Category Archives: Improvements

Keeping Warm in the Winter: Warm Home Cool Planet Survey of Surveys

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If one does a Google search on ‘keeping warm in the winter,’ you’ll find dozens of articles from all over the world, with tips and advice on how to keep warm without breaking the bank. There’s a lot of overlap in these lists, but occasionally you find a unique idea or two. Many of these lists are aimed at the elderly, who have to balance warmth issues with other issues (avoiding slips and falls). You’ll also find a great deal of disagreement about the safety and utility of closing off vents in unused parts of a structure heated by a forced air furnace.

The tips are all common-sensical. But one thing we’ve noticed at Warm Home Cool Planet, if you pile up enough common sense, you frequently find you’ve created an uncommonly useful resource. We read through dozens of postings with the reality of Cambridge winter in mind.

Our Survey of Surveys found the following categories of suggestions:

  • Eliminate drafts—It’s not just about saving money and the planet, it’s about comfort. One thing we hadn’t seen before were these insulated window blinds with magnetic seals at the edges, which come from, no surprise, Montana.
  • Set up a warm room safely—(without causing furnace problems; this means being careful about how many heating vents, if any, you shut. One rule of thumb is to never shut vents that supply more than 15% of your homes total cubic heating volume, and if you are using a heat pump, don’t shut off vents ever, period.)
  • Dress in air-trapping thin layers—much discussion of thermal underwear; downhill skiers seem to know a lot about this.
  • Exercise moderately and appropriately for your age and physical condition.
  • Eat and drink enough; eat and drink warm things.
  • Only use space heaters safely and responsibly. If you die, you will soon grow cold and the space heater will be a waste of money.

Energy Rebates by the Square Foot

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The details of an interesting program to encourage energy efficiency in Utah just crossed our desk here at Warm Home Cool Planet.

The Energy Services Efficiency Program… eases the financial burden of making large changes that lower the energy load on the power grid, such as better insulation, more efficient air conditioning systems and improved swimming pool pumps.The rebates could pay more than $500 for improved attic insulation, $350 for a new air conditioning unit and up to $125 for a better swimming pool pump.

Warm Home Cool Planet supports this idea because it achieves two things. It ties the reduction of energy use in each house to specific improvements, and it helps the homeowner make the capital investment in what are becoming tough times for all. Looking at the photo below, it seem like the folks in Utah are getting with the program too:

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Larry Morrison, also with Morrison Insulation, said when he learned about such rebates last year, he started alerting all of his customers to the possible benefits. He said it costs about 50 cents per square foot for a typical installation, while rebate programs would reimburse for 35 cents per square foot – as both the St. George and Questar programs do.

Retrofitting Halogen Track Lighting with LEDs? Someday soon, we hope.

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With energy savings of up to 80% over Halogen, retrofitting your MR16 track lighting with LEDs would seem to be a no-brainer. The problem is, well, it’s complicated. The prices on this type of lighting are falling fast, and the bottom line is; making a big investment now might not make sense.

LED tracklight

According to Wikipedia, there are few standards for MR16 and MR11 compatible LED lamps, and with a large variety of designs varying significantly in beam control, light quality, efficiency and luminous power, getting the right light for your model of track lighting may be difficult. Or impossible. Most LEDs run on DC current; halogens most often run on 12 volt AC current. So your bulb will need to have an integrated rectifier.

If this is all greek to you, it’s probably not the greatest idea to tackle this solo.

Think twice before placing a huge wholesale order from the Pacific Rim. With reputable sources selling dimmable LED halogen replacements for 30-70 dollars a bulb, you have to wonder about the longevity of a 10 or 15 dollar generic knock-off.

In the pioneering spirit of Warm Home Cool Planet, we appointed ourselves guinea pig and ordered fifty bucks worth of the, ah… affordable bulbs to test in one of our living rooms. We’ll keep you posted on the results.

We’re looking forward to these bulbs hitting the mainstream residential market in the next few years. Stay tuned to this channel.

The Passive House

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The concept of ‘Passive Houses’ has been gaining some currency recently. On first glance it doesn’t sound terribly exciting. From this article in the Portland Daily Journal of Commerce, however, you can see that creating a passive house requires homeowners to take a number of active steps towards building or renovating a house that requires very little energy for heating or cooling. Apparently, the benchmark of a passive home is one where less than 15 watts per square foot is used to heat and cool the house during the entire year.

800px-passivhaus_darmstadt_kranichstein_fruehling_2006

Most of the world's Passive Houses are located in Germany or Scandinavia

If you need more information on Passive Houses. Or as the Germans, who invented the concept, call them (PassivHaus), there’s always Wikipedia.

Super insulated house in Arlington, MA

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It started with a small water stain on the dining room ceiling that nagged at Alex Cheimets.

By the time he finished fixing the leak, his house was clad in insulation so thick he needed special 10 inch screws just to attach it to the siding. And the MA State Government had signed on a sponsor for his $100,000 home improvement project.

Super Insulated House has attracted an iimpressive group of sponsors.

The Super Insulated House in Arlington, MA has attracted an impressive group of sponsors.

Part of the state’s payoff will come after the work is done. Sensors will measure humidity and help track heat loss. A blower test with a giant fan will see just how tight the home is sealed. An oil tank sensor will track oil use at different indoor and outdoor temperatures.

Cut Home Energy Use. Get a mortgage interest rate cut.

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But what if there was a government incentive to make energy improvements that would make a significant dent in your mortgage payment along with that less-detectible cut in your utility bill? Would you then make those improvements? What if the government bought down your mortgage at a proportion relative to the level of energy improvements made on your house? Would that make you get up on a ladder and caulk around a window,or  buy a new air conditioning system? You’d certainly be more likely to.

Sounds like an economic stimulus plan (of sorts), one that is the central theme of the Architecture 2030 Challenge Stimulus Plan.  From their press release:

“ The mortgage buy-down would allow a homeowner to reduce their mortgage rate if they renovate and improve the energy efficiency of their home to meet one of the 2030 Challenge targets.”

The Challenge Stimulus Plan is sponsored by Architecture 2030, a  nonprofit research organization supported by organizations such as the US Conference of Mayors (USCM), Department of Energy (DOE), Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), US Green Building Council (USGBC), American Institute of Architects (AIA), American Society of Heating, Refrigeration and Air-Conditioning Engineers (ASHRAE).

Energy Prices Take a Breather

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The drop in energy prices-at the pump and in the home-we saw in the last quarter of 2008 will likely stay with us through 2009 according to the US Department of Energy. Add that to the shaky economic outlook and that means  people will be less likely to undertake home repairs and improvements for the next 18 months.

Builders and handymen will be looking for work-and available. So there’s never been a better time to plan an energy efficient makeover for your house. Get it done before oil and gas prices start to rise in 2010.