As much as 40% of a building’s energy is lost due to air infiltration. Gaps, holes and air leaks—which can all be prevented—can make energy bills unnecessarily high and let valuable resources go to waste.
Spray foam offers a solution: it performs as both insulation and an air sealant, or air barrier, closing those nooks and crannies that let air escape and add dollars to monthly energy bills. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) Energy Star program estimates that by adding insulation and sealing air leaks, you could save up to 20% on your monthly energy bills.1
The U.S. Department of Energy estimates that 56% of the energy used in a home goes to heating and cooling.2 Your home’s heating, ventilating, and air conditioning (HVAC) system has a big effect on your utility bills and your energy consumption. Maintaining an optimal HVAC system can make your home more energy efficient. Spray foam insulation can help reduce the workload on your HVAC system thanks to its high R-value and effectiveness.3 In fact, with spray foam, HVAC sizing can be reduced as much as 35% without the loss of efficiency and comfort.
SPRAY FOAM AS AN AIR SEALANT
Air leaks can waste energy and drive up utility bills. Spray foam can be used to fill gaps and stop the leaks in many areas of a home or building. Some common spots for air leaks that can be sealed with spray foam include:
- Behind knee walls
- Attic hatches
- Wiring holes
- Plumbing vents
- Open soffits
- Recessed light, furnace flue or duct chase-ways
- Basement rim joists, windows and doors5
“Cool roofs” are roofs designed to maintain a lower temperature than traditional roofs. They are light in color and reflect sunlight instead of absorbing it, which allows heat to escape. SPF applied to the roof of a home or building can provide cool roof performance when topped with a protective, reflective coating. Along with reducing air conditioning needs, spray foam helps protects the roof, potentially extending its lifetime.6
Spray foam roofs also reduce thermal shorts or bridges. Traditional roofing materials must be nailed down or fastened to the roof deck with metal fastenings, creating a thermal short or bridge from the conditioned building interior to the outside roof deck, which can reach temperatures of up to 180 degrees in the summer. Spray foam roofing does not require metal fastening since the foam bonds directly to the roof deck in a continuous layer of insulation.
- http://www.energystar.gov/index.cfm?c=home_sealing.hm_improvement_methodology
- http://energy.gov/heating-and-cooling
- http://www.energystar.gov/index.cfm?c=diy.diy_locating_leaks
- https://energy.gov/energysaver/cool-roofs
WAYS TO SAVE
SPF could save you money in the following ways:*
- Improved efficiency and reduced air loss could lower energy bills.
- Builders could install smaller HVAC systems, using fewer framing and roofing materials and employing one product that could provide three functions: insulator, air barrier and moisture barrier, which could lower construction costs.
- Spray foam offers home and building owners opportunities to lower maintenance costs on roofing systems.
- Homeowners, builders and architects may be able to qualify for tax incentives, rebates, grants or certifications.