Our Neighbor, Jo, rents a 750 square foot apartment. Her heating and cooling bills were outrageous last year. She talked her landlord into helping pay to have her attic insulated to R-30. That was a big improvement over what she had before, which was R-0.
Jo's Attic Before
Jo's Attic After
She used 9 inches of fiberglass batt insulaton that had an R value of 30. The insulation was laid between her ceiling joists. The job took about half a day to finish.
Jo just got her March gas bill. There were twice as many heating degree days in March 2011 than in March 2012 and when the gas use is adjusted for that, Jo’s gas bill was about 75% of last March’s.
Natural Gas Used in March 2011 Compared to March 2012
If this spring is any indication of what is in store for us temperature-wise this summer, it would be an excellent investment to insulate our attic and save electricity on cooling bills this summer.
Greening Neighborhoods got a contribution of can-light insulation covers from CanCoverIt. These clever pop-up insulated boxes are designed to be placed over can lights that extend through the ceiling and into attic spaces to be insulated with batt insulation.
CanCoverIt Provides Safe Insulation Above Can Lights
If we cover can-lights over with batt insulation, they risk overheating and catching fire. If we place insulation so the can-lights poke through the insulation, air leaks are caused limiting the efficacy of the insulation. The CanCoverIt provides insulation while leaving enough space around the light so a fire hazard is avoided. As a special incentive, Greening Neighborhoods will give away a limited number of covers on a first come basis for those of us who have can lights and are going to insulate our attics.
Contact george@greeningneighborhoods.com if you can use the CanCoverIt.
