Emily Mauro | 5/27/2026
A proper winter we had this year in the Northeast! If you noticed ice dams or icicles forming on your roof over the winter months, or you feel drafts in certain rooms, you aren’t alone. These could be signs that your insulation could use some attention! Good insulation doesn’t just keep your home warm – it can lower energy bills, make your home more comfortable, and reduce your home’s impact on the planet. With winters becoming more unpredictable due to climate change, protecting your home against extreme temperatures is more important than ever.
At Mid-Hudson Energy Transition (MHET), we help income-eligible Kingston households make their homes more energy-efficient, comfortable, and affordable – saving energy, boosting comfort, and keeping more money in their pockets.
Understanding Energy Burdens
Before diving into the details of insulation, it’s important to understand why this work matters so much for households.
Energy burden is defined as the percentage of gross household income spent on energy costs. It is calculated by dividing the average housing energy cost by the average annual household income. A household with 6% or greater energy burden is considered to be a high energy burden household (U.S. Department of Energy, 2025).
Here’s what that looks like nationally (Ayala & Dewey, 2024):
- Median energy burden for low-income households: 8.3% of income
- Median for all households: 2.9% (65% lower than low-income households)
- 25% of low-income households have burdens above 15.2%
- 25% of low-income homeowners have burdens above 17.2%, and half exceed 9.4%
Energy burdens are also higher for low-income residents, renters, Black households, and Hispanic households, often because older or inefficient housing drives up energy costs. Households with high energy burdens are more likely to experience poor health and poverty.
Geographically, burdens are often highest in Northeast and Mid-Atlantic cities, including Boston, Baltimore, New York, and Washington, DC (Ayala & Dewey, 2024).
It is no coincidence that these disparities exist; they are rooted in decades of discriminatory housing and environmental policies—including redlining, exclusionary lending practices, segregation, and disinvestment, which systematically confined Black and low-income communities to under-resourced neighborhoods with limited access to opportunity. The federal Home Owners’ Loan Corporation (HOLC) redlining system played a central role in this process by withholding capital and investment from these neighborhoods, shaping long-term patterns of uneven development and environmental risk (Lane et al., 2022).
The effects of these policies are still visible today. Formerly redlined neighborhoods are significantly hotter than non-redlined areas (Hoffman et al., 2020), experience higher levels of air pollution (Lane et al., 2022), and face higher energy burdens alongside poorer health outcomes and increased financial strain (Ayala & Dewey, 2024). Taken together, this underscores how housing inequities, environmental exposure, and poverty are not separate issues, but deeply interconnected outcomes of structural inequality.
The Problem with “Leaky” Homes
These inequities are also embedded in the physical condition and age of the housing stock itself. Homes built before 1940 are nearly 30 times more likely to be in inadequate condition and cost nearly 10 times more in routine maintenance than homes built after 2022. The Northeast is the epicenter of aging properties – buyers in New York State face a national-high median home age of 65 years, a stark contrast to Sun Belt states like Nevada, Arizona, and Texas, where the median home age is 30 years or less (Jones, 2026).
So what’s driving high energy costs in these older homes? A major factor is how well – or poorly – homes are sealed and insulated. Signs of poor insulation and air leaks include:
- Drafty rooms or uneven temperatures
- Ice dams or icicles on the roof
- Higher-than-expected energy bills
According to the City of Kingston (2024), over half of the housing units in Kingston were built before 1939, and many are deteriorating or unsafe. Because these homes are so old, insulation is often missing, insufficient, or settled in exterior walls, providing little protection against extreme temperatures outside. The result: homes that are colder in winter, hotter in summer, and much more expensive to heat and cool.
Being some of the oldest building stock in the country – and facing harsh winters – is an unfortunate combination. Many homes in the Northeast are simply leaky, which drives up costs and reduces comfort. At MHET, we primarily work with NYSERDA’s Empower+ program to help families tackle air sealing, moisture mitigation, and insulation, improving comfort, energy efficiency, and long-term savings.
Insulation Basics
Let’s explore how insulation works and how we measure it. The “R-value” of a certain type of insulation measures how effectively insulation resists heat transfer – the higher the R-value, the better it keeps your home warm in winter and cool in summer.
Some common types of insulation include:
- Fiberglass batt
- Loose-fill/blown
- Spray foam
- Rigid foam board
Fun fact: some older homes (like the one I live in) were insulated with whatever was on hand, even cut-up jeans. Creative and surprisingly effective!
Believe it or not, you can also use straw bales for insulation – and they work surprisingly well. The ingenuity of humans!
Evidence from Our Work
At MHET, we see firsthand how much of a difference proper insulation, air sealing, complementary efficiency upgrades, and moisture mitigation can make, through our 2025 insulation partner, Better Energy Solutions.
Understanding a home’s energy performance starts with an energy audit – a professional assessment of how energy is being used and where it’s being lost. A BPI-certified expert inspects the home for air leaks, insulation gaps, inefficient systems, and moisture build-up.
A blower door test is typically performed during the energy audit, which measures how much air is leaking in or out of the home per hour. They may also use thermal imaging to detect where heat is escaping through walls – a phenomenon called thermal bridging. These tools help pinpoint where improvements will have the greatest impact.
Our pre- and post-blower door tests show clear results:
- Before: significant air leaks, uneven temperatures, high energy bills
- After: reduced leaks, lower energy use, more comfortable homes
On average, in 2025, we improved air tightness in our participant’s homes by 35%. Addressing insulation and air leaks not only improves comfort, but can also lead to real cost savings.
We’ve heard this directly from community members. One participant shared that after completing air sealing, attic insulation, venting improvements, and wall insulation, their home feels significantly more comfortable and their utility bills have gone down. Another noted they saved over $1,000 on oil in the year following insulation upgrades. Others have seen improvements in spaces that were previously unusable… like a basement that used to be too cold to spend time in, but is now warm enough to help heat the rest of the home. In that same case, lingering moisture and musty odors were eliminated, reducing the need for a dehumidifier and improving overall air quality.
Houses as Systems, a Holistic Approach
One key takeaway from the field of building science: insulation alone isn’t enough. General recommendations for adding insulation can often sound like a one-size-fits-all solution, but a home should be treated as a house-as-a-system. What works in one house may cause unintended consequences in another, which is why understanding the full system is so important. For instance, completing air sealing without complementary measures could trap moisture, leading to poor indoor air quality (Building Science Principles Reference Guide, 2015).
That’s why the energy audit piece is so important. A professional energy auditor helps identify which measures should be paired together to make a home as well-sealed and energy-efficient as possible, while also preventing moisture buildup. Homes that have air sealing done before adding insulation stay warmer, use less energy, and have lower heating bills. Our blower door tests consistently show that addressing moisture buildup and completing air sealing first ensures insulation performs at its best while maintaining a healthier, more comfortable home.
Connecting to State Programs
The good news is that support is available to help make these upgrades accessible!
MHET partners with various state programs to make these upgrades accessible. These programs can help:
- Pay for insulation and air sealing
- Provide incentives for many other energy saving measures
- Lower monthly energy bills
- Make homes safer and more comfortable
Because every home is different, a professional assessment is the way to go. Experts can identify leaks, recommend the right materials, and ensure upgrades are done effectively.
Taking Action
Want to make your home more comfortable and more energy-efficient? Check out the Empower+ program to see if you qualify. At MHET, we can help you get started. Even small upgrades – like sealing air leaks or adding insulation – can make a big difference for your energy bills and comfort.
Curious? Fill out our Interest Form and we’ll reach out!
In addition to partnering with state programs that support upgrades to save money, reduce energy use, and improve indoor air quality, we also offer our own grants and ultra-low 2% interest loans to make these improvements even more accessible to people who need them.
Even small improvements can go a long way, and MHET is here to guide you through the process. Don’t wait for ice dams or high bills. Reach out at homes@mid-hudson.energy or fill out our interest form to get started today!
Works Cited
Ayala, R., & Dewey, A. (2024, September). Data update: City energy burdens [Policy brief]. American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy. https://www.aceee.org/policy-brief/2024/09/data-update-city-energy-burdens
Building Science Principles: Reference Guide (2nd ed.). (2015). Building Performance Institute, Inc.
City of Kingston. (2024). 2024–2028 analysis of impediments to fair housing choice. https://www.kingston-ny.gov/filestorage/8399/8469/8547/City_of_Kingston_AI_2024-2028_Draft_for_Public_Display_3.26.2024.pdf
Jones, J. (2026, March 23). American cities with the oldest homes. Construction Coverage. https://www.constructioncoverage.com/oldest-homes
Hoffman, J. S., Shandas, V., & Pendleton, N. (2020). The Effects of Historical Housing Policies on Resident Exposure to Intra-Urban Heat: A Study of 108 US Urban Areas. Climate, 8(1), 12. https://doi.org/10.3390/cli8010012
Lane, H. M., Morello-Frosch, R., Marshall, J. D., & Apte, J. S. (2022). Historical redlining is associated with present-day air pollution disparities in U.S. cities. Environmental Science & Technology Letters, 9(4), 345–350. https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.estlett.1c01012
U.S. Department of Energy. (2025). Low‑Income Energy Affordability Data (LEAD) Tool. https://www.energy.gov/cmei/scep/low-income-energy-affordability-data-lead-tool
