Energy management
Air sealing: small improvements at a national scale
A memorable David Suzuki advertisement offers a way to explain the cumulative impact of air sealing.
Historical archive adapted from the original post and supplied photograph. The date is the original LinkedIn post date. Earlier participation and projects are not presented as PB Energy engagements.
A 2008 advertisement featuring David Suzuki made a simple idea memorable: the many small drafts and leaks in a home can add up to a surprisingly large opening. The advertisement compared that opening to a basketball-sized hole.
David Brushett’s original post revisited that message through an analysis of Natural Resources Canada’s EnerGuide data. Among homes with reduced leakage between pre- and post-retrofit blower-door tests, the analysis estimated that more than 425 million square centimetres of equivalent leakage area had been sealed since the advertisement aired—roughly 950,000 basketball-sized holes.
These figures are estimates from that selected group of audited homes, not a measurement of every Canadian home or a direct calculation of energy savings. They illustrate how measures such as caulking and weatherstripping can accumulate across a large retrofit program.
