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Energy Efficiency

Before you pull the trigger on a major investment to make your home more comfortable or more energy efficient, make sure you have attended to the smaller things that can undermine your investment.  With cold winters and hot summers, and so much advertising and energy saving marketing going on, it’s easy to get sucked into the hype and plunk down big money in an effort to reduce your energy bills or make your house more comfortable.

But there is NO silver bullet that will cure chilly/hot rooms and/or high energy bills.  There are almost always multiple reasons why a home is underperforming.  There is, however, a logical progression of activities that you can follow to incrementally improve the performance of your home and set the stage for significantly better payback from more expensive energy upgrades.   Most of these steps are self-explanatory but if you have any questions, please contact us for more information. 

1. Air Sealing -  Ensure all voids, cracks and openings are covered, weatherstripped or otherwise sealed to ensure you keep conditioned air inside in your living space.
2. Insulate, insulate,insulate -  Make sure attics, vented crawl spaces, kneewalls and other spaces where unconditioned air enters your home are well insulated.  Don’t forget to install a hotwater tank blanket and insulation on the hot water pipes.
3. Seal leaks in HVAC and duct system -  Leaks in your HVAC/duct system, especially when the HVAC unit and/or ducts are in unconditioned spaces (like most attics) reduce the performance of this equipment.
4. Monitor and reduce your energy use -  Install a real-time energy monitor to help you identify and eliminate wasteful energy habits.
5. Switch out lighting - Replace incandescent light bulbs with CFLs or LEDs
6. Review water heating efficiency - With federal and state tax credits available, solar thermal water heating systems are becoming cost effective.
7. Upgrade to higher efficiency HVAC -  I’m an advocate of running HVAC systems until they are unfixable but you may want to talk to your HVAC repairman about the cost/benefit of replacing yours.
8. Replace single pane windows - Replacing single panes with double or triple pane windows will make your home more comfortable but may have a long payback period.  A cheaper option is to install storm windows as long as the windows operate properly and the window opening is not deteriorating.
9. Install solar power -  Once the jobs above are complete, it’s time to consider creating your own electricity.  With all the improvements in place, you won’t need as many solar panels and your investment will payoff quicker!