It's easy being Green!
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What is Home performance with Energy Star?
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March 27th, 2009 No commentsHome performance auditing is a means to calculate and quantify how well you home is utilizing energy. The purpose of the audit is to empower homeowners with valuable information that they can use to to make energy saving improvements to their home. If you are a homeowner and would like to take advantage of the American Reinvestment and Recovery Act’s $1500 energy improvement tax credit, an energy audit is a great place to start.
Who needs an Audit?
- If your home is not comfortable. ie cold in the winter, hot in the summer
- If you are sick and tired of paying high energy bills
- If you are considering replacement of a Furnace or Air Conditioner
- If you are considering replacement windows
- If you are considering remodeling projects including roof repair, water damage, siding, drywall replacement, major plumbing repairs.
- If you suspect that your energy bills are too high
- If your house does not maintain a consistent temperature from room to room within 3 degrees
- If you are concerned about reducing our dependence on foreign oil
- If you would like to reduce your carbon foot print
There are other reasons that a Home Performance audit might be a good idea. Some new houses are so tight that it becomes unhealthy for the occupants because there is not enough fresh air coming into the house.
Other reasons to have a Home Performance Audit:
- Damp, musty, moldy conditions
- Your family complains of headaches, nausea or they just feel bad when they are at home but are fine outside the home
- Your furnace is tucked away in a tiny utility room
- You suffer from severe allergies
What the audit entails:
- The Combustion Appliance Zone test. This test assures that your combustion appliances have enough air for complete combustion and that the flue byproducts always travel up the flue instead of into your home.
- The Blower Door test. A Blower door is used to depressurize the house so that leaks in the building envelope can be detected and repaired.
- A physical inspection of the property to identify noticeable problems.
- A utility bill analysis
After the initial audit is completed the Auditor will crunch the numbers and provide you with a report offering suggestions for inprovement. The report outlines the following:
- Suggested Energy Improvements
- Savings to Investment Ratios for each proposed improvement
- Suggestions regarding safety concerns
Empowered with this information you can make the improvements yourself or hire a contractor. Once the improvements are made the Home Performance Auditor returns to perform an additional Blower Door Test to prove the results.
Power Companies such as KCP&L here and Missouri Gas Energy have always had Energy Programs but now they are requiring that a Certified Energy Star Home Performance Auditor perform an audit before they will pay out for the improvements. The reason is simple. The Audit provides them with a comprehensive report of the condition of the house before and after the improvements are made and the results are quantifiable.
To contact a Home Performance Auditor check your Energy companies website for Energy Star Home Performance programs.
Here are a couple links if you would like to investigate further:
www.missourihomeperformance.org
http://www.kcpl.com/residential/homeperf.html -
Top 5 Energy Losers
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March 11th, 2008 No comments1. Incandescent lights - Some countries are actually outlawing them. Consider retrofitting with Compact Fluorescent. Write the installation date on the base with a permanent marker. Manufacturers are happy to replace them should they fail before their life expectancy. They might even send you 2
2. The refrigerator that you inherited from your parents - Old refrigerators never die they just retire to the garage to keep 1 six pack of beer. Consider upgrading to an Energy Star refrigerator and save up to 50% of the power consumption of that old beast.
3. A leaky drafty house - Leaks and openings to the outdoors from your building envelope are robbing you are your comfort and your hard earned cash. If you live in an 800 sq foot house and your utility bills are over $250 per month, you aren’t living in a home, you are camping out. A modest investment in spray foam and blown cellulose insulation will make you snug as a bug. And if bugs are a concern in your home I suggest that you purchase the Borate treated cellulose. Borate, Boric Acid is the same stuff that is in Borax. It’s fairly benign to humans but deadly to vermin.
4. Leaky ductwork - For some reason ductwork is never installed properly. There is a very good chance that your ducts are closely related to Swiss cheese. Leaky, improperly sized ducts are responsible for murdering many a compressor and disrespecting your pocketbook. Leaks cause your compressor to work overtime trying to keep up with a heating or cooling load that never gets satisfied. Most ductwork is undersized which is hard on the blower section of your furnace or air-handler.
5. The “They don’t make em like this anymore furnace” - There is a good reason they don’t make it anymore. A typical standing pilot furnace delivers 60% of its heating capacity to your home and donates a generous 40% of its heat to “Global Warming”, Literally. Today’s furnaces can deliver 90-96% efficiencies and they are much safer than the technologies of the past. However, Before you replace your furnace you need to determine whether or not it is operating properly. Your furnace and air conditioning system should each be serviced every year. If it is in good working order your money may be better spent insulating and sealing your home and your ductwork.
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