Indoor Air Quality and Energy Efficiency

There’s no getting around the fact that energy efficiency is one of the most important things that Cincinnati homeowners can focus on. This being said, home performance is about more than simply improving energy efficiency. It’s also about indoor air quality, which can vastly affect the health and safety of your family. This is especially true for those who live in older homes, in which case indoor air quality may already be suffering.

Think indoor air quality and energy efficiency are independent from one another? Think again. Here are a few things you need to know about how they relate to one another.

1. Insulation Matters

When it comes to keeping indoor air quality and energy efficiency in check, insulation is one of the first places you should look. A well-insulated home will not only help to keep the chill of winter at bay, but it will have a huge impact on the quality of the air you and your family are breathing inside the home. With quality insulation on your side, you can rest easy knowing that you’re not losing heat during the coldest months of the year.

2. So Does Air Sealing

Insulating your home properly will have a marked impact on energy efficiency, but it will only work properly if combined with quality air sealing. There’s a good chance that your home is filled with tiny cracks and gaps, even if you can’t see them at face value. Air sealing is the process of putting this problem to rest, no matter how drafty your home has gotten. It also helps to keep poor-quality outdoor air from entering the home, which can certainly affect the quality of your indoor air.

3. Indoor Air Quality Should Never Be Ignored

A lot of people are quick to brush indoor air quality off as being a non-important factor to look at when improving home performance. The fact is, however, the quality of the air you and your family are breathing on a daily basis matters more than you may realize. This is especially true if you have family members who suffer from asthma and other, similar respiratory ailments, which can easily get exacerbated by poor indoor air quality. If sneezing, sniffling and coughing are regular occurrences in your home, you know it’s time to make some changes.

In short, indoor air quality and energy efficiency are not mutually exclusive from one another. Rather, they go hand-in-hand and must both be focused upon for best results. Contact National today to learn more or to schedule an appointment with one of our home performance specialists.