by Shana Fong on July 19, 2010
The gaps you can find around the windows and doors of the average American house add up to the equivalent of a hole in the wall that measures 10 inches by 10 inches.
Your house has more leaks than the CIA. There are cracks all over the place. Your doors and windows don’t quite meet their frames; there are tiny spaces where the walls almost join the floor; there are open areas around your electrical and plumbing outlets. And these little gaps eat energy. In fact, an amazing amount of heat in the winter – or cool air in the summer – escapes through them. But you have two simple weapons to fight with: caulking and weatherstripping.
Energy Facts
- Caulking and weatherstripping an electrically heated home can keep some 1,000 pounds of CO2 out of the air. So if 1,000 of these homes were weatherized, over a million pounds of CO2 would be saved.
- Believe it or not, stopping air infiltration can reduce your home’s heating and cooling bills by up to 40%.
- People are concerned that although weatherstripping may save energy, it will keep fresh air out of their homes. While it’s true that some ventilation is necessary, it’s really not much of a problem – a typical house may get twice as much fresh air as it needs. In other words, the air is probably flying out of your house as quickly as you’re heating or cooling it.
Caulking vs. Weatherstripping
- Cracks without any moving parts – like the places where a wall in your house meets the outside edge of a window frame, or two other dissimilar materials come together – can be sealed with caulk.
- The places where doors and windows close into their frames can be sealed with weatherstripping – cleverly designed strips of felt, rubber, metal, or plastic that fill the spaces around doors and windows, and compress when you shut them.
- Weatherstripping materials come in many styles. Some are self-sticking, so you don’t even need a hammer to install them. Others must be nailed on. Still others are crafted so pieces on the frame and the door lock together when the door closes.
- One of the trickiest places to weatherstrip is where the door meets the threshold. Special “shoes” and “sweeps” are available to stop these air leaks.
- Besides saving energy, weatherstripping and caulking have an additional benefit: By stopping drafts, they’ll make your home more comfortable.
Leak Patrol
- Some evening, when your house is at least 20°F warmer than the outdoors, hold your hand up to various places around windows and door frames. If you feel any drafts, the windows and door frames need weatherstripping.
- You can also use a smoking incense stick to look for drafts. Hold the stick near places you think might have cracks; if the smoke dances or gets sucked in, you’ve found a place to seal.
- Many of the biggest air sealing opportunities are up in the attic and below your floors. For these harder-to-reach leaks, it’s a good idea to call in a trained professional such as Recurve to quickly identify and remedy your home’s major leakage areas.
Excerpted from 30 Simple Energy Things You Can Do To Save The Earth, by The EarthWorks Group.
by Shana Fong on July 16, 2010
Is your thermostat accurate? If not, chances are that the temperature sensor is being affected by cold air coming through the opening where the thermostat is mounted.
Keeping control of your thermostat is one of the simplest ways you can save a great deal of energy – and money – all year round.
Energy Facts
- During the winter, you can save as much as 2%-3% of the energy your furnace uses simply by lowering your thermostat 1°F (if it’s set between 65°F and 72°F).
- In the summer, the process is reversed. You save 3%-5% of the energy used by your air conditioner for every degree you raise the thermostat setting (if it’s set between 70°F and 82°F).
- Do you chronically forget to turn down the heat? There are low-priced, easy-to-install thermostats that adjust the temperature automatically. The simplest have built-in clocks; the more advanced models are computerized. An advanced model will, for example, turn your furnace on 30 minutes before you wake up, turn it off when you leave for work, turn it on just before you return home, and then set it for 55°F when you go to bed. Some also have a “minimum energy use” setting that monitors temperatures when you go on vacation.
Simple Ways to Save Energy
- Keep the thermostat under control. Recommended winter settings for heaters: 68°F in the daytime, 55°F at night. In the summer, turn the air conditioner’s thermostat to 78°F.
- Check the temperature. Using an accurate thermometer, make sure that the temperature near your thermostat is representative of the rest of the house. If it’s located in a drafty or sunny spot, you may be getting false readings and wasting energy.
- Plug the hole in the wall behind the thermostat with a piece of fiberglass insulation.
Excerpted from 30 Simple Energy Things You Can Do To Save The Earth, by The EarthWorks Group.
by Shana Fong on July 7, 2010
Leaking ducts can reduce the efficiency of your heating system by up to 20%. Ducts are a critical part of making your home energy efficient. If they’re leaking air – which they almost always do – or if they’re losing heat because they’re uninsulated, they’re contributing as much to global warming as they are to keeping you warm.
Energy Facts
- You can save up to 10% of your heating or cooling costs by insulating and tightening up ducts.
- Even if the air isn’t actually escaping from an uninsulated duct, you lose a lot of heat through its thin metal walls.
- When the first air that comes out of the vent after you turn on the heater is chilly, and stays chilly for a long time, you know your ducts are uninsulated and you’re wasting energy.
Simple Ways to Save Energy
If your ducts aren’t insulated: Turn on your furnace and feel for air escaping around the duct joints. If you feel any (and you probably will), hire a certified contractor such as Recurve to seal them with mastic.
If your ducts are already insulated: It’s harder to find out if your ducts leak. You can expose the joints (where the ducts bend, for instance) to check – but it’s best to leave it to an expert.
- Before you start examining your ducts, check to make sure the insulation isn’t asbestos (looks off-white, stiff, heavy cloth). If it is, stay away! It’s in your best interest to get it properly removed ASAP.
Excerpted from 30 Simple Energy Things You Can Do To Save The Earth, by The EarthWorks Group.
by Shana Fong on June 24, 2010
Eight percent of American homes now have pools, which waste more energy than all the nation’s ENERGY STAR homes are saving!
Swimming pools are typically the first- or second-largest single energy user in homes that have them. California’s 1.35 million residential pools use the entire electrical output of a medium-sized power plant.
Energy Facts
- Evaporation is the biggest source of heat loss from hot tubs and pools. When only 5 gallons of water evaporate from a hot tub, the remaining 500 gallons chill by 1°F., then must be re-heated.
- American swimming pools contain enough water to cover the city of San Francisco with a layer of water about seven feet deep. About 30% of that water is heated, requiring as much natural gas as a city of 6 million normally uses.
- For every hour it’s in use, an average pool heater consumes three times as much energy as a home furnace.
- Pool blankets (insulating sheets that float on the water surface) reduce the energy consumption of pool heaters by 40%-70%.
- Pool pumps use about the same amount of energy in an hour as window unit air conditioners.
Simple Ways to Save Energy
- Cover your spa or hot tub. Use a well-insulated cover with an R-value rating of 12 and foam insulation that is at least 2 inches thick. It’ll prevent heat loss and evaporation.
- Cover your pool with a floating pool blanket whenever you’re not swimming.
- Install a highly efficient two-speed or variable speed pool pump and use the low speed as much as possible. This can cut your pool-pumping energy consumption, and the related costs, in half.
- Resist buying a pool pump bigger than you need; it will cost more to buy and operate than a properly sized one.
- Put a timer on your pool pump – most run longer than needed to keep pools clean.
Excerpted from 30 Simple Energy Things You Can Do To Save The Earth, by The EarthWorks Group.
by Shana Fong on June 21, 2010
Lighting accounts for 10% of all electricity consumed in the United States. Over half of that electricity is used in business and manufacturing.
Flicking a light switch is a simple motion. You do it dozens of times a day without thinking. It’s time to give it some thought. According to the World Resources Institute, the production of energy for lighting accounts for 10% of all the emissions of carbon dioxide, the main greenhouse gas. From 5% to 10% of your residential energy bill goes to paying for lighting. So it’s important to conserve energy by lighting right.
Energy Facts
- Are “long-life” incandescent bulbs better for the environment? No. They’re actually less efficient than the regular ones, and can easily cost more in extra energy than they save on replacement bulbs.
- It’s a trick: “Energy-saving” incandescent bulbs usually save energy simply because they put out less light than their regular counterparts. Check out the “lumens” rating on the package for the amount of light emitted.
- Believe it or not: Dust on a light bulb or dirt on a glass fixture can reduce the light it gives off and make it seem that you need a brighter, higher-wattage light.
- Even the paint color you choose can affect your energy use. The more light the walls reflect, the greater the chance that the light can be “recycled” by striking the wall, bouncing off, and still illuminating the room. A lighter wall can lead to a 25% energy reduction.
- Opening curtains during the day will save lighting energy. Direct sunlight is 100 times brighter than the light from a strong reading lamp.
- It used to be a good idea to leave fluorescent lights on if you were just going to be out of the room for a few minutes. But new fluorescents last longer even when switched on and off frequently.
Simple Ways to Save Energy
- When you leave a room, turn off the lights. People commonly think it takes more energy to turn a light back on than it does to leave it on. But that’s not true.
- Use only as much wattage as you need. Why waste energy with extra light? If you think you can get away with a lower-wattage bulb, try it out and see if it still seems bright enough.
- Dust the bulbs and get the dead moths out of the fixture before you try a higher-watt bulb.
- Use fewer bulbs in multi-bulb fixtures. Most people don’t realize that one strong bulb is more efficient than several weaker ones. For example: A single 100-watt bulb uses the same amount of energy as four 25-watt bulbs, but gives off about twice as much light. And it uses less energy than two 60-watt bulbs, but yields approximately the same light. Note: for safety’s sake, put a burned-out bulb in any empty sockets.
Save Energy with Light Switches
- If any lights in your house are frequently left on when they shouldn’t be – in the garage or basement, for instance – you can install a timer to shut them off automatically. The timer plugs into the wall and the lamp plugs into the timer – simple!
- Light timers are available at most hardware stores. If you’re a competent do-it-yourselfer, you can install them easily.
- You can install dimmer switches wherever you need bright light only occasionally. If it’s an energy-saving dimmer switch (check it out when you buy it), you’ll have the option of using less energy on lighting at other times.
Excerpted from 30 Simple Energy Things You Can Do To Save The Earth, by The EarthWorks Group.
by Shana Fong on June 15, 2010
Americans purchase about 16 million fans each year. In the heat of summer, fans can be a good alternative to energy-sucking air conditioners.
Energy Facts
- Ceiling fans consume as little energy as a 60-watt bulb – which is about 98% less energy than most central air conditioners use.
- Ceiling fans are often used instead of air conditioning. But it’s not necessarily one or the other. Fans produce air currents that carry heat away from the skin, so even air conditioned rooms feel cooler when one is running.
- Many ceiling fans save energy in winter as well as summer. The secret: Their motors run in “reverse.” This pushes warm air caught near the ceiling down to where you can feel it. Set the fan on low speed so it pushes room air up against the ceiling, forcing warm air slowly down the walls to the floor.
- How much difference can that make? Some rooms in your house can be 15° warmer at the ceiling than at the floor. A well-placed ceiling fan can reduce this difference to only 3°.
- Remember: fans only save energy or make you feel cooler if you are in the room, so remember to turn them off when you aren’t using them.
Simple Ways to Save Energy
- If you’re shopping for a ceiling fan: Purchase an ENERGY STAR-rated unit. You’ll find them at home improvement centers. Look for a fan that’s reversible and has more than one speed. Check to make sure the blades are angled at least 10°.
- If you’re thinking about where to install one:Rooms with the highest ceilings are the best candidates. But make sure the blades are between seven and nine feet above the floor.
- Match the fan to the room. For rooms 12 feet by 12 feet or less, you can use a 36 or 42-inch fan. For rooms up to 12 feet by 18 feet, use a 48 or 52-inch fan. For bigger rooms, you may need more fans.
Excerpted from 30 Simple Energy Things You Can Do To Save The Earth, by The EarthWorks Group.
by Shana Fong on June 8, 2010
An acre of lawn needs 1.3 million gallons of water a year to stay green and healthy. Here are some tips on how be water-wise without sacrificing your grass.
Energy Facts:
- During the summer, the majority of household water is used for keeping yards green.
- Even in places where water doesn’t have to be moved long distances from source to tap, a significant amount of energy is required to treat and process it before it enters the water main.s
Simple Ways to Save Energy:
- Use a push mower instead of a power motor to save energy and reduce carbon dioxide emissions by up to 80 pounds a year.
- Set your mower blades so they cut grass about 2-3 inches tall. Mowing it shorter dries out the soil faster and increases water use.
- Let grass clippings turn into mulch. During dry periods, cut the grass high and leave the clippings on the lawn to keep it from drying out – thus reducing the amount of water your lawn needs.
- Most lawns need about 1 inch of water a week once they’re established. Apply it slowly so the water doesn’t run off.
- Here’s how to tell how long it takes to apply an inch of water: Set two or three cans out on the lawn and turn on the sprinkler. Check every few minutes to see how long it takes to land an inch in each can. Average the times for the cans, and that’s the length of time to water.
Watering Smart
- Water early in the morning or very late afternoon to cut down on how much water evaporates before it reaches the roots.
- Try drip irrigation for shrubs and garden plants. It’s a way of putting the water in small, steady amounts right to the soil around the plant you’re watering.
- When you re-landscape, group together the plants that need similar amounts of water. That way, you can avoid overwatering one just to irrigate another.
Going Native
- Consider plants for your yard that are already adjusted to local conditions and don’t require extra water or attention. These are usually plants that are native to your area.
- Think about shrubs, succulents, and trees as a substitute for some of your lawn. Nothing requires more water than a lawn.
- When you’re ready to reseed or resod your lawn, look for grasses that require less water to thrive.
- Check your local government website for information about water conserving plants. These plants are also called “drought tolerant,” and the practice of landscaping to conserve water is called “xeriscaping.”
Excerpted from 30 Simple Energy Things You Can Do To Save The Earth, by The EarthWorks Group.
by Shana Fong on June 7, 2010
June is upon us, and for many that means starting to use our air conditioning units regularly. On an average summer day, Americans provide enough cold air to produce 16 trillion ice cubes. Check out these cool tricks to stop the cost of keeping cool from making you sweat.
Energy Facts:
- To cool your house efficiently, your air conditioner has to be cool itself. Try to keep it in the shade. An air conditioner exposed to direct sunlight will use up to 5% more energy than a shaded one.
- Air conditioners located on the north side of houses generally use less energy than those on the south or west sides, where it’s sunnier.
- If your air conditioner’s already in the sun, you can build a simple wooden shade screen for it. (But don’t block the air flow.)
Simple Ways to Save Energy:
- If you’ve got central air conditioning: Don’t close your vents. Closing too many of them actually reduces operating efficiency. Instead, reduce the air flow to unused rooms by partially closing the registers. Whenever possible, leave the room door partly open to keep the system operating efficiently.
- Turn the air conditioner off when you leave the house for several hours or more.
- A thermostat’s not a throttle, so don’t switch your air conditioner to a colder setting when you turn it on. It won’t cool the room any faster, but it will waste energy when you forget to turn it back up.
- Put a timer on your room air conditioner, or use a programmable thermostat on your central air conditioner. You don’t need to leave your air conditioner on all day to have a cool house when you get home. Hardware stores sell timers that will automatically start your air conditioner shortly before you get home. You may never notice the difference… until you see the savings on your electric bill.
- Keep the heat out. Minimize the amount of heat entering your home from outside by closing shades and curtains on hot days – sunlight coming through windows can account for 20% of your air conditioning bill. And don’t leave windows and doors open while your air conditioner is running.
- Set the thermostat as high as possible.
Caring for Coils:
You can save energy by taking care of air conditioner coils, just like your refrigerator coils. They won’t work efficiently unless the fins that cover the coils are clean and straight. So check them out every spring.
- If the fins are bent, you can carefully straighten them out with a plastic spatula. Or call a service person to repair them.
- If they’re dusty, dirty, or clogged with old leaves, you can vacuum them with your household vacuum cleaner. If the attachment on the vacuum won’t fit between the coils, blow the dirt away instead.
Don’t Forget the Filter
Air conditioners are equipped with filters to protect their fan blades, motors, and other internal parts. Replace or clean dirty filters. Dirty air filters are the #1 cause of air conditioning service calls. But filters are easy to replace and you can do it yourself. Put in a new one every month during the summer. Be sure all hardware is replaced and securely re-attached.
You may want to consider a permanent filter that you can wash instead of replacing. Some permanent filters restrict air flow too much for some units, so check first with a Recurve representative or another qualified technician.
Excerpted from 30 Simple Energy Things You Can Do To Save The Earth, by The EarthWorks Group.
