The right insulation, properly installed, can put a lid on your power consumption, writes Sarah Pickette.

Controlling indoor temperatures accounts for a high percentage of homeowners' power costs. If you're looking to bring that figure down, one of the best things you can do is bolster your home's insulation.

“A home that's properly insulated can use about 40 per cent less energy than if that same house were poorly insulated,” says architect Chris Howe of Sydney's Howe & Associates. “Insulating your home well is as beneficial to reducing your carbon footprint as putting in a photovoltaic system.”

Where you live and how your home is designed will influence which type of insulation you need to maximise energy efficiency. To compare products, you need to know their R values, the measure of resistance to heat flow. The greater the R value, the higher the level of insulation.

“I think most homeowners know how insulation works on a general level but not too many understand its true impact on your home's comfort and running costs,” says Nick Mayo, sustainability advisor and owner of Canberra's Sustainable House. “Most of us think of bulk insulation, typically the fluffy stuff that's laid in ceilings, but if you live in a hot, sunny climate it's worth looking into reflective insulation.”

Reflective insulation consists of layers of foil with air sandwiched in between, and it really comes into its own in summer. “It stops up to 95 per cent of all radiant heat, so it's a very effective form of insulation,” says Mayo. There's a wide range of insulation products on the market, from batts and blankets made of fibreglass or rockwool (volcanic rock melted and spun into fine fibres) to polystyrene boards and loose-fill insulation made from wool fibres or from cellulose (pulverised waste paper).

According to Sustainability Victoria, insulation will pay for itself in five to six years. A homeowner rebate for insulation is no longer available; the Federal Government's $2.45 billion scheme was brought to a halt in 2010 after insulation was linked to four deaths and more than 200 house fires.

“People are a little frightened of insulation now, and understandably so,” says Mayo. “It's absolutely imperative that your insulation is installed properly, primarily for safety reasons but also because gaps in its coverage impact on how your insulation performs.”

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