Insulation Institute Blog

Posts Categorized: Energy Efficiency

As Energy Demand Surges, Insulation Becomes Frontline Fix

The exploding U.S. energy demand, particularly for electricity driven by data centers, electrification, and broader economic activity, makes a compelling case for expanding insulation to manage consumption. The release this week of the Business Council for Sustainable Energy’s and Bloomberg NEF’s 2026 Sustainable Energy in America Factbook provides comprehensive year-over-year details and data-driven trends that only bolster the case for insulation to help manage the resulting impacts.

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Free Expert Guidance on Wall Assemblies

Moisture is involved in most building envelope performance problems, including mold growth, metal corrosion, and other material degradation. In fact, home repairs due to moisture-related issues cost an estimated $32B annually, according to the Federal Reserve Bank.

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Three Underreported Housing Stories Now

One would be hard-pressed to find anyone in the housing industry who disagrees that affordability remains the biggest challenge in the U.S. today. Yet affordability doesn’t tell the whole story – a deeper dive is necessary to explain the issues plaguing our housing market now. Here are three underreported housing stories that deserve more attention.

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Habitat’s Blueprint for Smarter Housing

A habit Net Zero Home built in Louisiana.

While home affordability has risen to the top of the national challenges list in recent years, Habitat for Humanity has been tackling the issue for nearly 50 years to benefit low-income families. Insulation Institute recently talked with Adrienne Goolsby, Habitat for Humanity’s senior vice president, U.S. and Canada, about the company’s builds and how it keeps the cost of ownership, not just home building, at the center of its operations.

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Four Ways Insulation Creates Homes that Last, Save, and Sustain

Insulation does more than keep homes warm in the winter and cool in the summer. It is the foundation of resilient, affordable, environmentally friendly, and sustainable living. As the national dialogue around housing affordability grows, it’s worth noting these four ways that insulation creates homes that last, save, and sustain.

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Do Code Updates Affect Construction?

The American Council for an Energy Efficient Economy (ACEEE) released an analysis this week that shows that in states that have adopted the 2021 International Energy Conservation Code (IECC), there has not been a decline in new construction homes. This finding directly contradict claims made by some home builders that more stringent energy code requirements deter new construction.

Using data from the U.S. Census Bureau, ACEEE examined single-family home permit rates in the five largest states that adopted the 2021 IECC. It found that before the code update, the month-to-month number of permits fluctuated up and down but roughly followed national building trends.

Examining Construction After Code Changes

After the code update, ACEEE observed permits continued to bounce up and down, generally following national trends. Thus, code updates had no apparent impact on new home production.  

The bill savings each month dwarf the smaller increase in mortgage payments, says ACEEE. NAIMA’s newly released guide, “Insulation, Energy Codes & Housing Affordability,” also substantiates the positive impact more modern building energy efficiency codes have on housing affordability.

Other Studies Support This Finding

ACEEE notes that two separate studies support the idea that advanced energy codes do not impact housing construction. A study by Midwest Energy Efficiency Alliance and Slipstream showed that strengthened energy codes in Illinois did not affect housing construction in the state compared to adjacent counties in a neighboring state. Separately, a study this year from Canary Media found that a Massachusetts town that adopted a far more stringent code (requiring all electric homes) experienced a new construction boom.

Why It Matters

ACEEE’s findings show that new residential construction is cyclical, but energy code updates do not adversely impact new home construction. Solving America’s housing crisis will require a continued focus on reducing ownership costs to help affordability while also building more homes.

“We can and must advance both at the same time,” ACEEE says.

Do Code Updates Affect Construction?

Can AI Make Energy Retrofit Decisions?

Michigan State University (MSU) researchers have published analysis that concludes that large AI models can produce effective retrofit decisions but are less likely to identify which can deliver the best result most quickly and at the lowest cost. The study is one of the first to look at how large language models (LLMs) perform in determining how to assess efficient and effective building energy retrofits.

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Study Reports Cost Impact of Tariffs for Homes

A new study from Evernest, a real estate and property management firm based in Birmingham, AL, quantifies the impact that tariffs on construction materials such as steel, copper, drywall, and lumber will have on the cost of building a new home in each state.

The study results show that tariffs are already impacting costs for materials, with prices rising from a low of $26,180 in Oklahoma to $102,400 in Hawaii.

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5 Housing-Related Stories You May Have Missed This Week

Insulation Institute focuses this week on five housing-related stories that are also, in part, affordability and energy efficiency stories. You may have missed a few of these, so we hope this quick recap will be informative and timely.

Harvard’s 2025 State of the Nation’s Housing Released

Harvard University’s Joint Center for Housing Studies (JCHS) released the 2025 State of the Nation’s Housing Report on Tuesday. The report highlights a litany of concerns for the U.S. housing market and home buyers, including skyrocketing insurance premiums and property taxes, a sharp rise in homelessness, and growing dangers of climate disasters. Despite these challenges and in the face of diminished federal support, state and local governments are ramping up efforts to tackle affordable housing (which is also challenged by increasing homeowner costs, like utilities). For example, Minnesota has approved a bill allocating $242M to housing finance and another $100M in infrastructure bonds to support affordable housing development.

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