A while ago, energy-models.com published a blog, "Is insulation the best energy saver?" and illustrated the number of hours where high R-values may increase energy. People may argue, "that's what an economizer is for!" In my opinion, that of course is a good argument, but I have talked to too many people who have asked, "Why does my energy go up with increased wall insulation?"
To test this scenario, we looked to our good friend eQUEST. We built a simple building and tested it over a range of climate zones, and a range of R-values. In order to "normalize" the data, we compared everything to R-9 insulation (which is a pretty low R-value). We...