.: How Green is Green? (Continued)

Granted it took nearly SIX YEARS of consideration for the Federal Trade Commission to published a final rule in the May 31, 2005 edition of the Federal Register amending the "Trade Regulation Rule Concerning the Labeling and Advertising of Home Insulation" (16 CFR Part 460). According to FTC, the changes to the rule will "streamline and increase the benefits of the rule to consumers and sellers, minimize its costs and respond to the development and utilization of new technologies to make American homes more energy efficient and less costly to heat and cool." (I hope I'm not coming across as flippant, but I for one believe that SIX YEARS may be an excessive amount of deliberation to agree to make common sense updates in the rule, especially when our nations energy future is at risk, but the commissioners did the right thing eventually.)

Over the past 20 years insulation has made great strides in earning legitimacy among trades.   Ever increasing energy costs and the tragic indiscretions of the past (mold issues,  disreputable contractors, and poorly trained personnel to name a few) has fueled the need for a far higher caliber of insulator.  When before the tasks were limited to cutting some R-11 fiberglass batts and installing it into a stud wall cavity for 2 1/2 cents a square foot, today the need is for a versatile, well rounded specialist with knowledge of nearly all phases of construction and retrofit applications. Today's insulator needs to be capable of batting a house in the morning, performing a sound attenuation job for a major recording studio in the afternoon, while calculating how to properly ventilate a national landmark built 120 years ago while retaining the buildings esthetics, and then ending the day by wrapping up a 1000^◦F High Pressure steam condenser.  Not only does the insulation industry as a whole need this versatility and adaptability in the trade, but the future of our nation as a whole is connected is linked to it.  Never before in the history of our nation has the price of energy been so high in dollars and human lives.  While some may look to distant theoretical solutions like cold fusion and fuel cells, we must act today wit the highly effective technology that we have at our disposal now. I am all for research in alternative fuel sources, because frankly, we do not have any choice over the long term.  Whether you believe the estimate that claims we will run out of fossil fuel in lat 21st century, the mid 23rd century, or if your still hanging on to the somewhat erroneous claim made by a now discredited special interest group in the 1980's that we'd be out of oil by 1997, there is one thing that is certain.  There is a day coming when the last gallon of oil will be pumped out of the ground and King Oil will topple from his throne.  I know of no reputable person, institution, or agency that will refute that inevitability. With this in mind, our only rational national (and global) response is to conserve the precious little reserve we have and continue to explore new energy sources.