Posted on

Insulation

Improving your home’s insulation by insulating raw spaces, or upgrading to newer and more energy efficient products, can not only save you money on your heating and cooling bills, it can make your home healthier for your family. You’ll feel more comfortable year ’round with improved insulation.

fiberglass insulation

The Department of Energy recommends home insulation as one of the most important steps you can take to make your home more energy efficient:

A qualified home energy auditor will include an insulation check as a routine part of a whole-house energy assessment. An energy assessment, also known as a home energy audit, will also help identify areas of your home that are in need of air sealing. (Before you insulate, you should make sure that your home is properly air sealed.)

Insulation is graded according to an R-value. The R-value indicates the insulation’s ability to resist heat. The higher the R-value, the greater the heat resistance. Choosing insulation with a higher R-value will save you money on your heating and cooling costs. It will also make your home more comfortable and healthier, because better insulation also acts as an air filter in your walls.

Some types of insulation, like spray foam, also act as a barrier against moisture, insects, and pests. Based on your home’s location and construction, a home performance professional will make recommendations to meet your needs and budget.

Improving your home’s insulation doesn’t have to be an expensive project. Focusing on the most important areas of your home, like the attic, will yield a result on your next utility bill. Insulating your home is commonly a one time project. Fiberglass and spray foam insulations can last longer than your mortgage, so your work will pay for itself quickly, and give you a high return on your investment over the life of your home.

The Department of Energy’s “Years to Payback” equation can help you determine your exact return on investment. A good rule of thumb is that insulation projects will pay for themselves in 3-5 years. A professional home performance contractor can complete the job in a day or two. You’ll start saving money immediately.

Your cost will vary depending on the type of insulation you choose and the size of the space you are insulating. The good news is that you may be eligible for tax rebates from your state government, or incentive programs from your utility company, for home energy efficiency upgrades and retrofits. Your home performance contractor can help determine your eligibility and provide you with required documentation.

Is improved insulation the right choice for you?

Posted on

Energy efficient refrigerators

Refrigerators and freezers can be some of the biggest energy hogs in your home. They draw electricity around the clock, not just when the kids leave the door open – as much as 18% of your energy costs each year. And we often forget to clean the mechanical parts, making the compressor and radiator work harder with each passing year. Energy efficient refrigerators don’t need to be brand new. We have tips on how to get the best performance out of what you already have.

Vintage fridge. Avocado green. Bell bottoms not included.

Got one that looks like this? It may still be running, but it’s costing you much more than it should. According to Efficiency Vermont’s home appliance energy usage infographic, a 20 year old, 22 cubic foot refrigerator draws 1,475 kWh per year, costing you $236.

Have a slightly newer fridge? A 10 year old, 22 cubic foot model will draw about half the electricity, 857 kWh, and save you $100 per year on your bill. Brand new models offer even more savings: 537 kWh per year and an annual cost to operate of just $86!

But even if you’re not in the market for a new energy efficient refrigerator you can take a few steps to improve your kitchen energy efficiency.

Keep it clean.
Dust and grease can build up on the back of the refrigerator, making it more difficult for air to vent from the mechanicals and circulate around the unit. Wipe the exterior surfaces down when you clean your other appliances, and use a can of compressed air to remove dust if needed.

Keep it cool.
Your refrigerator’s job is to keep things cool, but we often place them next to the oven, or in direct sunlight. Any heat source will make the fridge work harder. Giving a little extra time to planning your kitchen can make your fridge’s life – and your own – easier.

A new fridge positioned away from direct sunlight and the oven and range.

Keep it closed.
We all know not to leave the refrigerator or freezer doors open, but even closed doors can let cold air out and warm air in. There’s a simple test to check how tightly your refrigerator doors are sealing: open the door and put a piece of paper inside. Now close the door. If you can pull the paper out easily, the door is not tightly sealed.

Fill ‘er up?
Keep it full, but not too full. Refrigerators are designed to use the food and drink inside them to help maintain an even temperature. An empty freezer or fridge will work harder to keep itself cool. But air need to circulate through the inside, so don’t fill it up all the way.

You don’t have to invest in new energy efficient refrigerators to save money on your home energy bills. A few simple changes to the way you use your appliances can make a big difference.

If you are in the market for a new fridge or freezer, be sure to consider an Energy Star rated model. Energy Star rated refrigerators and freezers are certified to use less electricity and save you money every month, and every year, you own them.

Posted on

CFL and LED light bulbs

Home lighting technology has come a long way from Thomas Edison’s heated filament incandescent bulbs. Today, people like you are replacing their inefficient incandescent bulbs with CFL (compact fluorescent light) and LED (light emitting diode) bulbs, and saving hundreds of dollars at the same time.

The incandescent light bulb loses as much as 90% of its energy as waste heat. New technologies have made efficient CFL and LED light bulbs competitive choices for most home lighting needs.

Compact fluorescent light bulbs use an integrated ballast to energize chemical vapors. These vapors then produce ultraviolet light. That ultraviolet light strikes the fluorescent coating inside the bulb’s glass housing, which produces visible light. CFLs have been around for decades, and can now create everything from the warm glow of your favorite reading lamp to clear, bright light perfect for your kitchen or home workshop. CFLs cost as little as $2.00, and can last for 5-8 years.

Light emitting diode bulbs are newer than CFLs, and they promise to last an extremely long time in normal usage. These bulbs create light when energized electrons pass from the negative to the positive charged layer in a semiconductor. Because they draw very little electrical current a 60 watt equivalent bulb may only use 7 watts of electricity! This makes them very inexpensive, and it also makes them suitable for use in antique lamps with ow power draws. LED bulbs can cost as much as $60 for a 60 watt equivalent, but they will last for decades – and the price is dropping every year.

Are CFL and LED light bulbs the right choice for you?

Posted on

An energy mortgage for all homes

More than property taxes or interest on a loan, energy costs are where most homeowners will spend their money each year. The average American family spends more than $2,000 on home energy each year.

Go green and save some green. Energy mortgages are coming!

Surprised? Think of all the electrical appliances; the heating, cooling, and ventilation (HVAC) system; the gizmos we leave plugged into power strips day and night. It all adds up, and that’s before we even think about air leakage around windows and doors, attics and crawl spaces. But what if we had an idea of home energy costs? How would that change our home buying and selling decisions?

An energy mortgage for all homes

Energy efficient mortgages have been around since the early 1990s. The US government’s FHA Insured Energy Efficient Mortgage Program launched in 1992 and was widely available by 1995. This program, and others like it, use an energy efficient home’s projected annual utility costs to allow homeowners to pay more for a mortgage. That means homeowners can afford a better home, or they can complete energy efficient home improvement projects that are included in the mortgage payment.

The 2013 study “Home Energy Efficiency and Mortgage Risks”, by the University of North Carolina’s Center for Community Capital and the Institute for Market Transformation found that:

The risk of mortgage default is one-third lower for energy-efficient, ENERGY STAR-rated homes… American households spend around $230 billion each year on energy, not including transportation, and the residential sector accounts for 20 percent of the total energy consumed in the United States. Energy efficiency in the residential sector has a potential to save $41 billion annually, according to research by McKinsey & Company.

Energy efficient homes don’t just save homeowners money, they build stronger neighborhoods and communities.

Energy efficient mortgages, or energy mortgages, have been getting a lot of attention lately, and not just from homeowners. The Sensible Accounting to Value Energy Act, or SAVE Act, is co-sponsored by Senators Michael Bennet and Johnny Isakson. The proposed bill would require federal mortgage underwriters to include annual home energy costs when calculating the value and affordability of any home, not only energy efficient homes.

The SAVE Act will help all home buyers understand the total cost of home ownership, the PITI+E payment: Principal, Interest, Taxes, Insurance, and Energy. Home sellers will benefit from knowing their home’s energy consumption and cost as well. They can make energy efficient home improvements, replace inefficient appliances and HVAC equipment, or offer buyers a credit for that work. It’s an energy mortgage for all homes.

Green creates green

Smart mortgages, mortgages that account for a home’s annual energy cost, are popular with homeowners. When buyers understand a home’s annual energy cost they can make a better, more informed decision about where to buy. Home sellers can use annual energy consumption and cost information to make their homes more attractive to buyers. Energy efficient homes sell faster, and for higher prices, than unimproved houses.

No matter where you live, a greener home means more green in your wallet.

Posted on

Home energy efficiency is more affordable than ever

Home energy efficiency is getting a lot of attention lately, and for good reason. Thanks to tax credits and government investment, advances in technology, and lower costs, home energy efficiency projects are more affordable, for more people, than ever before. And the benefits aren’t only for single family homeowners, either.

Do you know your home’s energy efficiency grade?

Connecticut just announced $11 million for retrofit and upgrade projects on multi-family buildings. This money will help building owners hire local contractors to conduct energy assessments and perform air sealing, insulation, and HVAC work. When the work is complete, tenants will have more comfortable, healthier, and less expensive apartments. California approved an additional $10 million for low-cost, long-term financing of energy efficiency property improvements. Helping renters and homeowners save money on their home energy costs is always popular. These programs, and others like them, often have more demand than they are able to satisfy.

Posted on

Home energy efficiency program success and challenges

Home energy efficiency program success and challenges

“City’s energy efficiency program falls short of goals.” A recent article in the Greensboro, NC News & Record by Amanda Lehmert observed the performance of Greensboro’s “Better Buildings” home energy efficiency program. Lehmert found that 1,280 homes owned by low income homeowners received benefits of $4.7 million: a energy audit and $2,000 to $3,000 worth of improvements to their home. That sounds like a pretty good success, but what happens when you look behind the numbers?

Greensboro’s Better Buildings home energy efficiency retrofit and upgrade work focused on the high impact, high return on investment areas of the home: air sealing, insulation, HVAC improvements. One homeowner saw an immediate savings of $50 on his heating fuel bill. He told all of his program-eligible family members. They applied to the program, and received the home energy audit and retrofit work. These families are saving money this heating season, and will for years to come, because of the program. What works?

  • Qualifying homeowners through an initial screening process
  • Hiring local home performance contractors to conduct whole house energy audits
  • Hiring those contractors to make effective repairs and upgrades to the building envelope
  • Using the homeowner’s heating fuel bill as quality assurance verification

These steps are replicable in home energy efficiency programs everywhere, and the homeowner’s immediate savings and word of mouth advertising prove that this approach works.

Residential energy efficiency programs create the market

Greensboro officials estimated that the average homeowner would see a 17 percent reduction in home energy consumption and a corresponding savings in home heating fuel costs. That’s a good deal for any homeowner. Demand was high. At the end of the program 400 low-income families were on a waiting list for 70 remaining contracts. That tells us that a market exists for “bundling” home energy audits and retrofit work.

But that market may be unsustainable. City officials reported that higher-income homeowners who were eligible for rebates and low-interest loans did not participate at the expected rate. 950 fewer households applied for the rebates. 600 homeowners qualified for program incentives but did not hire contractors to do the work. These homeowners were to subsidize part of the program. Their low participation put the program’s overall goals at risk.

Lehmert concludes that:

The lack of interest from homeowners who could pay their own way gets to the crux of Better Buildings’ shortfall in private investment and job creation.

Greensboro-area home performance contractors, on the other hand, suggested that a lack of awareness about the program among higher-income homeowners also played a role.

How a home energy efficiency program succeeds

Greensboro’s Better Buildings program did succeed in connecting home performance contractors and low-income homeowners. These homeowners received a energy audit, typically a $300-$800 expense, and up to $3,000 in home energy efficiency retrofit and upgrade work. These homeowners will receive long term heating energy cost savings. Additionally, they will find their homes are more comfortable and their families are healthier, thanks to air sealing and HVAC system improvements. All of these are quantifiable measures of the Greensboro Better Buildings program’s success.

Future programs should do a better job of marketing available incentives to higher-income homeowners. These homeowners may not know how to start a home energy efficiency project, but they have the means to undertake larger projects, and create local jobs.

Programs can use performance based home energy assessment tools to quickly qualify existing homes and prioritize projects based on the estimated return on investment. This also helps home performance contractors schedule their teams and equipment to work more efficiently.

Programs should devote resources to business development for home performance contractors. Public-private partnerships help create sustainable markets after program funds are exhausted.

It’s well known that once homeowners pick the low-hanging fruit of home energy efficiency they are likely to take additional steps, including major retrofit and upgrade work. Home performance contractors should look at program participants as future customers.

Home energy efficiency program success and challenges are a major part of our larger energy efficiency debate. We know there is strong demand for home energy efficiency, and that there are steps everyone can take to make their homes cheaper, healthier, and more comfortable. Greensboro’s program is a good case study for future programs and for industry professionals looking to grow their businesses.

Posted on

Do you live energy efficiency?

Did you know that how you live can save you money on your energy costs?

When we talk about saving money on home energy costs we often talk about physical changes we can make. These might be swapping incandescent bulbs for CFLs, or buying Energy Start rated appliances when our old models break down. But this isn’t the whole story.

You don’t have to spend money to save money on your home energy bills.

Here are a few simple changes you can make to the way that you live in your home that will save money and inspire you to take the next step in home energy efficiency with your performance based energy rating from AREVS.

You can reduce the strain on your HVAC system by ensuring that your exterior ducts and equipment are clear of debris and plant growth. Good airflow inside your home needs good airflow outside, so make sure that you have a radius of at least 18 inches around all your external vents, intakes, and equipment.

Let the sun shine in! If you have windows that face south, open the drapes or shades and let the sun heat your rooms. When it’s time to cool off next summer, remember to close those drapes during the day and keep your rooms cool.

Dig out that sweater and blanket. Just lowering your thermostat a couple of degrees and adding another layer of clothing can save you big money during a heating season. According to the Department of Energy:

Each degree you lower the thermostat on your heating system decreases your fuel bill by 3 percent. Going from 72 degrees down to 68 degrees doesn’t matter much in terms of comfort, but it can save up to 12 percent on your heating bill.

It’s simple, effective, and you can thank your knitting friends for helping you make the most out of your home!

Posted on

3 home heating tips to get ready for heating season

Heating season is coming up fast in many parts of the United States. Is your home ready?

The US Energy Information Administration released their Short-Term Energy and Winter Fuels Outlook, and home heating costs are expected to rise for homeowners using natural gas, propane, and electricity. Many experts predict a winter as cold or colder than last year. Here are 3 tips to get your home ready for heating season. You can take them one at a time, or make a weekend project out of them. We’ve also included Next Steps to help you save even more money during this heating season.

Here are 3 quick and easy tips to help make your home less expensive this heating season. We’ve also included 3 Next Steps for when you’re ready for a Do It Yourself project:

  • Turn your thermostat down. Why pay to heat your home if you’re not in it? When you leave the house in the morning, turn your thermostat down 10 degrees and you could save up to 10 percent on your heating bill this winter.
  • Next step: Consider a programmable thermostat. A basic model can adjust your home’s temperature automatically, so you can set it and forget it! An advanced model programs itself and can be controlled from your smartphone.
  • Seal drafty window frames. Air leaks through window frames let cold air in, making your home drafty and uncomfortable. They also make your heating system work harder, leading to higher operating costs and increased stress on system components. The quick and easy solution? Tape the inside of the window frame with clear, heavy acrylic tape to stop the worst leaks.
  • Next step: Cover leaky windows with a window insulation kit. Window insulation kits include puncture resistant film and heavy duty tape. Cover your windows, tape the plastic in place, and use a hair dryer to shrink and seal the plastic to fit your frames.
  • Seal gaps around pipes, chimneys, cupboards, and closets. Air also leaks through these tiny gaps. It’s especially important to keep your home airtight between the insulated and uninsulated spaces, where cold air comes in and warm air – and your hard-earned dollars – escape. Use caulk or weather stripping to seal air leaks.
  • Next step: Contact a local air sealing contractor or HVAC contractor to evaluate your home and make recommendations for sealing gaps in your home’s envelope and cleaning your ducts and air filters.

Getting your home ready for heating season doesn’t have to be expensive or time consuming. A few simple changes in your daily routine, or an afternoon of do it yourself projects is all you need to make your home more comfortable and less expansive this winter.

Posted on

Is the U.S. “hitting snooze on energy efficiency?”

Energy scientist Amory Lovins argues that the 1973 oil embargo was a watershed moment for energy efficiency in the United States. In the past 40 years, however, cheap energy has made U.S. energy policy a bit soporific. A comprehensive energy efficiency policy could have a significant effect:

$5 trillion saved, 158% economic expansion, and be led by business for profit.

The question is: are we ready to take action?

Lovins, of the Rocky Mountain Institute identifies transportation fuel efficiency, building energy efficiency, and expanded domestic oil and gas production as three key steps. The argument is compelling. Advanced materials in cars and trucks can make them lighter and more fuel efficiency without sacrificing safety. Using our own oil and gas instead of imports would drop the price, freeing money for research and development of alternative energy sources. And taking basic steps to make buildings more energy efficient “offers $1.4 trillion net savings with a juicy 33 percent internal rate of return.” If that sounds good to you, we have even better news.

Posted on

3 tips for home HVAC efficiency

Heating season is projected to be longer for many regions of the United States. A longer heating season means higher heating costs, so it’s important to make sure that your HVAC system is cleaned, fine tuned, and ready to deliver the highest level of comfort as affordably as possible.

If you read our “3 tips for a more comfortable, less expensive home heating season” you’re all ready to go with this latest article in our “3 Tips” series:

Here are 3 quick and easy tips to help make your home more comfortable and less expensive this heating season. We’ve also included 3 Next Steps for when you’re ready for a Do It Yourself project:

  • Check your filters. Your air filters on your heating system or furnace work hard to keep the air your family breathes healthy. Check your furnace and air filters now, and check them again each month. Are they dirty or clogged? Time to replace them!
  • Next step: Are HVAC filters new to you? Check out this great article from our fried Bob Vila on How To Choose the Right Furnace Filter.
  • Open the shades on your southern facing windows and close your second floor air vents to 50% of the first floor. Take advantage of the sun to keep your southern facing rooms warm, and use heat from your first floor to help control second floor temperatures.
  • Next step: Reverse your ceiling fans. Many people forget that their ceiling fans have a switch that controls the direction of the blades. In the winter you can use your ceiling fans to keep your rooms warm: spin the blades clockwise and your fan will force warm air down and throughout the room.
  • Get money for a new, Energy Star rated furnace. If you haven’t already taken advantage of your Federal Tax Credit for Consumer Energy Efficiency you may be eligible for tax credits on everything from heat pumps to water boilers to furnaces.
  • Next step: Check out the Energy Star website [Federal Tax Credits for Consumer Energy Efficiency] to find eligible HVAC system components. Then find your local HVAC contractor at the Air Conditioning Contractors of America to help you with the installation and tax credit process.

    • Getting your HVAC system ready for heating season doesn’t have to be expensive or time consuming. A few simple changes in your daily routine, or an afternoon of do it yourself projects is all you need to make your system ready to go this winter.