About the Author: Doug Brady is a Board Member of Institute for the Building Envelope and Chief Strategy Officer for Huntsman Building Solutions, a global leader in spray polyurethane foam. He wrote this for RealClearEnergy.
Read the full op-ed here.
“With winter fast approaching, homeowners are looking for ways to not only keep their homes warm, but to do it so in an environmentally friendly way that also saves money for years to come.
While there are many products on the market that will help achieve these goals, experts urge homeowners to look at their home’s building envelope to assess any weaknesses that arise from poor insulation, air leaks, or both. The Washington Post recently wrote about the importance of addressing any weatherization needs for your home. While the article does offer DIY tips on improving your home’s energy efficiency this winter, they suggest that homeowners consider making worthwhile investments in energy-efficient products, such as upgrading insulation, which can not only protect your home year-round, but through programs made possible through the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), are also eligible for tax credits. As John Fernandez, Director of the MIT Environmental Solutions Initiative puts it, weatherizing your home should be “absolutely the first step to take before you do anything else,” adding “the last thing you want to do is have a really high-efficiency, low-carbon system that’s just pumping heat or air conditioning into a building that’s just leaking.”
Polyurethane products, specifically spray foam insulation, are tried and true innovative building materials that can have a substantial impact on the strength of your home’s building envelope to help keep you warm in the winter months, save you money on home heating bills, and reduce your overall energy output.
The American Chemistry Council (ACC) recently praised the benefits of polyurethane products and spray foam insulation:
“Buildings equipped with spray polyurethane foam (SPF) […] utilize less energy and thus reduce carbon emissions, helping create a less carbon-dependent society and supporting the fight against climate change and ozone depletion. With its excellent strength-to-weight ratio, insulation and air sealing properties, durability, and versatility, polyurethanes help conserve natural resources and preserve the environment by reducing energy usage.”
The numbers alone demonstrate the undeniable impact spray foam insulation can have reducing one’s energy usage. It’s estimated that 40% of a building’s energy is lost when air escapes through various gaps, holes, cracks, and air leaks. This not only hurts your wallet, but it also unnecessarily leads to energy waste and emissions. Spray foam insulation solves both problems, providing insulation and serving as an air barrier to keep conditioned air where it belongs – inside your home. Using spray foam insulation can save you up to 30% on your energy bills. It’s also been shown to be the superior insulation and air sealing product on the market.
Spray foam also possesses the ability to increase your home’s raking strength, allowing it to withstand heavy wind and storms. It “seals” your home to prevent corroding elements, like snow and other forms of precipitation. Spray form insulation has also been proven to add years to your home’s roofing system, acting like a hat on your home. Strengthening the overall structure of your home and making it more impervious to the outside elements can help your home survive extreme weather conditions.
Under IRA, homeowners that install spray foam insulation are eligible for tax credits, allowing consumers to get up to $1,200 to cover the upfront costs of sealing homes. On top of current tax credits available through the IRA, consumers can expect to see nearly a threefold return in savings once they realize the benefits of retrofitting or weathering their homes.
While a multi-faceted approach should be employed to build an energy efficient home, we should focus on our building envelope and the materials that go into our walls and attics. Insulation may not be as cool as a Tesla or as obvious as a solar panel, but through the use of innovative building materials like spray foam, we can all do our part to create a more sustainable planet.“