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Ways to Make Your Home More Energy Efficient06/03/2009
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| It isn't easy being green, but you don't need a new house to do it. Your house is a system. You save money and improve performance when you apply cost-effective measures that reduce building loads, and then install systems and appliances that are the right size to meet your needs. Energy efficiency measures require a hierarchical approach to maximize the financial benefits. First improve the building's envelope (walls, windows and roof); next improve the efficiency of appliances (furnace, lighting, water heater, air conditioner and refrigerator); and finally address any potential on-site renewable strategies, like solar panels or solar hot water. |
| 1. Make sure your walls and attic are well insulated. Effective insulation slows the rate that heat flows out of the house in winter or into the house in summer, so less energy is required to heat or cool the house. If your house has no wall insulation and has conventional stud walls, blown-in insulation can greatly improve your comfort and save enough energy to be very cost-effective. If your attic is unfinished, it often pays to upgrade its insulation. 2009 Florida Building requires a minimum of R30 insulation and the majority of older homes have R19 or less. A contractor's expertise is more important than the insulation material you choose. Properly installed fiberglass, cellulose and most foam insulation materials vary little in their R-value (a rating of a material’s resistance to heat flow) or the heat conduction of the completed wall system. The key is "properly installed." |
| 2. Upgrade/Replace windows or install window film. If your windows are old and leaky, it might be time to replace them with energy-efficient Low E insulated windows or boost their efficiency with weather stripping. Blinds are a good cosmetic fix, but they only remove the light, not the heat. 2009 Florida Building Code is pushing for all new construction and remodels to use Energy Efficient Windows. 3M has a product called prestige window film that is optically clear, blocks 97% of infrared heat, 56% of solar energy and 99.9% of UV rays. This product will not only reduce your electric bill but it will also make your home or office more comfortable by blocking the amount of heat coming through the glass. |
| 3. Plant shade trees and shrubs around your house or consider canvas awnings. If your house is older, with relatively poor insulation and windows, good landscaping can save energy, especially if planted on the house’s west side. In summer, the foliage blocks infrared radiation that would warm the house, while in winter the bare branches let this radiation come through. Of course, if your house has very good insulation and Energy Star or better windows, the effect is much, much smaller because the building shell itself is already blocking almost all the heat gain. Canvas awnings can reduce solar heat gain by up to 65% on south facing windows and 77% on west facing windows. They can be retractable to allow for desired winter heat gain. |
| 4. Make sure your HVAC is the right size for your home and your ducts are properly sealed. You can determine whether your unit is efficient for the space by calculating livable sq ft verses the unit's tonage. Your HVAC unit should range between 350 - 400 sq ft of livable space per ton. For example, a 1,800 sq ft house should have a 4.5 ton unit with a 13 seer rating (which is 2009 Florida Building Code minimum). If you house is more than 5 years old, you should check the seer rating in your system. Duct work is one of the most important parts of your central AC system. Leaky ducts can be the root cause of air inefficiency. Even a brand new AC system will not operate properly unless the ducts are clean and in proper working order with no leaks. |
| 5. Improve the efficiency of your hot water system. Turn down the temperature of your water heater to the warm setting (120°F). Insulate your hot water lines so they don’t cool off as quickly between uses. Use low-flow fixtures for showers and baths. While storage water heater standards were raised in 2001, it was probably not enough to justify throwing out an existing water heater that is working well. |
| 6. Replace incandescent lights with compact fluorescent lamps (CFLs). CFLs can save three-quarters of the electricity used by incandescents. Most people don’t think about the fact that the electricity to run a lightbulb costs much more than the bulb itself. One of the new CFLs costs about $3, but it lasts 10,000 hours and uses only about 27 watts to generate as much light as a 100-watt incandescent bulb. During its life, it uses about $22 in electricity, so the total cost is about $25. A 100-watt incandescent bulb costs 50 cents, but lasts 1,000 hours so you need 10 of them ($5 to buy) to last 10,000 hours. In those 10,000 hours you will use 1,000 kilowatts of electricity, which will cost more than $80 at a national average price. So the lighting cost of the CFL is less than one-third of the cost for the incandescent. The best targets for replacement are 60- to 100-watt bulbs used several hours a day, because usage affects how long it takes to recover the investment. |
| 7. If you buy a new refrigerator, don’t leave the old (non-energy star) one plugged-in in the garage as a backup to store drinks. Electricity to operate the old one isn’t free. It costs an extra $50 - $150 per year to run it. In contrast, the new one, particularly if Energy Star rated, may cost only $30 - $60 per year to run because refrigerator efficiency has improved so much in the past three decades. Under these circumstances, think about how much refrigeration you really need. The best rule is to have only one refrigerator and size it to meet your actual needs. |
| 8. Take advantage of new tax incentives to improve your home effective March 6, 2009. Federal Tax Credits for Energy Efficiency for Consumers includes: Tax credits are available at 30% of the cost, up to $1,500, in 2009 & 2010 (for existing homes only) for Windows and Doors, Insulation, Roofs (Metal and Asphalt), HVAC, Water Heaters (non-solar), and Biomass Stoves. Tax credits are available at 30% of the cost, with no upper limit through 2016 (for existing homes & new construction) for Biomass Stoves, Geothermal Heat Pumps, Solar Panels, Solar Water Heaters, Small Wind Energy Systems, and Fuel Cells. |
| 9. Schedule an energy audit for more expert advice on your home as a whole. Energy auditors and raters use specialized tools and skills to evaluate your home and recommend the most cost-effective measures to improve its comfort and efficiency, as well as the best sequence for doing them to take advantage of interactions. Tampa Electric and Progress Energy both offer a free energy inspection conducted at your home. The representative will survey your home's insulation, duct work, water heating, cooling and heating systems and overall efficiency. You'll then be provided with energy-saving recommendations and practices and other cost-effective energy-saving measures. This free audit takes about an hour and can provide long-lasting benefits. |
