Bill Would Sweeten Loans for Energy-Efficient Homes - NYTimes
Good article
(clickable) about forward looking ways to enhance the performance of the housing stock -
they say like a third of all energy is consumed producing heating and cooling
for homes, so any advance in conserving energy in that front actually has a
direct impact reducing the country's energy footprint. Homes by default
are literally double the efficiency they were 6 yrs ago before the green
movement, but they could easily double again with the uniform adoption of
enhanced insulation, and then measuring the post-construction performance of a
home. Spray Foam insulation literally measures 4 times more effective
than fiberglass batt insulation, and twice as effective as NY State Energy Star
- it's serious stuff.
Catskill Farms has
been using spray foam insulation as a standard since 2008. We actually
won't work with clients who balk at the expense because it's such a
no-brainer, and the payback in comfort and costs is immediate. Using
fiberglass insulation is like using a typewriter instead of a computer, carbon
paper instead of a copier, leaded instead of unleaded gas, Polaroid over
digital photography - everytime I see that crap fiberglass insulation being
used everywhere in a home, I know that homeowner either made a bad decision, or
wasn't educated by their builder and/or architect.
In 2009, my
cohort James and I started a spray foam company, www.ecotechsprayfoam.com
so we could afford to give all of our clients in the Hudson Valley the benefit
of this product - 4 yrs later we have sprayed over $2million dollars of
basements, attics, crawlspaces, retrofits and new homes.
Once the laws
and building codes measure energy efficiency in a home correctly - measuring
it's real performance, not in artificial factory conditions - once that
political fight is won, homes will become dramatically more efficient.
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