Houses erected using ICF walls use 44 percent less energy to heat and 32 percent less energy to cool than a wooden frame house of similar specs based on a study of 58 single family homes located throughout the United States and Canada.
50% had exterior concrete walls using ICF's and the other 50% had were similar neighboring houses with wood frame walls. The houses were less than six years old.
The savings-energy came from the outstanding insulating values for ICF walls (as high as R-40) opposing to wood frames (R-9 to R-15 values).
ICF walls contain no organic material, it does not underpin the growth of mold, mildew and potentially harmful microorganisms. Further, they reduce the infiltration of air that can bring in outside allergens.
Polystyrene foam used in ICF walls are completely non toxic and free of formidable, asbestos and fiberglass, in testes of indoor air quality in an ICF house, no harmful emissions were detected.