Building retrofits are essential to reducing the amount of energy we need to run our homes, community spaces, public buildings and workplaces. Improving building insulation is key to this: reducing the flow of heat from your home to outdoors, or vice versa in hot weather.

Insulation is one of the most practical and cost-effective ways to make buildings more energy-efficient. It can also make indoor spaces more comfortable and improve indoor air quality. And it can reduce energy costs.

Improving efficiency through insulation starts with an energy audit to determine how heat and cold are moving between indoors and outdoors. Once you know where the biggest heat transfers are, you can identify the best ways to reduce them, for example by adding double glazing, cavity wall insulation, draught excluders or roof and floor insulation. 

Grants, rebates, low-cost loans, and other resources might help cover the cost of retrofits. It’s also worth considering the climate impacts of insulating materials: low-carbon, bio-based materials like straw, newspaper pulp and hemp are all commercially available as insulation products that can help reduce the amount of greenhouse gasses produced in making the insulation material.

To activate this Global Project, at least one player must have no Buildings Emission tokens left on their player board.

Once active: Players may discard 1 card from their hand to remove 1 Buildings Emission token from their board. Players may do this any number of times they like each round.

• Insulation (Project Drawdown)

• Building Retrofitting (Project Drawdown)

• Building Insulation (Wikipedia)

• Assess the energy efficiency of your home and other buildings you control and follow up on recommendations.

• Spread the word among neighbors and friends about resources available through your community and/or energy utility to help residents implement money-saving energy efficiency measures in their homes.

• Help connect organizations and agencies serving low-income individuals and families in your community with sources of subsidies for energy efficiency upgrades.

• If you are a contractor or plumber, learn about how to install green building upgrades and air source heat pumps and offer retrofit services to your community.