25 Jul How Reflective Insulation Is Saving Utah Homeowners On Heating and Cooling

Scorching summers and frigid winters are no stranger to homeowners across Utah. 

When you have the largest average family size in the country, you have a lot of house you need to heat and cool during those tougher months. The extremes in summer and winter can create drastic cost increases for homeowners that many Utah families struggle to handle.  

However, there is a way for homeowners to pull their energy bills back under their control. Reflective insulation has become an emerging hot product for homeowners, and there’s a good reason why. On top of traditional insulation, reflective insulation can completely stop the heat transfer that leads to crazy high energy bills in both summer and winter. 

Let’s take a look at everything reflective insulation has to offer, and see how Utah homeowners can take the most advantage of it to create the strongest ROI possible. 

Stay Informed On Reflective Insulation’s Benefits

It’s important to keep yourself up to date and educated on what reflective insulation is, does, and how it improves your home. We are not here to recommend an uninformed investment. Homeowners need to know what they’re buying into when they take that next step. 

The U.S. Department of Energy estimates that 48% of your home’s energy is spent on heating and cooling costs. That’s nearly half of your energy bill each payment period that could be made more efficient!

Additionally, ASHRAE estimates that A/C units lose 7% of their efficiency in the first year. Following that, they can see around 5% efficiency lost in the second year, and 2% lost each additional year. A/C units can accumulate up to 30-40% loss of efficiency over their lifetime. 

It’s apparent that heating and cooling costs are a big opportunity for improvement in many homes. So what can Utah homeowners do to make the biggest impact? 

It comes down to addressing the right issues, and few products provide the same comprehensive solution that reflective insulation offers. 

How Reflective Insulation Works 

Traditional insulation is like a sponge. No matter if it is batting, blown-in, denim, cellulose, foam, recycled newspaper, rock wool, you name it — all these kinds of insulation just slow down the heat transfer inside a home. It doesn’t stop the heat transfer. That’s the beauty of our insulation. 

Reflective insulation is designed to help improve the performance of other insulation within the home. Reflective insulation increases the home’s thermal efficiency and reducing radiant, conduction, and convection heat transfer.

In the summer, the sun radiates heat into your attic, causing extreme temperatures if left unchecked. The insulation blocks radiant heat from entering your home, stopping up to 97% of radiant heat gain in the summertime. 

Reflective insulation isn’t just a summertime benefit. In the winter, the insulation works to keep your home’s interior just as cozy as you want to keep it. As hot air rises through the ceiling toward the attic, the insulation blocks the hot air from escaping into the attic. This prevents your heating system from wasting energy on a home that is leaking it’s efforts. 

Reflective insulation helps create a significantly more consistent, controllable, and efficient home environment, allowing for your heating and cooling costs to be cut and your money to be saved. 

Know The Reflective Insulation Products 

There are a lot of reflective insulation options on the market, so it is important that homeowners know which ones work and which ones work best. 

The reflective insulation solution provided by Eco Elements does more than just prevent radiant heat from entering your home — it stops radiant heat altogether. Eco Elements provides an advanced version of the reflective insulation technology built to make your home more energy efficient than others on the market. 

The outer layers of our reflective insulation products are 99% pure aluminum. This allows for the radiant heat to be reflected more thoroughly than other forms of reflected insulation. The Advanced Black core layer is a mineral-based fiber that gives superior protection and breathability, allowing moisture to escape and minimizing the dangers of mold growth and moisture damage. 

This advanced layer is what separates our insulation from other multi-layer and single-layer insulation competitors in the market today. 

Our products have also been tested for enhanced durability and flame-resistance. Eco Elements provides a reflective insulation solution which meets all requirements set for in UL1715/UBS 26-Five Room Corner Wall Fire Test.  We make sure our reflective insulation meets the safety requirements that homeowners care about, and also the ones they may not know about. 

Our insulation also boasts an average R-value of over 15, which gives an added protection from conduction and convection problems. 

Our insulation will cut your heating and cooling bills immediately. Their tested durability leads to you saving on wear and tear repair costs. It will create a more comfortable indoor living area, help eliminate hot and cold spots throughout the home, and potentially increase the total value of your home. 

Know The Insulation Rebates

Too little homeowners cash in on the improvements they make to their home. Utah energy providers offer a number of sponsored rebates and rewards programs available for homeowners invested in increasing energy-efficiency. 

Utah Clean Energy provides a comprehensive list of available rebates for energy efficiency improvements, both to residential and commercial sectors. In the case of reflective insulation, Dominion Energy and Rocky Mountain Power both offer specific insulation-based rebate incentive programs. We highly encourage homeowners to review all the rebate and incentive programs in their specific area for additional rewards. Make sure you’re maximizing your insulation ROI by taking advantage of the programs available to you. 

While our insulation is the main focus here, we don’t want to go without mentioning the additional cost-saving opportunities available to Utah homeowners besides insulation. There are a lot of ways to save on energy beyond your heating and cooling, and there’s no better way to find out about it than by checking out an area event near you. 

Attending trade shows, events, and seminars can help you find like-minded homeowners and industry pros who can share with you more ways to save on energy costs. Check out this comprehensive list of clean energy events throughout Utah from the Utah Clean Energy website. 

Do The Basics To Reduce Home Energy Costs

Apart from all the information above, there are still small things you can do to improve your home’s comfort. These improvements aren’t the full-scale solutions we break down above, but they do make a difference. 

Get A Smart Thermostat

Managing your home’s temperature shouldn’t be a part-time job. When homeowners forget their thermostat is set on a certain setting, energy bills can skyrocket, especially in summers and winters. You shouldn’t have to check in on your home’s system multiple times a day to make sure you aren’t breaking the budget. 

Smart thermostats, or similarly programmable thermostats, are a great solution. These devices let you set custom rules for your thermostat on a daily or hourly basis. This way homeowners can have a consistent energy output in their home. When your home’s energy is more consistent, your energy bills are easier to anticipate. 

Close Your Blinds When Not In The House

This is one of the more basic options, but it does more for your home’s energy consumption than you might think. On hot summer days, closing your blinds helps bring down the amount of solar heat gained by your building envelope. Similarly, leaving them open while you leave for work lets a significant amount of extra heat into your home. This is heat that your HVAC systems will have to work against when you get back and want a cooler home environment.

By keeping your blinds closed when you leave, you’re doing your A/C unit a favor and giving it less work to do. This translates to easier cooling processes and lowered energy spend by the end of the month. 

Conduct A Home Inspection Of Sealing, Insulation, and Ventilation

If you want to save on heating and cooling costs, you need to know how equipped your home is to control its own temperature. Some homeowners make the mistake of thinking a better A/C or heating unit are the keys to a better home environment. In reality, the secret lies within the walls, floors, ceilings, and roofing. 

There are three pillars of a home envelope that work together to create a consistent home environment. These pillars are air sealing, insulation, and ventilation. We’ve talked a lot about insulation so far, but the other two components contribute a lot to energy efficiency as well. 

We encourage homeowners to do their own research on sealing and ventilation. However, in order to get the most accurate assessment of how their current home is performing day-to-day, we highly recommend an attic inspection by a certified healthy home professional. An inspection allows for the homeowner to learn exactly what they’re dealing with, and be informed and confident in knowing what steps they need to take to make a more energy efficient home. 

Contact Us Today

Reach out to us and we would be happy to discuss how reflective insulation, or any of our products, can help you build a better indoor home environment.