Alternative Building

Insulation. Its what keeps our houses warm in the winter and cool in the summer. There are many types of insulation
Insulation materials run the gamut from bulky fiber materials such as fiberglass, rock and slag wool, cellulose, and natural fibers to rigid foam boards to sleek foils. Bulky materials resist conductive and — to a lesser degree — convective heat flow in a building cavity. Rigid foam boards trap air or another gas to resist conductive heat flow. Highly reflective foils in radiant barriers and reflective insulation systems reflect radiant heat away from living spaces, making them particularly useful in cooling climates. Other less common materials such as cementitious and phenolic foams and vermiculite and perlite are also available.1 To learn more about the different types of insulation, click the link below.
Any insulation is good for keeping your house at a comfortable level and keeping it energy efficient. The more insulation a building has, the less you have to pay for heating and cooling.
Fiberglass insulation is the most commonly used insulation material used in the US. I will compare it to Hemp which is considered a Cellulose type of insulation, one of the least used in the US, because of hemp being outlawed, However it is making a comeback.

Fiberglass– Widely known as the pink stuff, this is what most people think of first when insulation is mentioned. It is available in batts, has an R-value of 3.0-3.7 per square inch, and can be purchased at most home improvement stores. Fiberglass works fine as an insulator, as long as you put in thick bats.
However fiberglass has the potential to cause physical harm. Small particles that come into contact with skin can lodge in pores and cause itchiness, rashes and irritation. When inhaled, particles can cause coughing, nosebleeds, and other respiratory ailments. Very fine airborne particles are capable of becoming deeply lodged in the lungs and are believed by many to cause cancer and other serious afflictions. OSHA considers this threat to be serious enough that it requires fiberglass insulation to carry a cancer warning label (right). There are studies, both pro and con, with reagards to the safety hazard and cancer causing potential of fiberglass insulation and this determination is left up to the reader.When it is disturbed, fiberglass insulation releases particulates into the air which may be inhaled by those installing or removing it, or by property inspectors crawling through attics or crawlspaces. If you must disturb fiberglass insulation, wear gloves, long-sleeved shirts, pants and goggles. A respirator with a particulate filter should be used to prevent inhalation of the potentially dangerous fibers. In addition, in this area at least, the insulation is rarely installed correctly. The Kraft paper facing (if the product used even has Kraft paper facing) is not properly sealed on the face of the wall studs, but merely stuffed between the studs. This allows for release of more fibers into the air. 2

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Hemp is aCellulose insulation

1. Cellulose insulation manufactured from recycled paper (or hemp) is the least polluting and most energy efficient insulation.
2. It takes more than 10 times as much energy to produce fiberglass insulation as cellulose insulation.
3. Due to air circulation and natural convection, the R-value of blown-in fiberglass insulation decreases by as much as 50% as the temperature drops from 45 degrees F to 18 degrees F.
4. Cellulose has better resistance to air flow and prevents the upward movement of air caused by temperature differences (the R-value of cellulose actually improves during cold weather).
5. Substantial and well-documented public health threats are associated with fiberglass.
6. No adverse health effects from cellulose insulation have been identified.
7. Cellulose is non-toxic. Biologically, cellulose is innocuous.

Hemp asinsulationis one of the most popular ways to use the plant.

Hemp absorbs moisture, which reduces humidity and condensation of the surrounding air, and inhibits the growth of mold. While hemp insulation can help a homeowner save money on energy, its real advantage is that the plant is environmentally friendly. It takes very little energy to grow and process hemp into insulation. In addition, hemp scrubs the atmosphere of greenhouse gases [source:The Hemp Company].
Hemp insulates better than many other materials, such as Fiberglass, cotton or wool. Hemp insulation is a composite material, in which the plant’s fibers are bound with another substance. It has a low U-value, a measurement which gauges how much heat passes through a particular material. The lower the U-value, the better the material insulates. In fact, Hemp insulation has a U-value of .040, which is comparable to the U-value rate of 8-inches of fiberglass insulation [source:The Hemp CompanyandCombustion Research]. Hemp’s R-value, which measures a material’s resistance to heat flow, is also good and similar to other fibrous insulation products — about R-3.5 per inch of thickness [source:U.S. Department of Energy]. The more the material restricts the flow of heat, the higher its R-value.

http://energy.gov/energysaver/insulation-materials
http://www.deckerhomeservices.com/fiberglass_insulation_problems.htm
http://home.howstuffworks.com/home-improvement/construction/green/hemp-building-material1.htm