May be of interest -

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2019/aug/19/revenge-of-the-clothes-moths-as-numbers-boom-can-they-be-stopped

“One of the things that worries me is the push for natural fibres for insulation,” says Pinniger. “Wool insulation is great environmentally, but if you stick wool up in your attic you’re going to get moths in it. Even worse, I know one house where they blew wool in cavity walls. They can’t get it out and they’ve got moths – they’re going to have to live with moths the whole time they live in that house.”

I'd have thought it would take quite a while for moth larvae to eat a whole cavity-full of wool, even if it hasn't been treated with pesticides, and even if they could get into the cavity undetected? Bit like building houses out of timber, the woodworms will eventually complete the carbon cycle, but hopefully not for a good while.

Ed, have you tried using Chrome on Android, it activates those links automatically, as an option when you long-tap them, no need for the OP to think about format?. Other browsers and OSs doubtless are available to do the same.

Posted By: Mike1It's certainly a recurrent theme. See, for example,http://www.greenbuildingforum.co.uk/newforum/comments.php?DiscussionID=15271#" rel="nofollow" >http://www.greenbuildingforum.co.uk/newforum/comments.php?DiscussionID=15271#

I'm not entirely sure how green it is either, except as a niche product. If everyone chose it we'd probably end up with a big increase in sheep farming, an associated increase in methane - and consequently global warming - plus a glut of mutton (to quote myself fromhttp://www.greenbuildingforum.co.uk/newforum/comments.php?DiscussionID=16150#" rel="nofollow" >http://www.greenbuildingforum.co.uk/newforum/comments.php?DiscussionID=16150#).

Isn't the bigger part of the global warming problem caused by the loss of vegetation as apposed to any increase in livestock?

Posted By: JontiIsn't the bigger part of the global warming problem caused by the loss of vegetation as opposed to any increase in livestock?

I guess that would depend in part on what vegetation is cleared (if existing grassland isn't used) to make way for sheep farming, though that would be a one-off event.

But pursuing this further, I tracked down a paper - see below - that lists (in table 6) the findings of several studies (one of them including the UK) that estimates that the production of 1kg of 'greasy wool' (wool as shorn from the sheep) embodies between 7.8 and 36.2 kg of CO2-evilalent at the farm gate. It seems that the upper estimates may be closer to reality, being based on a 'more sophisticated model that included sheep physiology', including methane production. Of course there were many other variables, particularly the allocation between meat and wool.

Farm gate greasy wool production represents between 75–90% of the total emissions when transport and processing are considered, so as used, the embodied CO2 of sheep's wool could be as much as 40 to 48 kg CO2 / kg wool.

For comparison, I also found an estimate of 1.12 kg of CO2/kg for Rockwool. By that measure, Rockwool is way more environmentally friendly than sheep's wool.

More:
Carbon Footprint of Lamb and Wool Production at Farm Gate and the Regional Scale in Southern Patagonia
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/12/8/3077/pdf#

Retrofitting Buildings: Embodied & Operational Energy Use in English Housing Stock
https://core.ac.uk/download/pdf/161339224.pdf#

Posted By: Ed DaviesGiven that the wool is essentially a zero-monetary-value waste product at the farm gate, at least in Scotland, I can't see how it makes much sense to allocate any of the COâ‚‚ production to it.

Looks like that's mainly due to Covid:
https://www.bbc.com/news/business-53421546
https://www.agriland.co.uk/farming-news/british-wool-warns-of-10-million-kilos-of-unsold-wool/#

The current market price in Australia is €8.47 / kg (https://www.wool.com/market-intelligence/weekly-price-reports/20202021/week-36-march-2021/).

Posted By: Mike1Looks like that's mainly due to Covid:

Probably, but not just that. Even before this time last year my neighbour wasn't bothering to sell his where he had in the past, to a company near Alness which processed them for insulation, I think. Whatever, compare 3p for a fleece to something like £100 for a sheep; varies wildly (£84 and £120 are numbers that stick in my mind that my neighbour has mentioned) but still…

Then time to leave sheep farming to the Australians and plant trees instead:
https://www.sheffield.ac.uk/news/nr/sheep-farmers-could-profit-shifting-forest-study-research-environmental-land-management-1.905336#

Sheep farmers* near us know that you can make more money by being paid to plant trees than by keeping sheep. There's usually a condition in the grant that you look after the trees for 5 years, for which you are paid more money each year.

After that, you bulldoze the saplings and put the sheep back onto the land, ready to claim the next round of tree grants....

* well at least one of them