Energy Audit

An energy guy from our power supplier came in yesterday; He walked around the house with Rick and showed him where we could make some changes to conserve more energy. It's nothing we didn't already know, but it was nice to know that we were on the right track.

• Bedroom windows need replaced.  We've known that and have been trying to save up the money to replace them. I do not like replacement windows, so as we've needed new windows, we've bought new (not replacement windows) and had them installed. The bedroom is the last room in the house to have windows done. We did all the north and west-facing windows first.
• Need storm windows for the basement. Again, we've known about them and have been trying to save the money for them. We've been working in the basement for the last few years. As we get a few bucks, we do more work. Eventually, there will be a family room down there with a home gym area. Eventually. Once we get that done (eventually), we'll remove the basement door completely to give the cats more room to romp.
• New front door and storm door. I've been wanting a few front door for quite a while now anyway, so I'm glad the guy mentioned it. You can walk down the steps to the front door and feel the temperature change as you go. We have an old steel door now and it needs repainting every few years. A new paint job is on my Honey-Do list for this spring.

That's pretty much it really. Rick has wondered if we had enough insulation in the crawl space above the house and we're fine there. When they were up in the crawl space, the guy asked Rick about the "things" that were sticking up through the space into the roof. Rick told him they were the sun tunnels in the kitchen. He thought those tunnels were way cool and said that he just assumed Rick had lights on in the kitchen. Nope, it's the tunnels. So when they came back down into the house, he went out and looked at the tunnels. Rick told him that we're adding them to the bathroom and to the hallway, too, and he thought that was a great idea. He'd heard of them but never really saw any.

He did mention that, since we mostly run our dishwasher late at night when we go to bed, that we should turn off the drying cycle; the dishes would pretty much dry by morning anyway.

He looked at the last year's electricity bills and said that we're not really all that bad, especially considering we have electric heat. 

All in all, it wasn't a bad audit. We could pay for somebody to come in and do a thorough audit, where they have the fans and do thermal "imaging" stuff to actually see where the heat comes out of the house and we may do that later on. But for right now, we're good. We can fix what we can.

That's great.   I guess living in AZ, we're on the other end of the spectrum.  Most of our electric bill is spent on air conditioning.  As for windows, we need ones to keep the heat OUT, versus keeping COLD out .  We had that audit done last year, and did end doing a few things.  They told us new windows wouldn't really do much, but oddly, we had just had new windows and back door installed a few weeks before the audit, mainly because most of the locks were broken over the years so we couldn't open some of the windows, (some were locked closed, others we couldn't lock), and because we had double paned windows that were no longer effective, they were beginning to fog up in between the panes.  Most annoying.  But I love, love, love the new windows.  And they really keep the heat out.  I no longer have to keep the blinds closed all day in the summer

We also had our air ducts patched.  My sister had that done too from her inspection.  And our electric company gave us rebates on that, plus we got tax credits, so that was an extra bonus.   After the patching, which was a really neat process, we could actually feel the difference when the A/C kicked on, even though nothing to do with the A/C itself changed. 

While we were at it, we had a solar water heater installed.  Figured we might as well take advantage of our perpetual sunshine .  Got a nice rebate and tax credit on that too

How does your solar water heater work? Do you like it? Maybe new windows work better at keeping heat in (our area) versus keeping it out (your area). He told us that new windows really help energy-wise. I never keep our drapes closed because I like the natural light. We used to have to keep them closed during the winter to help keep the heat in the house. But like you, since we got new windows, they've really helped keep our rooms warmer.

One of my co-workers moved into a new (to them) home. First thing they did was to install a geothermal pump. It was a tremendous expense for a young family and both his parents and his in-laws helped them. But they love it. They got a great tax rebate from it, too, even though it went to the parents to help pay them back. 

Rick really wants central AC and I know that I'm going to have to bite the bullet soon. I hate the thought of it because I'm afraid he'll never go outside again. And I think it's silly to have central AC in the northeast because there are few times when it stays hot and humid for weeks and weeks. And the heat doesn't bother me as a rule....I'm always too cold as compared to being too warm. So I can't see the use. We do have a couple AC window units that we use when it gets really bad. But we don't even run those that often because then I walk around the house with a sweatshirt on and it's over 90 degrees outside. The high humidity really bothers the cats though. 

What's a geothermal pump?  And what's it used for? 

As far as the new windows, I got to thinking about that last night and think maybe I misunderstood when they said windows don't really make a difference.  I bet it was because we already HAD new windows, because they make a HUGE difference.   And I k now what you mean about having the blinds/curtains whatever open.  I love having light in the house, but when it's 120 degrees outside, we had to close everything (before) to try to keep that heat outside (at least on the side of the house the sun was shining on).  And, naturally, most of our big windows are facing west, so we get all the afternoon sun!   Now it's not a problem

The solar water heater has solar panels on the roof with water pipes in them, I believe.  There are now two water heaters side by side in the garage.  I don't really understand how it works, but seems like by 8 a.m. I can hear the hot water already running down from the roof into the water heater because it's already heated up to 130 degrees!  The secondary water heater is there for those occasions when it's cloudy or something, I think (those 5 days out of the year ).  They explained it all to us, and it made sense at the time, but I didn't retain it because ....why? ...it's not like if it stops working I'm going to be able to fix it  

There really is something to be said for DRY heat!  Your humidity just does me in.  I have a friend near the Adirondacks, and when I visit her in the summer, I nearly die whenever we go outside.  It's beautiful and all, but, OMG, I can't stay dry from the minute I step outside

I LOVE sun tunnels.  I have (had!) a very dark stairwell to my upstairs.  Hubby put in one of those tunnels and there's so much light on those stairs now, I keep thinking I've left the light on.  

A geothermal heat pump uses the ground to heat or to cool the house. It's very expensive. I know they had to dig up their yard to install the pipes, but that's pretty much all I know about it.

I just love our sun tunnels, too, Betsy. We put two of them in our kitchen and, honestly, it's one of the best things we ever did. On all but the absolute darkest days, I don't need any lighting in the kitchen....the tunnels give me all the light I need. It may take a while, but the tunnels will pay for themselves in time. Right now, with summer coming, when I first get up to feed the cats around 5:00 or so, I need light. But once the sun comes up and day breaks, I can turn the lights off in the kitchen and I'm fine. I love them.