Is Your House Cold?

The weather is weird: 24 degree on Thursday and 55 degrees on Sunday. Apparently this is part of Climate Change, aka Global Warming. Thomas Friedman calls it “global weirding” in his book Hot, Flat and Crowded, because, yes some places will be hotter over all, but others will be wetter, dryer, cooler, or just different. To me what is crystal clear is that the weather will be unpredictable. Something does stay the same though – I still get my PECO gas and electric bill at the end of the month, whether its 24 or 55 degrees outside.

PECO will be raising their electric rates in 2010, when the rate caps come off. Does that seem weird to you, higher rates? We are already paying some of the highest rates in the US. We need to fight back in a way that saves us money, helps PECO, contributes to our nation’s energy independence and lessens climate change. I am talking about Conservation of energy resources. If we do not conserve we will be paying even higher energy costs in the coming years.

The severe cold weather of the last few weeks has gotten a lot of people worried about paying their heating bills, especially in the terrible economic downturn our country is in right now. There are two basic ways to lower energy bills. First, modify the way you live in your house by turning off unused lights, lowering the thermostat, replacing bulbs with compact florescent or LED bulbs, and behavioral choices. The second way to lower bills is to tighten your home’s exterior walls (the building envelope) so that the heat can not escape as easily. A little investment now will pay you back the same amount and more over the years. It is an excellent investment, for you and the environment.

There are three steps to tightening up your home’s building envelope:
1) have a comprehensive Energy Audit done by a trained professional auditor. An Energy Audit consists of an interview with you about your house to ascertain the issues you have experienced such as hot/cold rooms, drafts, etc; a blower-door test; an Infrared Camera analysis; a computer analysis of your energy bills; and a safety check of your HVAC equipment. The blower-door test and Infrared camera are used to identify the places in the house where air is leaking in. The Auditor will present you with a comprehensive, detailed report about what you need to do to tighten up the building’s envelope.

2) hire a trained Energy Efficiency remodeling contractor to provide you with a detailed estimate based on the findings in the Energy Audit Report. Typically there are air infiltration issues in the basement, bedroom and bathrooms and in the attic. The contractor must be knowledgeable about how your house works as a system of component parts (HVAC equipment, insulation, ventilation, moisture, to name a few), not just a specialist such as an insulation contractor who thinks all problems can be solved with a few more inches of fiberglass in the attic. Beware of the specialist who knows nothing about Building Science.

3) Spend the money getting the lowest cost work done first. Typically, unless a window is really bad, it does not make sense to spend money on windows and doors first, as the pay back is many years off. Plugging the infiltration holes with expanding foam or caulk, sealing the ceiling below the attic, adding an attic access cover, foam receptacle covers and other modest improvement can have a major impact on comfort and energy savings.

4) After the air sealing and insulation is done consider windows and doors, Energy Star appliances, a new furnace and/or siding. If you are planning a home renovation such as an addition, a new kitchen or a new bath room, talk to your contractor to make sure they understand the energy efficiency details required to make the renovation as energy efficient and Green as possible. It can cost less in the long run to consider the Building Science at the being.

We all benefit when we move to save money on our energy bills and reduce our energy usage. It all begins where it should, at home.

This article was contributed by Thomas G. Wells

THOMAS G. WELLS CONSTRUCTION L.L.C.
105 Pennsylvania Avenue
Yardley, Pa. 19067
Tel: 215-321-4818
Fax: 215-321-2179
Cell: 215-378-4048