Given today’s low energy prices, driven in part by excess supplies of oil and natural gas, it’s become a little more difficult to sell the value of high-R roof insulation based solely on traditional Return on Investment, or ROI. You can find a variety of studies that have examined the cost of additional roof insulation versus the hard dollar payback, and the current savings are far from wildly impressive. A recent NRCA study placed the payback period for roofing insulation anywhere from four years to well over 30 years, and my own past research tends to fall in the range of five to 25, depending on climate, code requirements and other factors.
However, for the building owner interested in long-term environmental sustainability and economic return, there is a new measure that can help provide some additional perspective on the value of highly efficient roof insulation systems. I call the concept Return on Embodied Energy, or ROEE.