Now, we humans are resourceful and in New England we are proven pragmatists. This is so beautifully illustrated with insulation manufactured from the early 1900’s. The old days of cold and drafty log and stone dwellings provided structure but not much insulating performance. So when wood platform, balloon framed housing was developed so came the need for wall cavity insulation. As a result a new market for insulation was created and folks from Boston took advantage. And what did they discover to be a suitable insulating material? Not feathers or hay or horse hair or newspaper or brick (all of which Cozy Home has found in walls) but locally harvested seaweed. Now that’s green ingenuity!
The advertisement says it all. Forget cellulose and spray foam. Go to the Cape, build some drying racks and bag some organic seaweed! Cozy Home came upon this insulation when retrofitting the Oakley Center at Williams College (see current projocts). Todd Holland, Energy Manager at Williams, and Terry Brennan, of Camroden and Associates, each helped with the microscopic identification.
