ShareThisImprove your Dating Life through Energy Efficiency
Energy efficiency is one of those few things in this world that nobody really dislikes. How many people do you know who wish that things would cost more? “Gee, my gas bill was only $50 this month, I really wish it had been $75?” The biggest problem with energy efficiency is that it isn’t sexy. I think we can agree that we all would like to live in energy efficient homes, but most of us don’t really want to pay a hefty up-front premium, especially if we don’t get the emotional satisfaction of impressing our friends with sexy features like solar and newfangled mechanical equipment.
Well, there is a pretty simple solution that is low-cost, easy to do and it reduces energy consumption… wait for it………air sealing! “What?!” you say, “How is that going to impress anyone?” Hold that thought.
Many people struggle with the concept of air sealing but it is actually quite simple: block the holes in your house so the warm air doesn’t escape as easily when it’s cold outside. According to the American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy, “Hidden air leaks cause some of the largest heat losses in older homes.” Various reports indicate house air leakage can account for up to 50% of heat loss from an older home!
There is a lot of debate about air sealing or building a house that’s “too tight.” I will agree that a mechanical ventilation system is a given in a tighter house, but relying on the leakiness of a house for the purpose of drying out and/or providing fresh air for the occupants doesn’t make a lot of sense. For one thing you don’t have any control over when and where air might leak. And when you focus on reducing air flows, you can do a lot to reduce moisture flows as well.
Let’s look at a real house, a real neat little Earth Advantage house built in Eugene, Oregon by the Homebuilders Construction Co., a subsidiary of the Home Builders Association of Lane County, under the impressive and dedicated guidance of 2011 HBA Vice President and owner of Nordic Homes and Construction, Shallum Bivens.
Shallum is one of those increasingly rare breeds of homebuilders who actually gets out there and swings a hammer. He’s a no-nonsense type of guy who takes pride in his work and scrutinizes every detail for quality and cost/benefit effectiveness. What I’m getting at is he isn’t going to do something just because the ‘green’ guy told him he should, which is a good thing called due diligence.
We met a couple times to discuss air sealing, and Shallum integrated four things into this home that are not common practices: he followed the ENERGY STAR Thermal Bypass Checklist, he caulked the bottom plates to the subfloor, used low expansion foam around the windows, and he paid a lot of attention to air sealing the attic.
The current house tightness requirement in Oregon to achieve Northwest ENERGY STAR certification is 7 Air Changes per Hour under the test conditions of 50 Pascals (ACH50). This is actually not a very rigorous number to achieve; Energy Trust of Oregon currently estimates the average new home to be around 6.5 ACH50, and the new Northwest ENERGY STAR target will be 4 ACH50 come January 1st, 2012.
So how did the HBA house do? The test result was an impressive 2.1 ACH50. The average Earth Advantage/ENERGY STAR house I see typically comes in somewhere between 3 and 5 ACH50.
The big takeaway is that all of the homes I work with follow the Thermal Bypass Checklist and most caulk the bottom plates, many use foam at the windows, but I rarely see extensive air sealing in the attic. Based on a few site visits during construction and conversations with Shallum during and after construction, it appears that the attention to detail in sealing every penetration and every top plate is what achieves a “house tightness test result” that is more commonly seen with costlier air sealing strategies.
This house received an Energy Performance Score of 54 from Energy Trust of Oregon, which represents a 27% improvement over a similar home had been built to code. Using EPS modeling, we can see that if the house had tested exactly at 7 ACH50 (the current ENERGY STAR threshold) the improvement over code would have been 19%. The difference between the house as built at 2.1 ACH50 versus if it was at 7 ACH50 would be $64 in increased annual energy bills (current rates are about $0.08 kWh and $1.10 gas therm).
With these kind of savings associated with a somewhat tight house and a tight house, just imagine what can be accomplished in an old, leaky house that can save energy (and money) as well as increase comfort and control. Air sealing is a relatively easy, cost effective way to increase the efficiency of a house. For those wishing to learn more about air sealing, check out this great guide from the U.S. Department of Energy Building America Program.
So, back to dating. There’s nothing wrong with sexy, but going with practical, reliable, and smart is the better investment. Hmmm, “practical, reliable and smart…” How many girls would go for that? A lot, I think! Now if air sealing could only do something about dirty dishes…
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