With ongoing concerns about the impacts of our energy usage on climate change, and worries about how our surprisingly chemical-dependent lifestyles can impact human health, everyone is looking for ways to change the way their homes operate. A lot of homeowners just want to know how they can save on energy usage and cut monthly bills, while others want to do their part for planet Earth, and still others prioritize a healthy home environment.
Whatever your eco-focus might be, you’ll find the options are endless and often confusing, and when it comes to one’s home, all the different components are part of a larger system. Carl Seville, an award-winning, nationally recognized green building consultant in Atlanta, says the biggest mistake homeowners (and builders) often make is forgetting to analyze the home as a whole. “You might install high performance windows to save energy,” he points out, “but, on the other hand, maybe you want lower performing windows on the south side of your home to let radiant heat in in winter.” He advises against jumping on the green bandwagon without some careful consideration first, and, more often than not, insulation is the first thing to think about.
“Without proper insulation, a lot of energy-saving home upgrades are a waste of money,” he says.That being said, not everyone is looking at money as the motivating factor for changing how his or her homes use energy. Richard King, Director of the U.S. Department of Energy’s Solar Decathlon, uses a combination of passive solar design and a photovoltaic system to heat, cool, and power his home in Virginia. He acknowledges that he’s looking at about an 18-year payback on his PV system but contends it’s personally satisfying to him to be generating his own energy.
With February’s passage of The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, there are greater incentives than ever to make green improvements to one’s home. Federal, state, and local tax credits as well as rebate programs offered by some utility companies can make payback on some energy-saving improvements happen very quickly.
Ideally most of us would like to protect the planet, our pocketbooks, and our families’ health. But sometimes it’s not feasible (or affordable) to do all three at once. Here are our picks for making the biggest and greenest impacts based on your personal priorities for being green.
These are just a few of many recommendations for you to consider as we enter the green age of the 21st century.
BEST WAYS TO SAVE MONEY (now and in the long-term)
1. Insulate (before you spend money anywhere else)
Why: If your home isn’t well insulated and you upgrade your HVAC system or install replacement windows, you’re wasting your money. The biggest culprits are uninsulated crawlspaces, poorly or uninsulated attics, recessed lights, and electric outlets and light switch plates. Find your home’s air leaks and seal them first.
How It Works: You can find the leaks yourself just by shutting all your doors and windows, turning on exhaust fans in kitchens and bathrooms, and feeling for where the air pulls into your home, or you can hire a professional to perform a blower door test. Either way, tightening up the building envelope will save a bundle.
Cost: Varies depending on the space covered; roll-out batting costs from $.50 to $2.25 per square foot, and blown-in insulation is about $2 to $3.50 per square foot (Note that in addition to the eco-insulation properties, many of the newer insulation products are made from green materials, while more traditional fiberglass insulation is not an environmentally friendly material.)
Payback: You’ll see a difference in your home’s comfort level and decreased HVAC usage immediately and annual energy savings as high as 30 percent, amounting to a payback in one to several years depending on how much work you do.
2. Install a Geothermal Heat Pump
Why: While many new gas and oil furnaces have made massive strides in efficiency over the last several years, geothermal (also known as ground source) heat pumps provide a way to heat and cool the home without using any fuel source at all and minimal electricity because they use the natural temperature of the earth to provide warmth in winter and coolness in summer. Unlike a conventional heat pump, which draws on outside air for heating and cooling, a geothermal system draws warmth from inside the earth via vertical or horizontal pipes that circulate water or environmentally safe antifreeze through a loop under the ground or submerged in a pond. Geothermal can save you 30 to 70 percent on your energy bills, too.
How It Works: A conventional heat pump has to heat freezing air, but a geothermal heat pump is working with air that is already 50 degrees or so because it’s coming from the ground. In winter, the geothermal heat pump pulls warm air from the earth into the furnace to heat the home. In summer, this process works in reverse, as the system pulls heat out of the home and pumps it back into the ground.
Cost: $25,000 in new construction, less for retrofits where ductwork is already present (overall, about 30 percent more than installing a conventional HVAC system).
Payback: Break even in as little as five years with tax credits and rebates (if you’ve sealed up air leaks and have up-to-code or higher insulation).
3. Install a Solar Hot Water Heater
Why: A solar hot water heater takes advantage of the sun’s free energy to provide all of your family’s hot water needs. (Hot water heaters can account for as much as 40 percent of a home’s utility costs.)
How It Works: The water heater works by having active solar collectors on the roof with a metal plate under glass that helps heat water.
Cost: $1,000 to $5,000 installed, depending on whether the system is passive or active.
Payback: Four to eight years, depending on your family size, typical hot water usage, and locality’s tax credits and rebates.
Tip: A cheaper ($200 to $1,200) option for small families is the installation of a tankless hot water heater. A family that uses less than 40 gallons of hot water a day can save as much as 35 percent on energy costs over a conventional storage water heater. Since tankless hot water heaters don’t use up energy heating stored water, they can save on energy costs, as they’re only heating water as it’s being used. A typical tankless (on demand) hot water heater can provide two to five gallons of hot water per minute.
4. Replace Incandescent Bulbs With CFLs
Why: Compact Fluorescent Lightbulbs (CFLs) save $30 or more per lightbulb over the life of the bulb when compared to incandescents and will last up to 10,000 hours, whereas the typical incandescent lasts about 1,000.
How It Works: CFLs use much less energy than incandescent bulbs. A 22-watt CFL, for example, gives off the same amount of light as a 100-watt incandescent. CFLs are now available in a variety of light tones that mimic the warm colors of incandescents, and they won’t flicker or hum.
Cost: $2-$15 per bulb, depending on application; check out All Tech Lighting’s online energy-savings calculator at alltechenergy.com/calc/index.php to see how much you could save annually by switching to CFLs.
Payback: Less than a year.
Tip: Remember that CFLs contain mercury, so be sure to dispose of them properly.
BEST WAYS TO SAVE MOTHER EARTH
1. Replace Aging and Super-Sized Appliances
Why: Appliances are typically the biggest draw on electricity in the home after heating and cooling. Just about every manufacturer of home appliances offers energy efficient models. Look for the ENERGY STAR® symbol when shopping for appliances. An ENERGY STAR® certified refrigerator, for example, uses 15 percent less energy than required by current federal guidelines and 40 percent less than a conventional model sold in 2001.
How It Works: Refrigerators of 16 to 20 cubic feet tend to be the most efficient. Even buying a top freezer model (instead of a side-by-side) could save as much as 20 percent on energy costs a year. A smaller microwave isn’t a bad idea either (as long as one isn’t cooking whole meals in it), and a smaller dishwasher.
Cost: $300 to $7,000 and up, depending on number of appliances replaced and models chosen.
Payback: None likely, but even though you won’t be doing much for your pocketbook, you will make an impact on your electricity usage and be doing your part to save resources.
Tips on super-efficient options: Sun Frost refrigerators can more than quadruple the energy savings of a conventional refrigerator. Gaggenau offers induction cooktops that use a magnetic field to heat metal pots and pans through direct heat transfer, meaning that only the bottom of the pot is heated, not the whole cooking surface. And Bosch has dishwashers with ECOSENSE, a sensor system that adjusts water usage to soil levels and ECOACTION, a feature that allows the adjustment of water temperature and wash cycle lengths for greater efficiency, sometimes reducing energy usage by 25 percent per dishwashing load.
2. Install a Photovoltaic System
Why: Photovoltaic (PV) systems use energy of the sun to power one’s home, decreasing (and, in some instances, completely eliminating) dependency on the grid and, hence, use of fossil fuels or other non-renewable resources. The average 3 to 4 kilowatt PV system (generally consisting of five panels) can provide 30 to 50 percent of a home’s power. PV systems can last anywhere from 30 to 50 years.
How It Works: PV systems use silicon wafers to convert sunlight into electricity, allowing homeowners to generate their own power and often sell excess power back to their electric company. Today’s solar panels can be installed in a myriad of unobtrusive ways, including as solar shingles or in a manner that makes them look like skylights.
Cost: $25,000 to $30,000 installed.
Payback: 18 years or more, though a locality with tax credits and excellent rebates can decrease that number by as much as 10 years.
BEST WAYS TO PROTECT YOUR HEALTH
1. Get Rid of the Formaldehyde
Why: Unless your home was built recently with green building components in mind, chances are it’s full of formaldehyde, which is pervasive in adhesives and finishes used in everything from the plywood in your home’s walls, ceilings, and floors to the particleboard in kitchen cabinets and glue used in carpet installation. If you’re prone to allergies or asthma or have small children, this stuff can wreak havoc on your health and the health of your family.
How It Works: Formaldehyde-free products are increasingly more available with many manufacturers now offering cabinet lines with urea formaldehyde-free wheatboard cores. Floor underlayments are another culprit, but a few manufacturers now offer wool underlayments for hardwood, engineered, and laminate floors. A great side benefit is that the wool also absorbs volatile organic compounds (VOCs), another common component in most paints and finishes, that can make you sick. Unless you’re willing to gut your home, however, there is no simple way to eliminate sheathing with formaldehyde adhesives. If you remodel or put an addition on your home, look for greener options.
Cost: Will vary widely depending on size of remodeling project. In cabinets, major manufacturers of green cabinets include Neil Kelly, Breathe Easy, and Berkeley Mills.
Health Payback: Immediate.
Remodeling Tip: Remember that if you’re remodeling a room to make it “greener” or healthier, you may not be doing the planet a service. Ordering formaldehyde-free kitchen cabinets from California, for example, will add to CO2 production just in getting them from the factory to your doorstep across some 3,000 miles.
2. Use Low or No VOC Paints and Finishes
Why: The next time you have a home painting project, buy no or low VOC paints to avoid irritating your family’s res- piratory system.
How It Works: VOCs typically help paints dry faster, but the trade-off is the release of chemicals that create pollution of ground level ozone and irritation to homeowners with respiratory problems or allergies.
Cost: Low or no VOC paints generally cost the same and sometimes less than regular paints, and most major paint manufacturers sell them. Be sure to ask when you’re in the paint store or read the can label to see the levels of VOCs the paint contains.
Health Payback: Immediate.
Deborah Huso is a regular contributor to ChesapeakeHome. She writes frequently about green home innovations.
Contacts:
Seville Consulting: sevilleconsulting.com, greencurmudgeon.com, or 404-597-7782
