Think Pink

Pink Bedroom, originally uploaded by Lisa Funk.

Insulation is an important part of fighting global warming.

POZNAN, Poland (Reuters) - Building insulation firms are struggling to get across the message that the cheapest fight against global warming starts at home -- in the roof and walls.

"The benefits are obvious," Eelco van Heel, chief executive of Denmark's Rockwool told Reuters about better building insulation in a phone interview during December 1-12 U.N. climate talks in Poznan, Poland.

"But we are up against many parties who want a piece of the same cake," he said. "Windmills or solar voltaic power are more sexy than insulation that disappears behind the wall."[...]

Study after study has shown that insulation saves money. About 40 percent of greenhouse gas emissions are from buildings.

Consultants McKinsey and Sweden's state-owned power group Vattenfall, for instance, once ranked building insulation as the single most profitable measure to fight global warming.