Over  the past winter, you likely noticed that there were some spots in your house that were a bit cooler than you would have liked. These drafts are often most noticeable around windows and doors, but don’t think these are your major sources of wasted heat and energy. Rather, in most homes, the most significant air leaks are hidden in the attic and the basement.

You may already know where some air leaks occur in your home, such as an under-the-door draft, but to find many of the smaller culprits, the Department of Energy recommends that you get an energy audit that includes a blower door test. A blower door test, depressurizes your home and reveals the location of many leaks.

If you don’t want to opt for a professional energy assessment or blower door test, the DOE suggests a number of less costly approaches that also provide meaningful and actionable results:

• DIY Depressurization Test – On a cool windy day, turn off all fans, blowers, exhausts, furnaces in the house and shut all windows and doors. Use a wet hand (cool with a draft) or an incense stick (wavers in drafty area) near suspected leak areas.
• Flashlight Test – At night, shine a flashlight over potential gaps while someone observes the house from outside. Large cracks will show up as streams of light. This method does not work well small cracks.
• Paper Test – Shut a door or window on a piece of paper. If you can pull the paper out without tearing it, you’re losing energy. This method does not address other air leak culprits.

Once you find air leaks many are rather straightforward to repair. Energy Star provides a good DIY guide to repairing common home air leaks including, recessed lighting,  plumbing vents, and wiring holes.

The nice thing about energy-saving investments is that they can show results quickly and can often pay for themselves in two heating seasons or less.

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The Department of Energy announced the release of the new Workforce Guidelines for Home Energy Upgrades.  Energy improvement programs and homeowners can adopt these guidelines to increase the consistency and effectiveness of energy upgrades, and training providers can use them to improve course curricula and training materials.  These guidelines were developed through a collaboration between energy efficiency contractors, building scientists, health and safety experts, technicians and trainers in the weatherization program, and other professionals in the building and home energy upgrade industry.

The Workforce Guidelines include standard work specifications required for high-quality work, a reference guide for technical standards and codes, analysis of the job tasks involved in completing various energy efficiency improvements, and the minimum qualifications workers should possess to perform high quality work.  Identifying the knowledge, skills and abilities required to perform efficiency upgrades represents an important step in developing a nationwide framework for training program accreditation and worker certification.

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Anyone contemplating a big home improvement project to make their homes more energy efficient has missed a rather significant window. Beginning January 1st, the federal government slashed the tax credits for energy efficiency home upgrades from 30 percent to 10 percent and reduced the total available credit to $500. For more check out the 2011 Federal Tax Credits for Energy Efficiency.

As a manufacturer, we like to stay on top of these developments and are also interested in how these changes in incentives will change buying behaviors. Suzanne Shelton, a contributor to Fast Company magazine, summarizes the impact as, “approximately one third of the population who made their home more energy efficient would likely not have acted or would not have purchased the more efficient unit if it weren’t for the incentives offered.”

I guess that leaves it to creative marketers, manufacturers and local utilities to create the proper motivation for purchasing greener appliances.

Green America recently published a list of ten ways that a homeowner can reduce their energy use by 50% (and thereby also cut their energy bill as well). The list includes some obvious choices — turn off your lights, wash your clothes with cold water and using a programmable thermostat.

What makes the list more interesting is that also includes “the easy” fixes, but also more “advanced” fixes for those that want to really attack their energy use. Unlike other lists of this type, the Green America list also provides a sense of how much energy you will be saving by making the recommended improvements.

One that stood out for me was. “Install Ceiling Fans” — I would not have imagined that running a fan would save 19% of my home energy use. Thinking about it more, it does make sense, but I had not connected the dots.

Take a look at the poster that summarizes the list and see if you are also surprised by what small changes can do for your pocket book.

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Have you ever wondered what uses more energy in your home — heating, cooling, lighting, or powering electronics like TVs, computers, and refrigerators?

No surprise it is heating. I bet you are not too surprised, after all, Greenwood is a renewable heating company. However, what may surprise you is to what extent it outpaces other energy use in your home.  As a homeowner, the U.S. Energy Information Administration presents a rather compelling picture for home improvement.

Two-thirds of the energy used in your home is for heating. Time to upgrade the windows, add insulation, pull out the caulk gun and (here it comes) look at cheaper forms of heat like a high-efficiency wood boiler. Sales pitch aside, the biggest dent you can make in your monthly energy bill is take a bite out of the heating gremlin.

Happy caulking!

December 31st, 2010.

That is the date that federal tax credit is scheduled to expire for the purchase of new energy efficient products, including high-efficiency wood boilers. With the purchase of a qualifying product, the government will credit you 30 percent of the cost (and installation), up to $1,500.

So, why is this a big deal? Well, a tax credit is much more valuable than a tax deduction.

A deduction is an amount you can subtract from your taxable income. However, a tax credit lowers your actual tax bill dollar-for-dollar, in this case by up to $1,500. So a tax credit has a bigger impact on the money left in your pocket at the end of the day.

So, whether you are considering a wood gasification boiler, air conditioner, water heater or windows time is running out.

For more information, BuffaloNews.com has a great article.

It is August and it is still hot out there. In case you are still trying to figure out how to deal with the heat, the EPA’s ENERGY STAR program offers some great advice on low- and no-cost energy-efficient cooling tips.

Some things to consider include:

• Pulling curtains or blinds
• Changing the filter on your air conditioner
• Seal your air ducts

For a complete list visit the Energy Star site.

A typical household spends almost 20% of its utility bill on cooling, and by taking steps this summer to improve energy-efficiency; you can save energy, save money, and help fight climate change.

US Federal agencies purchased or produced 2.3 TWh of electricity from renewable sources in FY09, representing 4.2% of the Government’s electricity and surpassing the goal of 3% set by EPAct 2005. This represents a 2x increase over 2003. The goal increases this year to 5% of total electricity from renewable sources, and increases again in 2013 to 7.5%.

Perhaps what is most fascinating is that this figure does not include non-electric renewable energy purchased or consumed by the Federal government — sources like bio-thermal space heating or solar thermal hot water. However, according to a Kathleen Hogan, Deputy Assistant Secretary of the Department of Energy’s Office of Energy Efficiency & Renewable Energy (EERE) testimony, “The renewable sources of non-electric energy are often the most cost-effective means to displace fossil energy,” she explains.

With that acknowledgment, what steps can be taken to insure the adoption of these cost effective sources?

One way is increase subsidies to promote adoption, much like those in H.R. 5805: Thermal Renewable Energy and Efficiency Act of 2010. Unfortunately these are only focused on large scale applications. An alternative would be to look to other countries where these alternative technologies have been employed and implement their approach — incentives targeted at residential heating.

The State of New Hampshire’s Wood Pellet Boiler Rebate program is an example of such a program. It is narrowly focused on wood pellets, but removes much of the upfront cost of implementing a system that makes a homeowner energy self-sufficient.

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Maine residents pay attention!

Finally someone has figured out how to provide meaningful financial help to those families who are in a tight spot this winter due to the high costs of heating fuel. The folks up in Maine are leading the US in providing an innovative loan program for qualified homeowners.

MaineHousing’s Home Energy Loan Program offers loans at a low fixed rate of only 3.95% (4.194% APR) for home improvements that increase home energy efficiency.

This program is more than a band-aid. For those that participate, it will provide long-term relief from energy costs. Our hats are off to Maine State Housing Authority.

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I came across this Boston Globe article over the weekend that talks about the amount of energy an average NorthEast home uses (READ: wastes) due to common everyday appliances drawing power when they are ‘off’ or in ‘standby’ mode. The number they uncovered? 6% … doesn’t sound like much, but when you add that up, it amounts to $450 million annually across New England. According to a Department of Energy (DOE) study that number grows to over $3 billion dollars annually. Ouch. 

This made me wonder what the culprits were, so  I did a little more research and found this great energy consumption chart from Good Magazine. (Warning: If you have a plasma TV, I warn you, you will not want to look at this chart.) As you might imagine, computers, laptops and printers are high on the list. The list is pretty short and more than half of the appliances in my house are not listed, so here are some other widgets for the gear-heads from Blueline Innovations and P3 International. A real time power monitor that allows you to figure where your electricity is going — although it will require some playing around to isolate the exact source of the drain.

For the rest of us, perhaps buying some power strips and upgrading to the more energy efficient appliances that meet the requirements stated by the DOE here are an easy first step.

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