BATON ROUGE Blog

How Insulation Works to Make Your Home More Energy Efficient

Homeowners and builders are paying more attention to the energy efficiency and environmental sustainability of their homes. Conserving energy in your home not only reduces its drain on the planet's resources but can also reduce the drain on your wallet. Insulation is one of the best and most cost-effective ways to improve your home’s energy efficiency.

How insulation increases your home energy efficiency

Insulation functions to resist the flow of heat. Heat is transferred in three ways; conduction, convection, and radiation. Heat moves by conduction from one material to another when they are in direct contact, say, from a hot pan to the kitchen counter you set it on. Convection is when heat moves through gasses rising and falling with a change in temperature, and radiation is when heat travels in a straight line as infrared light from a heat source and heats anything in its path (such as from a space heater, for example).

Proper insulation can help to block all three paths allowing heat to transfer and slow down the process, making it more difficult for heat to penetrate through the walls, floors and ceilings of your home from either side. This means that warm air outside your home can’t penetrate as easily during the summer, and warm air inside your home can’t escape as easily in the winter.

Insulation works by slowing down the process of convection and conduction. Rolled or loose-fill insulation installed into walls makes it difficult for heat to transfer through them. Loose fill insulation blown into the attic space above conditioned living space slows heat transfer through the attic. You can also address radiant heat penetration by installing reflective insulation or adding radiant barriers to your existing insulation.

Once you’ve addressed all three methods of heat transfer, you can use less energy to heat and cool your home, as your home can more easily maintain a consistent temperature because it is not losing or gaining heat based on the outside air.

Benefits of a more energy-efficient home

Making your home more energy-efficient with proper insulation has many benefits for both your home and the planet. These include:

Reduced energy bills

When your home is more energy-efficient, you’ll likely see your heating and cooling bills noticeably lower. This is because your home can maintain a consistent temperature for longer periods without as much use of your heating or cooling systems. This results in less energy being used to heat and cool your home and thus significantly reducing your energy bills, increasing your energy efficiency.

Reduced greenhouse gas emissions

Using less energy to heat and cool your home has benefits beyond your energy bill. When you use less energy, you reduce your demand for natural gas, propane, fuel oil, or electricity to heat and cool your home, all of which have a significant impact on greenhouse gas emissions and global warming. Making your home more energy efficient is a key factor in helping keep our environment healthy and thriving.

Use of recycled materials

Did you know that many popular (and effective!) insulation options are made from recycled materials? Fiberglass, mineral wool, and cellulose insulation are all usually made at least partly with recycled materials. Using these materials in your insulation means they don’t end up in landfills and contribute to excess waste.

How can I update my insulation to make it more energy-efficient?

The best way to update your home’s existing insulation to get the maximum energy-saving benefits is to work with a professional insulation expert.

An insulation expert can conduct a thorough evaluation of your home to identify any and all areas in need of insulation repair, replacement, or installation. They use special tools to identify areas where heat may be leaking through that are not visible to the naked eye to ensure that you get the tightest seal possible. This is important because hidden heat loss is one of the biggest problems homeowners face when trying to make their homes more energy-efficient.

Insulation experts can then make custom recommendations about the types of insulation that are appropriate for your home’s unique needs.

At Koala Insulation, our experts are well-versed in all kinds of attic insulation and ventilation. Our experts will arrive with state-of-the-art equipment to thoroughly inspect your attic or home and identify any areas in need of repair or improvement. They will provide a detailed assessment of the current conditions of your space and use their years of experience to design solutions that fit your home and budget.

By hiring a Koala Insulation expert, you not only get to enjoy a more efficient home faster, but you also get to benefit from the years of energy savings that professionally installed insulation will bring.