Drafty House? New Windows May NOT be the Solution.

by Adam Winter on February 21, 2010

We hear this question from homeowners all the time:

I think I need to replace my windows because I can always feel a cold draft when I am next to them. Are there any alternatives, since it’s such a pricey upgrade?

Surprising to many, replacement windows are not always the best solution to cold drafts – particularly for homeowners on a tight budget. So before running out to the local window retailer, be sure to consider other possible causes for drafts and their (often times) less expensive solutions.

Typically, the cold feeling you get when standing by a window is caused by a combination of radiant heat loss as your home’s heat is drawn directly through the glass, and air leaks that allow cold outside air to flow through your home. Swapping single-pane windows with double-pane replacements will help with radiant heat loss, but if your house isn’t well sealed and insulated, investing in costly new windows might not solve the problem.

Draftiness is usually the result of warm air rising and escaping into your attic through leaks in walls, ceilings and can lights. As the warm air escapes, it is replaced by cold air that flows in from poorly sealed crawlspaces and other low-lying areas. That’s when you feel the drafts.

Finding and sealing air leaks can have a huge impact on interior comfort. The average home leaks 100 percent of its heated air every hour. At Recurve, we prefer leakage rates closer to 35 percent, which seriously reduces drafts and energy waste.

In most homes, windows only account for a small fraction of the air that leaks out. And because replacement windows are such a big investment, it’s usually more cost-effective to tighten your home first by improving insulation and sealing air leaks– particularly in the attic and crawlspace. Your home will also feel warmer if you close your blinds or drapes at night to reduce the amount of radiant heat loss.

In any case, it’s best to begin with a professional audit of your home’s energy performance. By conducting a thorough inspection of the various elements that contribute to your home’s overall comfort and energy consumption – including insulation, heating and cooling systems, and duct systems – the auditor can help you figure out which improvements will give you the most bang for your buck. You might find that $2,000 worth of insulation and air sealing will have the same impact as a $20,000 window upgrade.

If you have enough money left in your remodeling budget, energy-efficient replacement windows can be a terrific option. We’ve seen impressive results from a line of fiberglass windows manufactured by Sunnyvale-based SeriousWindows. Their top-of-the line windows achieve an insulation rating of R-11, which is better than what many people have in their walls and ceilings.

Finally, no matter what home energy improvements you decide to make, be sure to take advantage of the tax credits and other incentives that are available for this kind of work. An experienced energy retrofit contractor will be able to tell which incentives are available in your area, and even help you with the necessary paperwork.

Berkeley Residents: Get off your Gas!

by Shana on February 3, 2010

The City of Berkeley is once again hosting the residential natural gas efficiency contest for Berkeley residents (renters and homeowners). All residents who receive a natural gas bill from PG&E, either directly or through their landlord, are eligible to enter and win. Cooperatives are eligible this year as well.

The contest period covers natural gas use for the month of February, so start conserving now! Last year’s prizes included Whole-House Performance Testing, $100 in BART tickets, Farmer’s Market Gift Certificates and gift baskets, and Berkeley Repertory Theater tickets.

Categories include: Lowest Natural Gas Use Overall, Lowest Natural Gas use Per Person, Greatest Percentage of Natural Gas Reduction, and Most Creative Effective Strategy for reducing natural gas consumption.

Contestants may also be eligible for up to a 20% bill credit from PG&E through their Winter Gas Savings program.

Download a contest application here: http://www.ci.berkeley.ca.us/ContentDisplay.aspx?id=34650

For additional information, please contact the Contest manager at Energy@CityofBerkeley.info or call 510-981-7435. PG&E is a co-sponsor of this contest.

Venture Funders Take Aim at Energy Waste

by Shana on January 28, 2010

‘Energy efficiency to shine in 2010’ reports the San Jose Mercury News

A pair of articles in yesterday’s edition of the San Jose Mercury News shed light on the growing national interest in energy efficiency and on the proposed HOME STAR retrofit incentive program. “Solar and wind power may get the headlines and attention,” the newspaper reported, “but green-tech experts say 2010 will be dominated by energy efficiency, the mundane but critical process of cutting the amount of gas and electricity that homes and offices use.”

Of particular interest to business leaders in the construction and related manufacturing sectors is the fact that investors are increasingly betting on the profitability of reducing energy waste:

Venture capital investment in energy efficiency hit a record in 2009: at least 115 deals worth nearly $1 billion, according to a preliminary tally by the Cleantech Group and Deloitte. That’s up 39 percent from 2008. Meanwhile, solar, which had 84 deals worth about $1.2 billion, was down 64 percent from 2008, and there’s increasing talk about solar being “overfunded.”

“In 2009, there was a pullback and realization by investors that because of the capital intensity of solar, there may be safer places to put their money,” said Scott Smith, U.S. cleantech leader for Deloitte.”

Mercury News staff writer Dana Hull also emphasized the wider economic and environmental benefits of energy efficiency: “It’s increasingly seen as an effective way to create desperately needed jobs, save struggling consumers money, wean America from its dependence on foreign oil and reduce carbon emissions – all at the same time.”

A second article provides an overview of the HOME STAR incentive program:

Silicon Valley venture capitalist John Doerr, who serves on President Barack Obama’s board of outside economic advisers, is a leading champion for Home Star, which he describes as “Cash for Caulkers.” The idea has widespread support from big-box retailers, labor unions, environmental groups and the construction and contracting industries, which have been devastated by the collapse of the housing market. Although national unemployment remains at about 10 percent, almost a quarter of the nation’s construction workers are unemployed, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

We are in an urgent moment where we desperately need jobs,” said Bracken Hendricks, a senior fellow at the Center for American Progress and an architect of the Home Star legislation. “You have business and environmental interests aligned around making this happen, and happen now. I have never seen a coalition this broad and this committed.”

Here are links to the full articles:

“Energy Efficiency to Shine in 2010”
www.mercurynews.com/breaking-news/ci_14241691

“Government working on ‘Home Star’ Plan for Energy-Efficiency Rebates”
www.mercurynews.com/breaking-news/ci_14261182?nclick_check=1

How Innovative Financing is Changing Energy in America

by Shana on January 27, 2010

Here’s a great post on Grist by Recurve friend and client Cisco DeVries, CEO of Renewable Funding.

In this article, Cisco discusses a shift in financing models for energy efficient improvements and renewable energy projects by funding them through loans attached to property tax. Dozens of states and municipalities, including several in the Bay Area such as Berkeley, Sonoma, and San Francisco, have already hopped on the bandwagon – thus demonstrating support for a public-private hybrid financing model that will achieve several goals at once: cutting energy use and carbon emissions, putting Americans back to work, and stimulating economic growth.

Handy Guide to Recycling Nearly Everything

by Shana on January 21, 2010

On average, individuals throw away 4 pounds of garbage every day. About a third of the waste is from product packaging. If you recycle all your home’s newspapers and newsprint ads, cardboard, glass and metal, you can reduce carbon emissions by 850 pounds a year. Use this list as a handy reference guide for all of your recycling needs:

ALUMINUM
Aluminum refining is a major source of greenhouse gases. Recycling a ton of aluminum saves 37 barrels of oil. When you recycle a beverage can, rather than tossing it in the trash can, you’ll save enough energy to run a computer for 3 hours or a TV for 2 hours. If you have a party and recycle 125 aluminum cans, you’ll save enough energy to power a home for a day.

BATTERIES
Battery acid can be converted to sodium sulfate for laundry detergent, glass and textile manufacturing. For a list of retail chains with drop-off sites for recycling batteries, check with the Rechargeable Batter Recycling Corporation: (678) 419-9990, www.rbrc.org. Battery Solutions will help you dispose of batteries from cell phones, laptop computers, flashlights, cameras, watches, hearing aids, clocks and electronic devices: (800) 852-8127, www.batteryrecycling.com.

CARDBOARD BOXES
Contact local no-profits to see if they can use your boxes, or offer them on www.freecycle.org, or www.craigslist.org. UsedCardboardBoxes.com offers “box rescue” services to businesses with 1,000 or more of the same-sized boxes and resells the boxes to consumers.

CELL PHONES
About 500 million cell phones are taking up shelf space rather than being recycled. You can drop off your old cell phones at large retail chains like Staples, AT&T, Best Buy, Office Depot, and Sprint PCS. You also can donate to recycleplace.com or Collective Good, which refurbishes old cell phones for developing countries: (770) 856-9021, www.collectivegood.com.

COMPACT FLUORESCENT BULBS
CFLs contain up to 5 milligrams of mercury and should be disposed of properly. For nearby drop-off sites, call 1-800-CleanUp or visit www.epa.gov/bulbrecycling (click “where you live”), or www.earth911.org. You may also deposit CFLs at some large retail chains such as Ikea (www.ikea.com).

COMPOST
Use the searchable database at www.findacomposter.com to locate a composting facility in your area.

COMPUTERS AND E-WASTE
Electronics, such as old computers and televisions, contain chemicals and lead and should be recycled. For computer re-use programs, visit www.recycles.org a non-profit exchange that connects businesses and consumers with nonprofit organizations.

For disposal centers, visit www.earth911.org or call 1-800-CleanUp. The EPA website also provides a list of corporations, such as HP and Dell, that accept computers. For all your other “technotrash,” contact the Consumer Electronics Association at www.mygreenelectronics.org or GreenDisk at (425) 392-8700, www.greendisk.com.

GLASS
By some estimates, it takes about 1 million years for a glass bottle to break down in a landfill. When purchasing glass, look for recycled products. Producing glass from recycled glass requires 30% less energy than producing it from virgin materials.

INK TONER CARTRIDGES
More than 3 quarts of oil are used to produce one laser printer cartridge, and the plastic body takes more than 1,000 years to decompose. Check Earthshare for recycling locations: www.earthshare.org/marketplace.html, or deposit cartridges at participating office supply retail chains. Recycleplace.com will even pay for your old ink cartridges and cell phones: (877) 348-5319.

JUNK MAIL
Junk mail produces more CO2 than 2.8 million cars. To keep junk mail and catalogs out of your mailbox, contact the Direct Marketing Association’s free Mail Preference Service at www.dmachoice.org or try www.41pounds.org which charges $41, donating about 1/3 of proceeds to environmental organizations.

MOTOR OIL
If you recycle just two gallons of used oil, it can generate enough electricity to power the average household for almost 24 hours. Find recycling centers for used motor oil at www.recycleoil.org or call the American Petroleum Institute at (202) 682-8000.

PAPER
If you convince just 3 of your friends to recycle newspapers, you’ll save about 17 trees, 2 barrels of oil, 7,000 gallons of water, and 4,100 kilowatt hours of electricity.

When you buy paper, buy recycled! It takes 60% less energy to produce recycled paper and 58% less water than to produce paper from virgin wood pulp. It also generates 74% less air pollution and 35% less water pollution.

PLASTIC
Two-thirds of the 40 billion plastic bottles produced annually in the US end up in landfills, where plastics need 100 to 400 years to break down. Every ton of plastic bottles recycled saves 3.8 barrels of oil.

Recycling rules for municipalities vary but, in general, most recycling programs accept PET bottles, usually used for soda and water, and HDPE bottles used for milk and laundry detergent. The following items generally should not go into the recycling bin: automotive, pesticide, or solvent bottles, lids or spray pumps, toys, trays, tubs or containers, plastic bags or film.

STEEL CANS & APPLIANCES
Recycle 1 ton of steel, which is used to produce may household appliances, and you’ll save the energy equivalent of 3.6 barrels of oil. That’s 2,500 lbs. of iron ore, 1,400 lbs. of coal and 120 lbs. of limestone.

Check out the Steel Recycling Center’s database of recycling locations for steel cans and appliances: www.recycle-steel.org or call (800) Yes-I-Can. Some charities, such as Goodwill, accept working appliances.

STYROFOAM PACKAGING
Many pack-and-ship stores will accept foam packaging for reuse. For additional foam peanut drop-off locations, contact the Plastic Loose Fill Council at (800) 828-2214. To dispose of large quantities of styrofoam block packaging, go to www.epspackaging.org or contact the Alliance of Foam Packaging Recyclers at (410) 451-8340.

Thanks to Eco Hatchery for providing the recycling tips.

Helpful Seasonal Home Maintenance Calendar

by Shana on January 20, 2010

Here’s a helpful checklist of things to do around the house, according to season:

JANUARY/FEBRUARY

  • Clean or replace furnace filter
  • Check/clean heat recovery ventilator; wash or replace filter
  • Clean humidifier
  • Clean range hood filter
  • Check basement floor drain

MARCH/APRIL

  • Clean or replace furnace filter
  • Check/clean heat recovery ventilator; wash or replace filter
  • Clean humidifier
  • Check sump pump
  • Check gutters and downspouts and clean if needed
  • Inspect air conditioning; service as needed (usually every two or three years)
  • Inspect basement or crawl space for signs of seepage/leakage
  • Ensure that ground slopes away from foundation wall

MAY/JUNE

  • Clean windows, screens and hardware; install screens
  • Check that air intake and exhausts are clear of debris, nests, etc.
  • Clean range hood filter
  • Undertake spring landscape maintenance; fertilize young trees

JULY/AUGUST

  • Air out damp basements on dry days or use dehumidifier
  • For central air conditioning, clean filter in air handling unit
  • Check exterior finishes
  • Check exterior wood for deterioration
  • Check caulking and weatherstripping, including around entry door from garage and house
  • Check basement floor drain trap; replenish if needed
  • Have furnace/heating system serviced (every two years for an electric furnace)

SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER

  • Check fireplace and chimney; service or clean if needed
  • Clean range hood filter
  • Clean leaves out of eavestroughs
  • Check roofing and flashing for signs of wear or damage
  • Close windows, skylights
  • Winterize landscaping

NOVEMBER/DECEMBER

  • Clean or replace furnace filter
  • Check or clean heat recovery ventilator; wash or replace filter
  • Clean humidifier
  • Check exhaust fans

Ed Begley, Jr. in Praise of Energy Audits

by Shana on January 12, 2010

Former St. Elsewhere star emphasizes the importance of ‘low-hanging fruit’ in home energy conservation

Celebrated actor and environmentalist Ed Begley, Jr. has been translating his green lifestyle into family entertainment with the revival of Living With Ed, a reality series now showing on the Planet Green television network. The show touches on a wide range of topics – from eco-friendly gardening and interior design to electric cars and home energy conservation – and has even featured an energy audit of model Cheryl Tiegs’ Bel Air estate. In a recent Q&A posted on the Planet Green Web site, Begley summed up the value of energy audits while answering a question about what kind of green businesses are most needed:

I think the key is to provide services that people need at the very ground level – the low hanging fruit so to speak. Solar panels, wind turbines, electric cars – all good things but not ground level things. What people really need these days is a home energy audit – one that can create a game plan for energy efficiency in each home. It looks at insulation, windows, ducting, lighting, HVAC, etc., and creates a full plan to bring each house up to a high level of energy efficiency. If I were to start a business, it would be doing home energy audits and doing the work that follows from them.

And here’s what Begley had to say to a viewer who was troubled by the high cost of residential solar, wind and geothermal systems:

Please don’t focus on energy PRODUCTION technologies. Try instead to focus on the low hanging fruit of energy and resource CONSERVATION. A kilowatt SAVED is so much cheaper than a kilowatt PRODUCED. I always recommend starting with a home energy audit – it will create a great game plan of things to do where you will get your fastest and largest return on investment. I didn’t get solar electric until 20 years after I started this stuff!

We couldn’t have said it better ourselves.

More information about Living With Ed, including broadcast schedules and video clips from the show, is available here: www.planetgreen.discovery.com/tv/living-with-ed/

Green building trends in 2009

by Shana on January 4, 2010

2009 was a fantastic year for progress and support of green building. Some of our favorite green building trends of the year were:

  • The increase in net zero energy building. Check out the Palo Alto historic retrofit we did here: Palo Alto Net Zero
  • Energy efficiency retrofits finally get financing support. CA has set aside over $3 billion, most of which will come from utility rebates.
  • Property assessed clean energy loans (PACE) gain popularity and are implemented in several states and municipalities.

See Greentech Media’s Top Ten in Green Building in 2009.

Asthma linked to formaldehyde exposure at home

by Shana on December 2, 2009

Most people aren’t aware of exactly how their home’s air quality affects their health and the health of their family. Did you know that up to 30% of the air you breathe comes from your crawlspace? As you can imagine, crawlspace air is full of moisture and dirt, which can lead to issues such as respiratory distress and mold.

Here’s another example of the link between childhood asthma and formaldehyde exposure from household items such as furniture and carpet. Roughly 7% of adults and 9% of children suffer from asthma in the U.S. – by identifying the triggers, we can help improve the health of future generations starting at home. American Chronicle (11/30)

Top 5 Green Tips for your Home

by Shana on November 24, 2009

1. Test your home’s energy IQ: Get an energy audit to determine the best roadmap to a healthy, comfortable and energy efficient home.

2. Unplug energy vampires: In the average home, 40% of all electricity is used to power home appliances while they’re turned off.

3. Insulate yourself against rising energy costs: Well-installed green insulation is the biggest bang-for-your-buck improvement you can make.

4. Get your ducts in order: In California, duct leakage accounts for a loss of 30% of heating and cooling energy.

5. Reduce, then produce: Before installing an expensive solar array, make your home a lean, efficient machine — then pay a lot less for your sun collectors.

Older Posts »