Howling winds lulled us to sleep, and frosty temperatures chilled our bones this January, urging us to snuggle in blankets to stay warm. But what about our homes, exposed to the elements and tasked to keep the heat in and cold out? Homes need blankets, too, and that’s precisely what insulation and air sealing do.

The first thing you do in any energy-efficient project is eliminate energy waste. You want to tighten up the home. It’s like putting a blanket around you; the bigger the blanket, the heavier the blanket, the cozier you’re going to be. — Bob Fischman, Bedford 2030 Energy Coach

Insulation is a game changer for comfort, climate, energy efficiency, and cost savings, but it sounds like a project, and life is busy. So, let’s break down how it works, what it costs, the return on investment, and what government incentives and rebates are available to lower the cost of this home energy upgrade. 

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Insulation Tea with Kevin Brenner: Served With a Dash of Humor

Air sealing and insulation—boring? Not a chance, thanks to Kevin Brenner, renowned “Insulation King.” Kevin, Founder and President of Healthy Home Energy & Consulting™, Bedford 2030 Board Member, gave Harmony Dixon of Bedford 2030 the scoop on insulation. His visit became a building enthusiast’s show-and-tell, mixed with mad-scientist-esque experiments. (We had zero fun. 😉)

Starting Your Energy-Efficiency Journey

Bedford 2030: As the expert and the “Insulation King,” where do you recommend homeowners begin on their energy-efficient journey if they want to get home upgrades like insulation?

Kevin Brenner: There’s no question that the place to begin is with an [energy] assessment.

For Kevin, and his company Healthy Home Energy & Consulting™, an energy assessment (or energy audit) is as much about the science as it is about how you feel in your home. A comfortable house is an energy-efficient one.

KB: Then there are some physical tests that you need to do, like a blower door test and infrared thermography, which will tell you how leaky your house is and where those leaks are coming from.

With this qualitative and quantitative information, Kevin can recommend where and how to air seal and insulate your home, increasing your comfort, indoor air quality, and energy savings. All this work comes at a very good price—in New York State, energy assessments are free. Depending on your contractor, blower door tests may cost extra, but not with Healthy Home™.

Healthy Home is recommended by NYSERDA to perform no-cost home energy assessments. For the full list of approved contractors, please click here.

Bedford 2030’s Energy Coach program was created to help home and business owners make sense of their energy assessments and prioritize what actions they need to take. 

KB: It’s a good idea to speak to Bob [the Energy Coach] after you’ve had an assessment. If you feel like you don’t understand the assessment, what to do, or how to prioritize it, Bob is a great person to talk to. And he’s also free.

The Biggest Bang for Your Buck

Bedford 2030: So once you’ve had your assessment and talked to Bob, what is typically the biggest bang for your buck for an energy-efficiency project?

KB: 99% of the time, work on what we call “the hat of the house”—the attic. We address what’s called the “pressure boundary,” which is where air comes in and out of the home, and then we air seal and then we install loose-fill cellulose insulation. And generally speaking, with comfort and drafts, air sealing is much more important than insulation.

Is Insulation Invasive?

Bedford 2030: How invasive can insulation projects be? Say you have one of these old, beautiful, historic Bedford homes, well decorated, gorgeous wallpaper, and you don’t want to destroy it, but it’s poorly insulated.

KB: The good news about insulation in the typical home is that the areas that have the greatest effect are in the attic and the basement. Less than 20% of our projects involve wall insulation, which is the most invasive. When we’re doing work in the attic and the basement, other than having trucks in your driveway and guys in your house, it’s really not invasive at all.

Insulation and Your Wallet

Bedford 2030: Okay, so this is a really broad question…

KB: I know what it’s gonna be. The question is, “How much does all this cost?” I can tell you that the air sealing and insulation costs in a typical house range from $5,000 to $25,000.

To help with the cost, the state and federal governments offer several incentive and rebate programs. For example, Kevin told us that the 25C credit gets you $2,500 for your project, and you can reapply for it annually.

Bedford 2030: What’s your return on investment for that? What difference are you going to see in your energy bills?

KB: The energy savings for air sealing and insulation is between 30-40%, and that typically returns to an ROI of seven to eight years. 

Savings on your energy bill are only one benefit of this home upgrade: the nature of doing air sealing means improving indoor air quality—and your health. 

The Climate Connection

Bedford 2030: What about the impact on climate change?

KB: It’s huge. When you reduce the amount of heat that the house needs, you’ve reduced the amount of oil that you have to buy. And you reduce the amount of combustion byproducts that are going up your chimney into the environment.

The Flaming-Hot Tea on Cellulose Insulation

On the topic of combustion, Kevin’s goodie bag of insulation materials also contained a fiery experiment to spice up the discussion. We didn’t burn the office down, we promise. You won’t want to miss this hilarious and informative insulation conversation.

Many thanks to Kevin for his help understanding the ins and outs of air sealing and insulation. It’s always good to have a mad (building) scientist in your back pocket!

The way we use energy in our homes has a massive impact on our comfort, health, wallet, and planet. By taking simple actions, like getting an energy assessment or installing new air sealing and insulation, we can drastically reduce our energy use.

Need help figuring out where to start? Sign up for a free Bedford 2030 Energy Coaching session. Our Coach will help you understand and prioritize what upgrades your home needs. Take climate action from the comfort of your couch today!