Cut summer electric bills with radiant barrier insulation

If you’re looking for ways to supplement your existing insulation, radiant barrier could be the answer. You can reduce the temperature of your attic by up to 30 degrees in the summer.

One of the easiest ways to lower your electricity bills year-round is to add extra insulation to your home. This can often be tricky in an existing house. Naturally, it’s usually not feasible to rip out the drywall and replace the existing insulation unless it has water damage or other issues. Most people are looking for ways to complement and enhance what they already have. One of the best types of insulation to do so is radiant barrier. It comes in rolls of aluminum foil and can be an inexpensive and easy DIY project. When adding to an existing home, many people find an attic installation to be the most effective location.

Before making the decision to install, you must understand the unique benefits of radiant barrier. The foil works to reflect heat in the summer, which will lower your attic temperature by up to 30 degrees. This translates into a much cooler and more comfortable home. It will also prevent your air conditioner from running constantly, which, as you probably know very well, can cost a fortune all summer long. Installing this type of insulation will also help you in the winter as it works in reverse to retain heat.

In general, you can rate the performance of your radiant barrier based on three main factors. The first is by emissivity. This is the ratio of the thermal energy leaving a surface to that of a neighboring area. Emissivity is usually a number between 0 and 1, where the higher the number, the more radiation emitted. The same type of relationship is used to measure reflectivity, which indicates how much heat the material reflects. You’ll also need to pay attention to the angle at which the heat hits the insulation, as a right angle works best.