Energy efficiencyEnergy efficiency in buildings

In the United States

  • Buildings are the single most significant contributor to greenhouse gas emissions and account for 39% of the CO2 emissions in the U.S (1)
  • In the U.S., it is estimated that up to 50% of the energy in buildings is lost due to inadequate insulation (2)
  • Insulation currently in place in U.S. buildings reduces carbon dioxide emissions by 780 million tons each year (3)
  • In the U.S. alone, $5.9 billion could be saved annually in health care and economic costs linked to air pollution simply by improved insulation (4)
  • All insulation products installed in U.S. buildings save consumers about 12 quadrillion BTUs annually or about 42% of the energy that would have been consumed with no insulation in place (5)
  • If the 65% of the under insulated homes in the U.S. were retrofitted to meet the 2000 International Energy Conservation Code’s Building Energy Code, there would be 62 million fewer metric tons of greenhouse gasses, 110,000 fewer restricted work days, and 240 fewer premature deaths (6)
  • Aggressive increases in U.S. building energy codes could result in an increase of $28.5 billion in income and 1.1 million jobs (7)

Sources:
(1) PEW Center on Global Climate Change Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change
(2) International Energy Agency
(3) Green and Competitive Report: Energy Conservation Management, June 1996
(4) Public Health Benefits of Insulation Retrofits in Existing Housing in the U.S., Levy et. al., Environmental Health, 2003
(5) Green and Competitive Report: Energy Conservation Management, June 1996
(6) The Harvard School of Public Health
(7) American Council for an Energy Efficient Economy

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“Insulation is one of the few products that has no other purpose than to provide comfort and save energy.”