Building Officials Reject "Energy Saving"
Idea that Made No Sense

U.S. homeowners will not have to pay a hefty price premium for an "energy efficiency" improvement that would actually make most homes less energy-efficient, and they can thank America's building officials.

At the International Code Council (ICC) Final Action Hearings held in September in Detroit building official members of ICC voted overwhelmingly to restore the wall R-values originally proposed by the U.S. Department of Energy to the International Energy Conservation Code (IECC). The action reversed an earlier change to the IECC that could have compromised the structural strength of homes and greatly restricted use of many popular insulation materials, including several materials known to offer superior thermal performance and green/sustainable building benefits.

The code change approved by more than 80% of the ICC voting delegates eliminated prescriptive wall R-value requirements that would in many cases have required builders to use sheathing materials with little or no structural strength instead of plywood, oriented strand board, or other products that provide strength to the exterior walls of homes. The alternative to this undesirable option was exclusive use of high density fiber glass batt insulation or closed-cell foam plastic insulation to achieve the mandated wall R-values. In many parts of the country this would have effectively eliminated such products as cellulose insulation, open cell foam plastic insulation, soy-based foam insulation, most fiber glass batt insulation, rock/slag wool insulation, cotton insulation, cementitious insulation, and other less common insulation products as viable choices for builders and home owners.

It is widely recognized by independent authorities that walls insulated with cellulose wall spray, dense pack cellulose, open cell spray foam plastic, and spray-applied cemetitious insulation products typically exhibit superior thermal performance when compared to walls insulated to the same R-value with fiber glass batts. Fiber glass and foam plastic are high embodied energy materials--that is, it takes a lot of energy to make them--which further reduces any slight energy savings that might result from a small increase in R-value. It is likely that the higher mandated wall R-values would actually have resulted in higher energy bills for home owners and greater total energy consumption from a global perspective.

The building official members of ICC, who have final approval authority for all proposed code changes, wisely chose to follow the guidance of the U.S. Department of Energy with regard to wall R-values. America's home owners are the real winners.

Click here to learn why "R-for-R" all insulation materials are NOT created equal.