

 

By comparison, in Australia, a case could be put that more radiant heat energy flows into buildings than is lost. Why, because the majority of our population live in climates comparatively milder in winter and hotter in summer than

Europe-USA.

 

The new insulation Standard AS/NZS4859.1(2002) requires all environmental factors, including radiant energy, to be assessed for all insulation materials. Unfortunately, no local thermal testing facility exists to assess realistic high temperature radiation effects on insulation materials.

 

FARIMA, for vested commercial interests, always promote bulk insulation over foil, a situation which has occurred in Australia for the past 45 years. AFIA is informed that it costs approximately $100,000 to restart a fibreglass machine, which effectively means that production must be continuous – 24 hours per day, every day. It is not in FARIMA’s interests to fully educate the public about the benefits of foil insulations.


FARIMA’s comments are the very reason for AFIA's existence. AFIA is the only insulation association prepared to stand up against the power and influence of FARIMA. The truth is out there and AFIA is telling it, because it is in the public and national interest to insulate buildings correctly, with a maximum use of aluminium foil insulation in order to conserve energy used for heating and cooling of buildings as well as reducing national greenhouse gas emissions.

 

Aluminium foil insulations with airspaces have the ability to continuously and permanently resist radiation, the single greatest source of energy in Australia. Bulk insulations have never been tested in Australia to resist high temperature radiation.   

 

Tim Renouf

Hon. Secretary AFIA

Aluminium Foil Insulation Association Inc. (Vic. 1998)

www.afia.com.au

C/- Wren Concertina Foil Batts

Unit 5, 19 Abbott St

SANDRINGHAM   Vic. 3191

Tel:  03  9598-3075

tim.renouf@bigpond.com

www.concertinafoilbatts.com