The Importance of Being Efficient

If you are looking to save money and reduce your family’s energy consumption this winter, a heating or cooling system upgrade can be a great place to start.  In 2009 alone, the average home spent more than $1000.00 on heating and cooling according to Energy Star, which is a division of the Environmental Protection Agency and the Energy Department.  Power Plants are continually burning fossil fuels to generate energy, and high energy consumption contributes to the addition of greenhouse gasses to the atmosphere, as well as costing YOU money!  Thankfully, HVAC systems are Consistently being improved upon, and an upgrade can really help your household become more environmentally friendly AND financially responsible!
Step 1: Selecting A System
Shopping for an energy efficient HVAC system can be a daunting task!  Fortunately, the kindly folk at the Department of Energy are here to help.  They have put together an EXTENSIVE list of information to help you select the right Heating and Cooling system for your home.  Of course, it is possible to install any type of system in any type of home, but the Department of Energy wants to stress to you the importance of considering both cost, and aesthetics.  Furthermore, there are a number of modifications that could be made to your home in order to maximize its efficiency.  A couple of examples might be improved ventilation or ductwork, and passive solar heating.  Consider also things such as your local climate and the power sources that are most easily accessible to you.  The Department of Energy suggests that you reach out to a reputable contracting company to help you design your system.
If you are considering a new HVAC system, This Efficient House is here to help!  Our staff of local, professional experts can evaluate any home to help you design the most energy efficient HVAC system that is right for YOU.  Please contact us at info@thisefficienthouse.com for more information!
Step 2: Heating Systems
Resistance baseboard heaters, central heating, and water-based heaters are among the most efficient types of heating systems. They all can be powered by electricity that is generated by solar panels or alternative types of energy, but because Resistance baseboard heating is cost prohibitive, Central heating with a furnace or boiler is by far the most cost-effective and most common method of heating your home.  This Efficient House specializes in high-efficiency furnace replacement.  The city of Fort Collins, or your local energy provider may even offer rebates which incentivize an energy-efficient revamp of your heating system.  Contact info@thisefficienthouse for more details regarding the Fort Collins or Xcel Energy rebate programs.
Active and passive solar heating systems require no energy to run but are often employed as supplementary systems due to the fact that they only work while the sun shines.
Step 3: Cooling Systems 
Surprisingly, Air Conditioning is almost never the most energy efficient way to cool your home.  The Energy Department recommends a combination of proper insulation and shading as well as well-designed ventilation and weatherization improvements.  A whole house fan, when properly used, combined with the right insulation and shading techniques are a powerful combination to keep your home cool and comfortable during the long summer months, and can cool homes in all but the hottest of climates with very little energy use.  If you live in a hot, dry climate, consider an evaporative or ”swamp” cooler, which can provide significant cooling with a much lower draw than an air conditioner.  If you do decide that an air conditioner is the best option for your family, be sure to choose a modern, energy-efficient model that is the right size and speed to maximize the cooling-efficiency of your home.  For more information about how to cool your home while maintaining your budget, contact the professionals at This Efficient House to schedule your free consultation.
Step 4: Sizing Your System
By far the most common mistake that people make when installing an HVAC system is choosing a system that is TOO large and TOO powerful.  Running a furnace or air conditioner that is too large for the space can waste TONS of energy and costs YOU lots of extra cash!  The more loosely constructed buildings of the past could cause significant heat transfer, which meant that heating and cooling systems had to work much harder.  However, if your home is properly insulated and weatherized, a large HVAC system is unnecessary, and can actually be the CAUSE of discomforts such as temperature swings, higher energy bills and maintenance costs.  A reputable contractor can help you find the perfect system for your home: one that can keep you comfortable without costing you too much money.  When working with any HVAC contractor, be sure to stress that you do NOT want an oversized system.

Hopefully, these tips and tricks provide you with a few points to think about if you are considering an upgrade to a more energy-efficient HVAC system.  For more information, or to schedule an appointment, please contact This Efficient House, your local, dependable home energy efficiency experts!
Until next time, have a great weekend, and take care out there in the snow!

These Money-Saving Hacks will Keep you Warm And Comfortable!

Oh my!  Its getting cold out there!  Thankfully, This Efficient House is here with some tips about how to keep YOUR family warm and comfortable during this winter cold snap.  Of course, the most economical long term solution is to keep your home running as EFFICIENTLY as possible by making sure you have installed the most cutting-edge, high-efficiency HVAC equipment that is the proper size for your home.  Adding enough insulation and air-sealing to your crawlspace or attic doesn’t hurt either!
For those of us who aren’t rocking the latest energy efficient style, here are some tips on how to keep our homes warm and comfortable during these LONG months before spring.
First of all, you’ll want to make sure your windows and doors are sealed and as leak-proof as possible.  Be sure to check around the door frame for any leaks, and seal them up with weather-stripping or a door sweep.  Storm windows should be installed and closed in place if you have them, and regular windows should be sealed.  Consider adding window caulk or plastic to shore up leaky windows or window frames.  In a pinch, a towel or shirt can be placed around noticeable leaks to act as an excellent barrier against the cold.
Secondly, a clear, plastic shower curtain can be hung over the windows that receive sunlight.  This will serve as a barrier to keep the cold air out, while allowing the ambient heat to enter and help warm the house.  Alternatively, cover your windows in plastic sheets to create the same effect.  A heavy set of curtains will also help to block cold drafts of air.  Be sure to keep open when its sunny, and closed when its not.
Check for obstructions around the outside of your house (e.g. plants, buildings, automobiles) that might be blocking your house from the sun.  Removing as many of these obstructions as possible can help keep your house warm through the power of passive solar heat!
Sealing off unused rooms can help create a barrier between your family and the cold air outside.  Additionally, this practice will decrease the area that needs to be heated, while reducing air circulation, which can save on energy costs.  Your local hardware store sells a magnetic register that can seal off rooms from the main part of your house.  Also, make sure that cold air returns are unblocked and free of furniture or rugs so that cold air can circulate more efficiently.
Putting down a rug or a carpet can help prevent heat loss through the floor and can also provide you with a  warmer, more comfortable surfaced on which to walk.
BAKE!  Warming up the oven in your kitchen can help to heat and dehydrate the air.  Adding necessary warmth to your home AND providing you with a home-made delicacy to boot!  Avoid cooking meals that give off steam, however, as this will add humidity to the air.  Humid air FEELS much colder than dry air.
Lighting a candle or two can produce an unexpected amount of heat.  A candle heater will not generate as much heat as a heater or a fireplace, but can be a cheap and effective way to create enough heat to make you all a little more comfortable!
Incandescent light bulbs can release up to 95% of the energy they use as heat, rather than light, So while firing up some incandescent light bulbs (instead of LED or Compact fluorescent) may not be the most efficient way to LIGHT your home, it might help you save a little money on your HEATING bill this winter.
Hopefully, these tips and tricks are just the thing that you need to stay warm and healthy this winter, but if you happen to be in the  market for a more long-term solution, This Efficient House, your local, energy efficient contracting company will be happy to provide you with a home energy efficiency audit or an estimate.  We’re here if you need us!  Give us a call, and stay warm out there!

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!

 


     Its a brand new year, and we at This Efficient House are more excited than ever to help YOU save money and energy while making your home more COMFORTABLE! 

     Fort Collins is really going efficient this season, and calendar dates are filling up, but we want to fit YOU in, so be sure to schedule your energy audit or estimate early! 

     This year is bound to be one of our biggest in memory.  With great deals on Attic Insulation and Air sealing, Energy Star Rated HVAC equipment, and even new, high efficiency Windows and doors, This Efficient House is your locally owned source for all your home energy efficiency needs.  Most homes can achieve a 25% or better increase in efficiency for less than 1% of the home's value, Helping you save cash and keep your family COMFORTABLE this winter!

     On Bill Financing is Fort Collins' low-cost program for residential energy efficiency, solar PV, and water conservation improvements.  Homeowners can CONVENIENTLY repay the loan on their monthly utility bill!  Details at fcgov.com/financing.

     This Efficient House - your local, lovable building performance company- wants to make the rebate process easy and keep your family warm this holiday season.  Give us a Call!

The "Single-Trade Contractor" Strikes Again!

Here’s a list of recent competitor projects that completely missed the mark....

A customer in Longmont with a 2,000 square foot ranch built in 1953 had their existing attic insulation removed and replaced, going from an R-Value of 30 to 50, which will take about 25-years to pay for itself.  The walls however remain uninsulated and would have paid for themselves in about 5 years.  The customer says the additional insulation in the attic seems to have made little or no difference and has no remaining budget left for further improvements.

A customer in Fort Collins lives in a condo built in 2003.  The master bedroom was hard to heat and cool.  A heating and cooling contractor just replaced both the furnace and air conditioner, barely 10 years old at a cost of $7,000.  Turns out the master bathroom and closet have no insulation in the ceilings or upper half of the walls and the problem can be fixed for $675.

A customer in Fort Collins lives in a contemporary home with vaulted ceilings built in the 1980s.  They just had their roof replaced with new “solar-shingles” installed to offset cooling costs in the summer.  The entire plywood roof deck was torn -off, revealing only a thin layer of fiberglass insulation in the vaulted ceiling.  The plywood was replaced and the new $45,000 solar roof shingles where installed, without adding insulation.  Adding 8" of cellulose insulation would have costs about $1,200 and done more to offset cooling costs than the solar panels. 

A customer in Loveland had extensive air-sealing and insulation work done in a two-story home with a basement, built in 1994, at a costs of $6,000! The energy audit reveals that the building was fairly tight and well insulated to begin with and the customer called us looking for answers when the heat wave hit.  After performing advanced diagnostics on the duct work we found that the vents on the third floor provided about half the needed airflow for heating and cooling.  We modified the duct work in the unfinished basement and doubled airflow to the third floor, for less than $900.   

Learn more about The Complete Home Performance Contractor at www.ThisEfficientHouse.com

Boulder and Longmont Energy Rebates Decrease After October 15th, Fort Collins and Loveland Energy Rebates Holding Steady...

There is a big last minute push from homeowners wanting to take advantage of current rebates offered through the Boulder County EnergySmart program.  Homeowners need to be enrolled by September 15th and the work need to be completed by October 15th.  The Boulder program is grant based and runs out at the end of 2013.

On the other hand, residents of Fort Collins and Loveland enjoy a "rate payer" based Residential Energy Efficiency Programs where all rate payers pay a small amount on their utility bill every month and the funds are pooled to support low-cost energy audits and rebates for energy efficient improvements.

Measures that qualify for rebates include; air sealing and insulation, new double pane low-e windows, high efficiency furnaces and air conditioners and whole house fans.

This Efficient House is an approved contractor in both programs and strives to use materials that are made either in Colorado or the United States. We install Milgard windows which are made in Denver, insulation manufactured in Colorado, Amana Furnaces which are built in Texas and AirScape Whole House Fans, which are manufactured in Portland, Oregon.  

Learn more at www.ThisEfficientHouse.com, This Efficient House

Great Article in The Denver Post - When you remodel, start with an energy audit.

Seven things to consider before starting a home remodeling project

Posted:   09/01/2012 12:01:00 AM MDT

By Susan Clotfelter
The Denver Post

1. Start with an energy audit

2. Saving drops and dollars

3. Insulation, well done

4. Trees, green by definition

5. Window shopping

6. Analyze heating/cooling systems

7. Alternative cool      

Read more: Seven things to consider before starting a home remodeling project - The Denver Post http://www.denverpost.com/style/ci_21445784?source=pop#ixzz25tVB0ATL
Read The Denver Post's Terms of Use of its content: http://www.denverpost.com/termsofuse

http://www.denverpost.com/style/ci_21445784?source=pop

Learn more about remodeling with energy savings and comfort in mind at:

Here’s a few more inexpensive but highly effective ideas for you: 

1.      Ridge Vents/Attic Ventilation:  We all know that the roof is supposed to keep the house dry and provide shade, but due to miserably inadequate building codes we now have roofs that literally “bake” the home with 150+ degree temperatures in the attic all summer long.  

2.       Reflective Low-E Window Film on west facing windows.  As an energy auditor, I have found that low-e glass was not consistently installed in new homes until about 2005.  Overheated upper levels in homes with lots of east and west facing glass can benefit from reducing the solar gain through those windows. 

3.       Update the fan motor in your existing furnace.  Did you know that the only difference between an old refrigerator and a new one is the “DC Brushless” motor that runs the compressor.  The old motors are “permanent split capacitor” motors and they use twice the electricity as the new ones.  The same upgrade can be made to the fan motor that circulates air throughout the house when the furnace or air conditioner is running.  The old “PSC” motors usually use between 500 and 1000 watts, compared to about half that of the newer motors.  The costs is around $500 for parts and labor and the energy savings will pay for the unit in less than 5 years.  Cities like Boulder and Fort Collins offer rebates that cover $150 to $250 of that costs, bringing the payback period down to less than 3 years.

Learn More at www.ThisEfficientHouse.com

 

House Too Hot? Five Common Problems that are Simple to Fix with Rebates Available.

The heat wave this summer has put a strain on the electric grid, increased utility bills and made a lot of homes unbearably hot.  We have been inspecting about 25 homes a week all summer long and these are the most common issues that we see which can be easily addressed and also qualify for rebates from your local utility.

1.       Problem:  Inadequate Attic Ventilation and Attic Temps that Commonly Exceed 135 Degrees:

Due to an oversight in the building code some 40 years ago, standards for the Front Range were accidentally lumped in with the Rocky Mountains, so nearly every attic has about half the ventilation that is recommended today. 

Solution: Install additional passive ventilation, like ridge vents, roof vents, gable vents and/or soffit vents.  This is affordable and highly effective (also, choose a lighter color whenever you replace the roofing). 

2.       Problem:  Excessive Building Air Leakage, especially in Architecturally Interesting Homes: 

Many newer homes have complex floor plans, roof lines and framing.  This often results in numerous hidden bypasses between the indoors and the outdoors.  Bypasses allow over-heated attic air or 100° outside air to migrate into interior building cavities causing overheated homes.  The old “brick box on a basement” might not be as interesting, but they are usually easier to heat and cool.

Solution: These bypasses can be identified with a low-cost home energy audit, using a blower-door test and infrared camera.  The leaks can be cost-effectively fixed by a skilled air-sealing crew and rebates often cover much of the cost.  Insulation can also be added if needed.

3.       Problem: High Solar Gain through West-Facing Windows:

Here on the Front Range “mountain views” are highly desirable, but large west-facing windows drive up interior temperatures significantly. 

Solution:  Apply reflective window film to reduce solar-gain by up to 60% and reduce the costs of cooling these rooms significantly.  Materials and Labor costs are about $5 per square foot and rebates cover 30-50% of that cost depending on your utility company.  This is considered to be so effective that it’s one of the few improvements that still qualify for federal tax credits.

4.       Problem:  Summer “Tiered-Rates” for Electricity Driving Up Monthly Electric Bills for AC Use.

Cooling a home during the day with air conditioning is expensive.  The typical 3-Ton AC system uses 3500 watts and a 5-ton system uses about 6,000 watts.  With tiered summer electricity rates, the 3-Ton system costs 50 cents an hour to run and the 5-ton system cost 85 cents per hour, which adds up to $5-$10 dollars per day or $150-$300 a month in cooling costs.

Solution:  Cool the Building at Night with an Energy Efficient Whole House Fan.  The Northern Colorado Front Range is high and dry which gives us a 30-40 degree temperature difference between the daytime high and the overnight low.  The latest generation of whole house fans are designed to run quietly all night long, bringing in the cool night air and “pre-chilling” the building to as low as 67 degrees.  The truly amazing part is that this only costs 5 cents per night or $1.50 per month. 

5.       Inadequate AC Airflow and Inadequate Return Duct Airflow on the Upper Floor:

On a hot day, three-story homes are often 65 degrees in the basement, 75 degrees on the first floor and 85 degrees upstairs.   Sound familiar?  The hottest air in the home just stagnates on the upper levels.  One common reason for this is the inadequate system air-flow and minimal “return-vents” on the upper floor. 

Solution: AC systems in Colorado need 400-500 CFM per ton of cooling.  Adding additional dedicated return air ducts to the top floor will moderate temperature differences between floors.  Depending on the home, this can be a simple job or more involved.      

Feel free to call or write with questions regarding the efficiency or comfort of your home at:

 www.ThisEfficientHouse.com

info@thisefficienthouse.com

970-204-9931