Isaacknows

With all the talk about efficiency, renewable energy and going green, I thought I would share the steps to take after a Home Performance Test has been completed at your house.

A: Sealing air leaks and adding insulation is often the best opportunity for improvement in any home; it pays for itself and it increases comfort by stopping unwanted heat loss.

B: Improving heating and cooling systems. This measure can drift a bit around on this list, however, it is important. Nevertheless, it should ALWAYS be considered after step A. It should be noted that ‘improving’ doesn’t necessarily mean ‘replacing.’ I have found 50+ year old boilers that have been well maintained and operate just fine with minimal improvements.

C: Sealing ductwork. This is very important. I may be fairly young and naive when it comes to certain aspects of home performance, but I am baffled by the quality of the HVAC work that I have seen in the field. Ducts have a single job: transport conditioned air to specific locations. If ducts lose a large percentage of that air (DOE estimates up to 30% in some cases!), then they are not doing their job efficiently.

D: Upgrading lighting, appliances, and water heating equipment. These items are grouped together, and in many parts of the US, so is their fuel source.  Sometimes this group is the ‘low hanging fruit’ of reducing consumption, but in the big picture, they play a small roll in overall consumption. These upgrades are easy, relatively cheap and can pay themselves off over the life of the appliance.

E: Installing renewable energy systems. Now we’re ready! Well, there is a lot that can be done prior to this step but you get the point. Basically, these systems will make a much larger impact if the necessary steps are taken to make the home is ‘renewable ready.’

These steps are a great starting point for considering efficiency upgrades. Remember that a house is a system and that individual components alone can’t solve problems. As a last thought, take a peek at the pie chart below which breaks out typical consumption percentages in a home.  Now look again at the steps outlined above. Did we tackle the biggest chunks first?