Moca Municipio, PR Insulation Payback
Moca Municipio attic insulation, by the numbers
Moca Municipio, Puerto Rico is zone 1 under DOE's climate map (Hot-Humid), which means summers that stay hot and humid while winters barely register on the energy bill. An uninsulated attic there should be built up to R-30. Topping up a typical 1,000-square-foot attic from bare joists (R-2) to R-30 runs an estimated $1,680, and saves about $762 a year in heating and cooling — a payback around 2.2 years. Topping up the attic pays for itself fast here.
The breakdown behind the number
Split it out and it's roughly $0 a year on the heating side, $762 on cooling. By estimated insulation savings, Moca Municipio lands in the 3th percentile nationally. Zone 1 alone covers 81 counties in this dataset, and Moca Municipio comes in 27th by savings. Puerto Rico averages $660/year across the counties tracked here; Moca Municipio comes in 15% higher.
The climate data behind this
The heating and cooling degree days behind this estimate — 0 HDD and 4,912 CDD (base 65°F, 1991-2020 normals) — come from COLOSO, PR RQ, the nearest NOAA station with published normals, 5.1 miles from Moca Municipio's center. That combined heating-and-cooling load ranks Moca Municipio 2433rd nationally by total degree days — the 23th percentile. One local detail the R-value alone won't tell you: Moca Municipio sits in moisture regime A (humid), which can affect the vapor-barrier choice.
The smaller top-up scenario
If Moca Municipio's attic already has 3-4 inches of old insulation (about R-11) rather than bare joists, the recommended target drops to R-25. That smaller top-up costs around $840 and saves an estimated $83/year — payback about 10.1 years. Call this borderline rather than a clear win.
Quotes and materials for this job
Get more than one quote before committing. Attic access and any needed air sealing move the price around, and most contractors won't take a job below roughly $600 regardless of size - worth asking upfront given Moca Municipio's estimated $762/year on the line.
Where these figures come from
Moca 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.