As Florida heads into another sweltering summer, Florida Power & Light (FPL) is urging its customers to take action before the heat, and the energy bills, peak. Among their top recommendations: air seal around doors and windows, upgrade insulation, and take advantage of rebates of up to $420 for qualifying AC and insulation improvements. It’s practical advice. But it raises a bigger question: why do so many Florida homes need to run their AC around the clock in the first place?
The answer, more often than not, is the building envelope. The shell of a home – its insulation, air barriers, and thermal continuity – is what determines whether conditioned air stays inside or quietly bleeds out through gaps, cracks, and under-insulated attic spaces. FPL’s own energy experts note that tiny gaps around doors and windows can force an AC system to work nonstop, and that air sealing alone can reduce a home’s energy use by up to 30%. When the building envelope is underperforming, no thermostat setting or appliance upgrade can fully compensate. Your home’s AC is then forced to overexert itself to maintain equilibrium, further exhausting the HVAC system.
This is precisely why the Institute for the Building Envelope exists. IBE advocates for high-performance building envelope standards, including proper insulation, continuous air barriers, and thermal bridging solutions, that address energy loss at its source. Spray foam insulation, for example, is the only product on the market that insulates and air seals in a single application, creating a continuous barrier that keeps conditioned air exactly where it belongs: inside. According to the EPA, these types of upgrades can save homeowners up to 15% on their heating and cooling bills annually. Not to mention–especially for Floridians–some applications also have structural benefits that can help homes weather hurricanes.
Yet individual upgrades and utility rebates can only go so far. The most durable solution is one built into the codes and standards that govern how homes are constructed in the first place. Building energy codes, like those developed under the International Energy Conservation Code (IECC), set the baseline for insulation levels, air barrier requirements, and thermal performance across new construction. When those standards are strong and consistently enforced, high-performance building envelopes stop being an upgrade and start being the norm. Florida, like many Sun Belt states, has an opportunity to get ahead of the curve by ensuring its codes reflect the energy demands its climate places on homes every single summer.
FPL’s rebate guidance is a step in the right direction, and homeowners should absolutely take advantage of it. But the real fix is building, or even upgrading, homes with a high-performance envelope from the start. IBE is committed to ensuring that policymakers, builders, and homeowners have access to the innovative materials and standards needed to make that a reality.