Insulation Institute Blog

Posts Categorized: Energy Codes

Building Codes Save Money and Lives

As the remnants of Hurricane Idalia pummeled the East Coast, this week it’s becoming clear that property owners may feel the resulting impacts for months or even years. The devastation underscores the importance of strong building codes and code enforcement as a front-line defense against increasingly extreme weather events. As climate change increases the scale and severity of natural disasters, strong building codes will save billions in repairs, according to a recently published Scientific American article.

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Building Codes Save Money and Lives

North Carolina Builder: Energy Efficiency Isn’t a Bad Word

If you follow building energy efficiency code development and implementation at all, then you know that builders in North Carolina oppose efforts to modernize the state’s outdated energy efficiency code. That code is largely unchanged from the 2009 IECC, and the North Carolina Home Builders Association is fighting to keep it that way.

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North Carolina Builder: Energy Efficiency Isn’t a Bad Word

Administration Targets Building Codes in New Initiative

The Biden Administration on Wednesday announced a national initiative to advance building codes. The effort is designed to help state, local, Tribal, and territorial governments adopt the latest, current building codes and standards. Doing so, it says, will boost resilience to hurricanes, flooding, wildfires, and other extreme weather events, which are intensifying because of climate change. The added benefit is lower utility bills, especially for underserved communities.

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Administration Targets Building Codes in New Initiative

Decarbonizing Buildings Starts with Energy Efficiency

Responsible for nearly 40 percent of global climate emissions, buildings are critical to the government’s response to climate change. As lawmakers and climate advocates look for new policies that will curb greenhouse gas emissions from the built environment, the old rallying cry for energy efficiency is being replaced by calls for policies that drive building decarbonization. This leads to the question, just where does energy efficiency fit in this broader goal of decarbonization?

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Decarbonizing Buildings Starts with Energy Efficiency

Could Your Next Home Be 3D Printed?

The U.S. housing market saw a record low supply of homes for sale at 1.16 million in April, down 25 percent from the prior year. With demand driven by the lowest fixed mortgage rates in 50 years, a current housing shortage at 4 million homes nationwide,[1] and higher costs for building materials, land, and labor, any home building option that promises to speed construction while reducing costs is attractive. Enter 3D printed homes – an efficient, cost-effective, and resilient option for new home construction.

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Could Your Next Home Be 3D Printed?

DOE Analysis of the 2021 IECC Reveals Big Savings

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy recently issued a preliminary analysis of the 2021 International Energy Conservation Code (IECC), noting that the code will improve energy efficiency in residential buildings. DOE’s technical analysis of the updated code (relative to the 2018 IECC edition) pegs national savings of approximately:  

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DOE Analysis of the 2021 IECC Reveals Big Savings

What Texas Can Teach Us About Resilience

This month’s extreme cold snap in Texas and resulting failure of the state’s power grid offers some important lessons in the rear-view mirror. This week, we look at three takeaways from this month’s crisis and how we can better prepare for the next one.

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What Texas Can Teach Us About Resilience

The Crux of Better Building

Builder Ryan McCoon, LEED APH of Endura Performance Homes, has more than 30 years’ experience in the residential construction industry and has built 60 homes ranging in price from $500 – $1.5M in Traverse City, MI area. As a high-end custom builder, Ryan has the weight of his client’s expectations at the forefront of his mind as he completes their homes. He takes care to ensure that the projects are attractive, healthy, and have lower operating costs and increased durability for many years to come.

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The Crux of Better Building