Comerío Municipio, PR Insulation Payback
Comerío Municipio attic insulation, by the numbers
Comerío Municipio sits in IECC climate zone 1 (Hot-Humid) — long, muggy summers and mild winters, where cooling dominates the energy bill. For a currently uninsulated attic, DOE and Energy Star recommend building up to R-30. For an attic around 1,000 square feet, closing the gap from R-2 to R-30 costs around $1,680 and saves an estimated $395 a year — payback in roughly 4.3 years.
Topping up the attic pays for itself here.
Where the savings come from
Split it out and it's roughly $7 a year on the heating side, $388 on cooling. By estimated insulation savings, Comerío Municipio lands in the 0th percentile nationally. Zone 1 alone covers 81 counties in this dataset, and Comerío Municipio comes in 69th by savings. Puerto Rico averages $660/year across the counties tracked here; Comerío Municipio comes in 40% lower.
The climate data behind this
The heating and cooling degree days behind this estimate — 27 HDD and 2,502 CDD (base 65°F, 1991-2020 normals) — come from Aibonito 1 S, PR RQ, the nearest NOAA station with published normals, 7.3 miles from Comerío Municipio's center. That combined heating-and-cooling load ranks Comerío Municipio 3158th nationally by total degree days — the 0th percentile. One local detail the R-value alone won't tell you: Comerío Municipio sits in moisture regime A (humid), which can affect the vapor-barrier choice.
The smaller top-up scenario
Already have a few inches up there? Topping R-11 up to R-25 runs about $840 for about $43/year saved — roughly 19.5 years to break even. Call this borderline rather than a clear win.
Next steps for a Comerío Municipio attic
Real bids depend on how easy the attic is to reach and whether old insulation needs removing first, so treat $1,680 as a starting estimate for a Comerío Municipio job, not a quote. You should get more than one quote before signing anything - expect at least a $600 minimum charge from most contractors.
Where these figures come from
Comerío Municipio's R-30 target and its degree-day figures both come from named federal sources - see the methodology guide for exactly which ones. The guide to what R-value actually means explains why R-30 is the target here specifically.