The insulation industry is changing. Savvy consumers and regulatory agencies are adopting more stringent standards in response to health concerns and are forcing the industry to take a hard look at how it manufactures its products. One key ingredient coming under fire is formaldehyde. This begs the question, 'Is formaldehyde in your insulation future?' The short answer is 'no.' But that would make for a rather incomplete and boring article. Let's take a deeper look at the reasons why.
First, let's consider the past. Formaldehyde has played an important role for many years as a binder (or glue) for glassfibre insulation. Unlike paper and some organic fibres, glass-fibres are chemically inert and will not stick together in a familiar rigid batt without bonding the many fibres together.
Years ago, the industry was focused solely on binder performance at the lowest cost. This typically meant choosing phenol-formaldehyde (PF) binder as the glue. PF has an effective and well-understood chemistry and low cost. With most fibreglass insulation, urea was used to extend the PF binder to bring in additional cost savings and help promote more effective curing, the process in which glass-fibres are heated in an oven so that they adhere to each other.
An example of these older products is the traditional bonded fibreglass insulation. In the past and to some extent still today, this type of insulation was colour-coded based on its formaldehyde content. The formerly common yellow batts denote formaldehyde because the PF binder turns yellow in the curing oven. Pink PF insulation is just yellow insulation with pink dye added.
The insulation present
At present, consumer preference and regulatory developments have already started to change the insulation industry. Mere performance is now not enough. Consumers, architects and specifiers are paying greater attention to health issues and their knowledge and sophistication has led to increased demand for building products that are both healthier for the home's occupants and have a reduced environmental impact.
One well-known manufacturer is leading the way in responding to this growing consumer sophistication. Johns Manville (JM) was the first and today remains the only manufacturer of a complete line of certified Formaldehyde-free(TM) fibre glass building insulation.
Safer insulation
Why did JM switch to a formaldehyde-free binder for its building insulation? Consumer feedback found that 80% of people surveyed would choose formaldehyde-free products if they had the choice. In such consumer surveys, preference results above two-thirds are considered quite powerful. Also, using a formaldehyde-free binder makes for a healthier and safer insulation. That was important not only to meet the strong consumer preference but also to get ahead of some pretty clear trends in formaldehyde health science. Governmental regulatory agencies are taking noticeable action in response to new health science on formaldehyde. These actions show why formaldehyde is playing a decreasing role in our present insulation.
In 2004, the World Health Organisation's International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) changed the classification of formaldehyde from Group 2A 'probable carcinogen' to Group 1 'known carcinogen.' Back then, the IARC found the human cancer hazard data adequate on nasopharyngeal cancer and also noted a strong association with leukemia. IARC retained formaldehyde at Group 1 known carcinogen status in 2009, but also added myeloid leukemia and cancer of the sinonasal cavity.
In the United States, the National Toxicology Program (NTP) is poised to follow IARC in the upcoming '12th Report on Carcinogens.' In 2009 the NTP expert panel on formaldehyde recommended moving formaldehyde to 'known to cause cancer' status and included nasopharyngeal cancer and myeloid leukemia. The NTP Board of Scientific Counselors provided largely positive peer-review in a June 2010 meeting.
What is 'formaldehyde-free?'
But what does formaldehyde-free mean? This is not a trick or trivial question. JM faced challenges from its competitors about the company's ability to call its products formaldehyde-free. Initially, JM thought that its competitors would acknowledge, even if unwillingly, that formaldehyde-free was a true product innovation.
The emerging meaning of formaldehyde-free in the industry is that formaldehyde is no longer added to the product (for binder) and when tested, the product does not emit formaldehyde in amounts that would be meaningful to consumers. 'Meaningful to consumers' was held to mean both the typical (Californian) outdoor background concentration of 2-3ppb and a mere fraction of any applicable agency standard or recommendation. JM successfully substantiated its claim according to this industry meaning.
Along with actual formaldehyde-free products, 'certified low-emitting' products are common at present. Products with this certification purport to be green and guard against health impacts. But most of these products are simply not as good as formaldehyde-free insulation.
Greenguard
The likely leader in low-emitting certification is Greenguard. But today, the Greenguard certification levels (unlike standards) for formaldehyde are not truly health-based. Nor are they appropriate for the residential environment. Both Greenguard programs assume ASHRAE 62.1 ventilation rates (i.e., fresh air pollution dilution rates) for commercial buildings or schools, which is approximately one air change per hour (ACH). In contrast, a typical new home has a ventilation rate of only 0.25ACH. Some highly energy-efficient new homes have a ventilation rate as low as 0.10ACH. This means that Greenguard's indoor air concentration estimates from product emissions could be up to 10 times higher in a new home.
Greenguard 'low-emissions' certification claims for the new residential environment represent a classic case of false advertising. The claim extends beyond substantiating data. It's like a car manufacturer claiming that a new car can achieve 35mpg in the city but the underlying data was based on highway driving. That's one reason why the California Department of Public Health ES-1350 product emission standard has become the de facto national product emission standard. Its residential standard is a ventilation rate of 0.25ACH. This means that many, perhaps all, formaldehyde-bonded products simply cannot meet the latest standard in new residential environments.
JM's complete building insulation product line has received certification from Scientific Certification Systems as formaldehyde-free. It is independent third-party confirmation that JM's products meet the new, more stringent ES-1350 standard. It also confirms JM's products adhere to the very tough California Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment chronic recommended exposure level for formaldehyde of 7ppb. To JM's knowledge, no other fibreglass insulation manufacturer can make or more importantly substantiate such a claim.
Green homes versus heathly homes
Unfortunately, Greenguard and other similar certifications have led to some confusion about green and healthy homes. Although there is some overlap, these two concepts are not necessarily the same. A green home is typically one that is tightly sealed and well insulated to be very energy-efficient. But in most US jurisdictions, continuous mechanical ventilation is not required. This means a tight home can develop indoor air quality problems from product emissions. It is quite possible to sacrifice indoor air quality to achieve energy-efficiency.
Conversely, a healthy home is typically one where the occupants enjoy both thermal comfort and a high level of indoor air quality. A green and healthy home is one that achieves a high level of energy efficiency using building materials that do not emit pollutants.
Insulation future
So what does the future look like? A future where formaldehyde will likely play little if any role. The completion of pending formaldehyde health regulatory actions is imminent. On the hazard side, NTP will soon formally move formaldehyde to 'known carcinogen' status. On the risk side, the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is likely to adopt exposure recommendations that are much lower and more stringent for both non-cancer health endpoints (like irritation and asthma) as well as for cancer endpoints. The trend towards actual health-based standards in future product emissions programs, especially for the residential environment, will continue. We should anticipate that the American National Standards Institute's (ANSI) current effort to create a consensus for a formal industry-wide standard will likely move Greenguard certification from its present status to obsolescence.
Another important development is the soon-to-be-updated Green Guides from the US Federal Trade Commission (FTC). These guides instruct manufacturers on how to substantiate environmental and green product claims. The new Green Guides will likely change what claims companies can make and how companies must substantiate them. We can expect a crackdown on general claims such as 'environmentally-friendly,' 'green,' 'socially responsible' and 'sustainable.' In order for a company to make such claims, the FTC will require objective criteria for claim substantiation and will enforce and file more cases before the National Advertising Division (the same dispute resolution body that decided JM's formaldehyde-free case.)
The building insulation products of the future will need to evolve and take on different features than they have today. While performance is still a given, insulation in the future will need to meet all applicable thermal and acoustic performance requirements, including existing American Society of Testing Materials (ASTM) standards and any new, more stringent standards. Most insulation will also need to receive certification as 'formaldehyde-free' to meet increasingly stringent indoor product specifications for emissions.
As for product claims, companies will stop using general 'green' claims. Instead, there will be important single-attribute claims or more independent third-party certification of general claims stating that objective criteria were met for sustainability or 'green-ness.'
With more rigorous standards coming and consumers paying more attention to the health effects of the products they use, soon all green homes will also be healthy homes. Formaldehyde will be a thing of the past and the insulation future will be formaldehyde-free.
