This summer, I made a new friend: double reflective foil insulation. If you haven't heard of it or used it before, double reflective foil insulation is a durable and lightweight foldable insulation product. According to the website of a popular brand, it is made of "two 96% reflective layers of film bonded to two internal layers of heavy gauge polyethylene bubbles (total thickness 5/16")."  So, it's essentially a lightweight yet durable bubble wrap with the unique ability to reflect virtually all heat and light back to its source. 

I hope that you will enjoy this journey into how I have found many applications and benefits of foil insulation (I'll call it this from now on for sake of brevity) that help me feel more prepared. Whether I'm battling the crushing heat waves of this past summer or contemplating being on the run in SHTF, foil insulation has shown me it has something for every situation. Let's start at the beginning of the story: IN THE HEAT of the moment! 

Off-Grid AC

With the craaaaazy hot temperatures we've been having here in the north this summer, I thought I was going to melt from the heat when the temperature in my cabin was approaching 90 degrees! As it is designed for solar gain in our cold winters with large south-facing windows, this has been my cabin's weakness. However, this weakness didn't truly show until these record-breaking heat waves.