Greenfiber: Decades Ahead of the Cellulose Insulation Craze

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Sara Gutterman: Sara Gutman. I'm CEO of Green Builder Media, and I'm here with Tom Van Alstyne, CEO and president of Green Fiber. What do you see in terms of this transformation and what are you most excited about with respect to how the the building category in the built environment is changing.

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Tom VanAlstine: From our standpoint as an installation manufacturer? We're most exciting about is just really the, I'll call it the evolution of the codes and just the recognition of the importance of energy efficiency and sustainability, not just within the codes, but the other regulatory bodies that are providing some of the incentive programs to build their tax credits with the Energy Star or the Department of Energy, zero Energy ready homes.

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Tom VanAlstine: And it's just really great to see that awareness as as energy efficiency is really an important part of of the overall affordability of these homes that will obviously impact for the life of the homeowner.

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Sara Gutterman: Now, talk a little bit about green fiber and the products that you offer. And also we're seeing that cellulose insulation is having a bit of a breakthrough moment. So talk a little bit about that as well.

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Tom VanAlstine: Yeah. You know cellulose has actually been around for for decades right. And green fibers always been at the forefront of them. And especially now with our recent merger a few years ago with Applegate Insulation into green fiber. You know, we have a very substantial national footprint, you know, cellulose insulation. You know, we used to we used to say it was made from recycled newspaper.

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Tom VanAlstine: Nowadays we use the term fibers because we use all sorts of fibers as newspaper becomes less and less available. But we're very excited about that. You know, 85% of our of our product comes from a deferred diverted from landfills. And so it's a very sustainable, low energy and body product. It creates, you know, it's a great insulator, creates a great air seal.

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Tom VanAlstine: So it's been around a long time and we're really somewhat really proud of.

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Sara Gutterman: So my next question actually was going to be about increased consumer awareness for more energy efficient insulation in general, but specifically around cellulose. And if you are seeing an increase in awareness by the homeowners and home buyers, and if so, is there a difference generationally? Obviously, we're seeing a lot of data, our own cognition, smart data that shows that millennials and Gen Zs are demanding more energy efficient, more sustainable products, even products with environmental product declarations.

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Sara Gutterman: Is that filtering through specifically to green libraries?

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Tom VanAlstine: It is. Right. We get a lot of requests for that from from the builders specifically as we can as our product specifically can help them reach some of their sustainability goals as their customers are requesting them. But then again, as we are seeing again, we're one separate move from the homeowners essential home buyers. But some of our research shows that they're searching for more sustainable products and even personally.

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Tom VanAlstine: Right. I have I have a couple of Gen Zers in my own home that are in the process of buying a house, and I can tell you that extremely important to them. And so, again, we're very, very proud to be able to step in and fill those needs and those categories.

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Sara Gutterman: So shifting gears to talk specifically about the vision House Las Vegas, which we're so excited to have the opportunity to work with you and with the green fiber team on this is our 61 home community with these are homes in Henderson, right outside of Las Vegas. So how do you think a project like this really has a permanent and long term impact on the housing market, and what are you excited about with respect to this project?

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Tom VanAlstine: Yeah. You know, I think it's just great that.

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Tom VanAlstine: The the visas that are taking this on and, you know, really emphasizes the importance of, of building the a more environmentally friendly home. And that if you use the proper products, the property die and the proper methodology that you can truly build a a net zero energy home that is affordable, right, that it can be safe and comfortable and quiet and that really, truly, any homeowner should be proud, really proud to own, really give a pride of ownership and not only having a positive impact on the environment, but now they have this great, beautiful home to raise their children and or grow old or whatever it is.

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Tom VanAlstine: So I think it's just a really great step forward. And, you know, the home development and the transformation of really just being able to to kind of get to that net zero in an affordable manner.

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Sara Gutterman: Is there anything else that you want our audience to know about?

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Tom VanAlstine: Know just you know that we're very excited to be part of this project, right. And we're very excited that you said, you know, cellulose is kind of having its coming out party. It's been around for decades. You know, we've been we've been providing insulation to make homes more energy efficient and comfortable. You know, forever. We've always had the environmental friendliness aspect.

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Tom VanAlstine: It's always been a cornerstone of what we do. So it's really exciting for us to really just kind of see both the energy efficiency and the sustainability awareness kind of come together within the building community.