sheep fleece insulation - borax solution

[worms]

Whoa there, NT!

Both straw and wool are essentially by-products of agricultural production and I guess to a certain extent any agricultural use of land may be "less green" than leaving the land to natural regeneration.

However, wool in UK is mainly the by-product of the ewe flocks that produce the lambs for meat production. These tend to be low input systems (but not exclusively so) and involve much lower energy inputs than the grain crops that produce straw as a by-product. How you partition the environmental impact between the main product and the by-product is debatable and you also need to factor in that sheep production is often carried out on land that would not support any other food production.

It would be far too simplistic to state that straw is greener than wool.

 

[biffvernon]

It would be far too simplistic to state that straw is greener than wool.

In my experience straw tends towards the yellows and browns while wool is more whiteish, through greys to brown.

 

[thiambal]

Unless of course it is a black sheep.....

Baa baa Black sheep have you any wool....etc.

 

[biffvernon]

What give more wool, black sheep or white sheep?


















White sheep, there are more of them

 

[Gervase]

Interestingly, wool from black sheep is today worth b*gger all - a reversal of the case when the rhyme was current. In the past, vast amounts of black wool were required for all the widows' weeds, black bombazine and gaberdine that clothed our ancestors, so dark wool had a premium.
Today, by contrast, we want our woollens in bright colours, so wool needs to be as pale as possible before it's dyed - hence the sorters' dislike of black sheep. There's still a market for black wool with hand-spinners and weavers, however.
As a result, our only black ewe is shortly to make the one-way trip to the abbatoir - two years' barren and a black fleece makes her uneconomic.

 

[Nemesis]

And rainbow sheep?

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/education/4782856.stm

PS the bit at the end - as far as I can recall it was actually not any local authority which banned Baa baa black sheep... but it made a good story in the press.

 

[thiambal]

our only black ewe is shortly to make the one-way trip to the abbatoir

Mmmmmmmm, black lamb chops - lip smacking good!

 

[Gervase]

She's a scrawny old baggage - destined more for slow-stewed leg of mutton with caper sauce rather than tender chops!

 

[Nemesis]

pps... the rude stuff...

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/arts/3740400.stm

 

[NT]

Whoa there Worms! Wool is a valuable product used in the clothing industry, whereas straw is just a waste product, with far more supply than demand. Insulating with wool removes a useful product from use, insulting with straw is a way to use material of no other value.

By spending less on house insulation you can then put the money saved into some other energy saving feature.

And with all this whoaing neither of us will be going anywhere.


NT

 

[biffvernon]

Wool is not at all valuable. Farmers get seven pence per kilo from the British Wool Marketing Board.

It's all this underfloor heasting. No one wears cardigans anymore.

 

[middi]

Nice one Biff.

 

[Nemesis]

But Biff - knitting is fashionable again, really cool, an art form

http://www.theshed.co.uk/hat.html


a manly art, and maybe something to keep you occupied over the dark winter evenings?


http://www.knitty.com/ISSUEsummer05/FEATknitlikeaman.html

http://www.knitty.com/ISSUEsummer05/FEATcool.html

http://www.knitty.com/ISSUEsummer05/FEATurbanfront.html

Who knows, by this time next year you too could be featured in this hall of fame,

http://www.knitty.com/ISSUEsummer05/FEATtopten.html


and have turned around the fortunes of the British wool industry. Start with a little black number, and spare that poor yow of Gervase's.

And here's a fetching pattern to get you started:

http://www.vam.ac.uk/images/image/13016-popup.html

And following that - who knows?

http://www.theshed.co.uk/elviswig.html

 

[Nemesis]

PS these may be ecologically more sound than underfloor heating, and save on fuel bills too:

 

[Gervase]

PS these may be ecologically more sound than underfloor heating, and save on fuel bills too

Dammit woman, you've been fossicking through my clothes press again!

It's almost time to break out the industrial undercrackers here in West Wales. Sadly mine are merino wool, so of little support to the ailing British woollen industry. Jolly snug though, particularly when worn under a heavy tweed.

 

[Nemesis]

The other half has a pair of Nomex (along with long sleeved vest...) which are left over from his motor sporting days which get hauled out and donned for outside work in cold weather.

Very fetching they are too...

And for summer:

 

[worms]

NT, I apologise if the "whoa there" comment offended in any way - simply a phrase to indicate that I think we need to pause and think through certain aspects of the debate!

Of course wool is a valuable commodity but in UK it is not the main reason for keeping sheep, thus my use of the term by-product. Equally straw is a valuable by-product of the grain industry, used in large volumes by the livestock industry.

I think we need to properly analyse the energy inputs involved in making insulation out of any material. I am concerned about the fact that making wool insulation is quite an energy intensive process but would assume that making straw insulation is equally energy intensive.

Delivery to site is also a concern in that any high volume/low weight material tends to consume disproportionate amounts of energy to get it from factory to house.

 

[Nemesis]

Maybe too we do need seriously to look at how our ancestors kept warm - they wore more clothes.

While obviously buildings need to be more energy efficient, possibly the desire to wear a T shirt indoors in the depth of winter is something which could be considered as less than efficient.

 

[Mark]

If everyone moved to Newcastle maybe they would all aquire that skill whereby a skinny T-shirt and jeans/miniskirt are all that is required even at -10C

 

[Nemesis]

Nah - born and bred a Geordie, live not so far away still, and the thought of a T shirt in the Bigg Market Saturday night still has me shivering!

The only thing that makes it possible is consumption of large quantities of alcohol.