The American Council for an Energy-Efficent Economy (ACEEE) has released a report on the significance of improvements in the building envelope in empowering the electrification of the economy.
by ACEEE
Key Takeaways
Excerpt from report
Weatherizing buildings is an excellent first step toward electrifying their heating and cooling systems, especially for buildings in cold climates or those that have high-efficiency fossil-fueled heating systems. State energy offices responsible for distributing electrification funds should strongly encourage households installing heat pumps to pair them with insulation and air-sealing measures.
Averaged across the United States, modest weatherization measures such as air sealing and increasing the quality and thickness of attic insulation can reliably reduce energy usage by 12–18%. Deeper building retrofits that add insulation to walls, basements, and rim joists, and install higher-efficiency windows could deliver around 33% energy savings.
Envelope improvements in electrified buildings offer great value to the electric grid, reducing peak electric load by approximately 7–10%.
The average residential customer who weatherizes an electrified home can expect to save an additional $150–1,200 in operational costs per year, with most households saving $500–800 per year.
Efficient envelopes’ ability to reduce demand during some of the grid’s most carbon-intensive hours of the year makes them one of the most effective efficiency measures for reducing GHG emissions.
Efficient envelopes help make buildings safer, healthier, and more comfortable.
Scaling envelope improvements nationwide is both a major workforce development opportunity and challenge.
Read the ACEEE report