/// INDIVIDUAL INSULATION – I²
IMAGINED BY: NEND Workshop “Re-Imagine the House”
DATE: 21-02-2012
KEYWORDS: insulation, individuality, recycling, reuse, do-it-yourself
This idea is based on the general principle of insulation: energy is exchanged through air molecules that are heated at one surface, then travel through or rise within a cavity until they reach a colder surface where they cool down; thereby carrying the energy from one surface to another. Testing indicated that this process of convection does not occur in smaller spaces, meaning there is no exchange of energy (this is the reason why insulated glass works with a maximum spacer distance of about 15 mm). Insulating requires a space between two surfaces that offers a limited potential for the air molecules to travel. This is why we need “fluffy“ materials; materials that can contain air but do not allow the air to move around and enter a heating/cooling cycle – materials such as sheep’s wool, hemp wool, stone wool, polystyrene or polyurethane bubbles, blocks etc.
This concept envisions a personal shredder that creates insulation material: a machine that shreds and then reassembles any organic or inorganic material into fluffy, airenveloping units of insulation material. The construction of such a machine is a technical question that cannot be solved in the scope of this book’s imaginary concepts – but the potential of such a device for all do-it-yourself builders is obvious.
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