Environmental Benefits

HomeEnvironmental Benefits

Environmental Benefits of Spray Foam Insulation

Living in a home with spray foam insulation for 10 years can save 60,500 pounds of CO2 emissions*.

This is equivalent to:

  • CO2 emissions from 4,680 gallons of gasoline
  • CO2 emissions from driving a car around the Earth 3.7 times
  • Carbon absorbed annually by 1,070 tree seedlings grown for 10 years
  • Carbon absorbed annually by 8.9 acres of pine forest
  • CO2 emissions from 1,740 propane cylinders used for home barbecues

*Based on 2,400 square foot example home. Actual carbon footprint and energy savings will vary based on a number of factors, including local climate, and layout and design of the home.

The results of repeated studies show that the energy and environmental benefits from spray foam insulation used in new residential construction and commercial roofing retrofits far outweigh the embodied energy and embodied environmental impacts.

Syracuse University’s Dr. Mark Bomberg believes that spray foam will play a significant role in reducing energy demand and environmental impact of buildings. Bomberg’s decades of experience with buildings and building performance research, as well as the spray foam industry, has made him passionate about systems that behave as a system, rather than component products and materials. “Spray foam is a material for now and the future, not for the past, because in the past we were dividing building and materials, and everyone was selling miraculous solutions called product A, B, or C. Now because we are looking at energy, durability, sustainability – all these green things – we have to deal with building as a system. Spray foam’s future is secure because it allows tailoring to whatever needs you have in your system.” From the White Paper “Green Building Insulation: The Environmental Benefits.”