Session Two: Old Homes and Michigan Weather
February 21st, 2004by Douglas Black
Falling temperatures equal rising energy costs. Explore insulation, ventilation, infiltration, and weatherization that can save you money.
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InsulationA house is just a box of air, in other words, your house is an artificially controlled environment. The outside of your house must be insulated to keep the inside warm.
The R-value is used the measure the effectiveness of insulation in your home. The higher the R-value, the better your walls, floors, and roofs are at retaining heat. The attic is usually one of the first areas to consider when increasing the R-value, because it is very accessible and less expensive to insulate. Also, if you can stop air movement from your basement to the first floor, then you can eliminate lots of heat loss.
When determining R-value, you must compare the R-value of your current home, to the recommended R-values for a house in your geographic area. The difference will be the R-value that you need to add to your home.
Air ControlWhat makes air move? Air flow through your home is the difference between pressure and a hole. There needs to be a balance in air control so there is no loss of air causing leaks. Here are the most common points of air leaks:
Lighting and AppliancesUsing lighting and appliances efficiently is one of the fastest ways to decrease the bills. Appliances generally account for about 25% of the electric bill.
Microwaves use a lot less power than an electrical stove or an oven. If you do tend to use the oven a lot, incandescent lights are great ways to heat ovens! (wink wink)
Energystar© lighting and compact flourescent lights(CFL) are much more energy efficient.They have up to 10 times the lifespan as normal lights and use a quarter of the energy. They need fewer replacements in common areas. There are many different sizes available as well, starting from 25 watts up to 250 watt equivalent bulbs.
Energystar© washing machines and dryers are also energy efficient. The front loading types are great! They spin so fast that your clothes are almost dry when they come out. Then the dryers use one-third of the power that they normally do with other washing machines.
When considering using a dishwasher, do not wash off dishes before placing them into your dishwasher, because you pay to send water down the drain. Just let the dishwasher take care of everything.
Heating and CoolingThe first 6ft. of a hot water pipe usually accounts for 85% of the heat loss in a house. Foam pipe-wrap is an effective way to hold in the heat.
Energystar© offers a programmable thermostat that is very flexible. They can be programmed for up to 5-7 days. It is very important to keep the temperature on a consistent pattern when you are home and away from home. They also let you store four or more different temperature settings a day.
If everyone in Michigan was to replace their 10 year old refrigerator with an Energystar© refrigerator, they would save 1.3 billion kWh per year, which is enough electricity to light Lansing for 19.3 years.
Ratings, Resources, and ReferencesListed below are a few different resources that will help you run your home more effectively:
Consider getting a Home Energy Rating System (H.E.R.S.) report – “its like a miles-per-gallon rating for your house”
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