Vieques Municipio, PR Insulation Payback
Vieques Municipio attic insulation, by the numbers
Vieques Municipio, Puerto Rico is zone 1 under DOE's climate map (Hot-Humid), which means long, muggy summers and mild winters, where cooling dominates the energy bill. An uninsulated attic there should be built 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 $877 a year — payback in roughly 1.9 years. Topping up the attic pays for itself fast here.
Where the savings come from
Split it out and it's roughly $0 a year on the heating side, $877 on cooling. By estimated insulation savings, Vieques Municipio lands in the 8th percentile nationally. Zone 1 alone covers 81 counties in this dataset, and Vieques Municipio comes in 11th by savings. Puerto Rico averages $660/year across the counties tracked here; Vieques Municipio comes in 33% higher.
Vieques Municipio's actual weather, not a national average
The heating and cooling degree days behind this estimate — 0 HDD and 5,657 CDD (base 65°F, 1991-2020 normals) — come from ROOSEVELT ROADS, PR RQ, the nearest NOAA station with published normals, 16.3 miles from Vieques Municipio's center. That combined heating-and-cooling load ranks Vieques Municipio 1785th nationally by total degree days — the 44th percentile. One local detail the R-value alone won't tell you: Vieques Municipio sits in moisture regime A (humid), which can affect the vapor-barrier choice.
The smaller top-up scenario
A shallower starting point changes the math: with R-11 already down, only the gap to R-25 needs filling, at roughly $840 for an estimated $96/year saved (~8.8-year payback). Call this borderline rather than a clear win.
Getting it done in Vieques Municipio
Actual quotes will vary by attic access, existing debris, and whether the job needs air sealing first. Treat the $1,680 figure above as a planning number for Vieques Municipio, not a bid - contractors typically charge a $600 minimum regardless of job size.
Where these figures come from
Vieques 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.