The rising costs associated with not only buying a home, but maintaining and keeping a home comfortable, have priced many hard-working families further and further away from attaining what many consider to be a key part of the American dream.
On his first day in office, President Trump signed an executive order calling for a review on policies that have led to a housing affordability crisis. It’s important to assess the impact rising utility costs have on homeowners and provide solutions that will lower energy costs and put money back in the pockets of everyday Americans.
According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), the consumer price index (CPI) for household energy has increased by over 34% over the last 10 years. Just last summer, the average American family paid over $700 to keep their home cool, a nearly 8% increase from the year prior and the highest average in 10 years. The Wall Street Journal Editorial Board noted last year that electricity prices have increased by nearly 30% since early 2021, outpacing the rate of overall inflation by about 50%.
A recent study found that over one-third of Americans struggle to pay their utility bills and must make a choice between trying to keep their home comfortable or forgo necessities such as food or clothing. For Southern states like Alabama and Mississippi, this number jumps to 44%.
One critical way to help offset the rising costs of utilities and make homes safe and comfortable year-round is to examine your home’s building envelope and ensure the conditioned air used to heat or cool your home is being utilized as efficiently and effectively as possible. According to the U.S. Department of Energy, air leaks can waste up to 40% of the energy used to heat and cool a typical home. When conditioned air escapes, it may as well be hard-earned money going out the window.
Ensuring your home is properly insulated is an often overlooked but critical component to strengthen a home’s building envelope. Among the various types of insulation, spray foam stands out as the premium, all-in-one insulation material on the market. It not only insulates but air seals your home, saving homeowners up to 15% on heating and cooling costs alone. It’s no wonder why experts say that optimizing insulation in a home is the “best way” to “drop your energy bills,” and that the energy savings realized by upgrading to spray foam insulation can pay for itself in as little as 5 to 10 years.
Spray foam’s innovative properties mean that homes stand more resilient against extreme high wind events, like hurricanes, minimizing structural damage. Building stronger can also make your home eligible for premium reductions to your homeowner’s insurance. Seeing a need to address rising home insurance premiums and construct homes with resiliency in mind, lawmakers in Florida went to work in 2023, passing H.B. 799, which requires insurance companies to provide premium reductions for homes with wind uplift prevention solutions. When applied to an unvented attic, spray foam insulation helps keep a home’s roof intact in high wind events like hurricanes. H.B. 799 goes a long way to help prevent the roof of a home from being lost in the face of a natural disaster.
Bringing down the costs of homeownership is in our country’s best interest, which is why IBE is dedicated to delivering innovative building materials that make homes more energy efficient, meaning homeowners spend less on utility costs.