Residential buildings consume 22% of the energy consumed annually in the U.S. Building envelopes account for 36% of the total building sector energy use due to heat gains and losses. The building envelope primarily affects heating and cooling loads, which account for 42% of the energy consumed by residential buildings. (1,2) New residential buildings that have been designed and built to the latest building energy codes, such as ASHRAE Standard 90.2-2007 (3) require modest amounts of energy for space conditioning.
