Easy Ways to Cut Heating Costs

As the temperature drops, there are a number of smart home improvements a homeowner can make to trim a little off of the energy bills…

Probably the easiest step a homeowner can take to reduce energy costs is to lower the thermostat.  According to a Green Matters series by G.E. Miller, every degree a homeowner can lower their thermostat translates to almost a 5% decrease in heating expenses.  Consider using a programmable thermostat to set your home’s temperature around 65-70 during the day, and around 60 at night.  Using space heaters to heat specific rooms of your home (i.e. your home office), when others aren’t being used, will allow you to keep the thermostat down low.

Sealing or re-insulating areas that are prone to energy loss (windows, doors, attics, and ducting) can also have a great affect on your winter energy costs.  Taking the time to wrap windows in plastic, or placing foam or rubber seals in doorways can instantly remove the drafty feeling from older homes.  Wrapping your furnace in a thermal blanket (from the harware store) is an additional step that can be cheaply taken to save big money.

These simple steps will go a long way towards reducing your winter heating expenses… and as always, you can check out the Smart HomeOwner website for more ways to save money by cutting energy costs.

Replacing Old Windows is a Great Green Step

As Michigan homeowner Rob Fanjoy knows, replacing older windows with new, Energy Star rated ones, can be a great step towards cutting energy costs and boosting home value.  Last year, Fanjoy replaced his 50 year-old windows with energy-efficient Simonton windows, and one year later, saw a 18,300 cubic foot decrease in the gas used to heat his home.  Not only that, Fanjoy additionally shaved 1,660 kilowatt hours from his electric bills due to lower air conditioning costs.

Fanjoy is among a growing number witnessing the energy-saving and value-boosting benefits of new window systems.  From companies such as Simonton and JELD-WEN, a number of Energy Star rated products with Low-E glass (a glass coating that keeps heat inside in the winter, and outside in the summer), are becoming available on the market that not only boost the curb-appeal of homes, but also drastically cut the energy costs.

These products and their benefits only support the findings of a recent poll published in the July issue of Green Building Product Dealer, in which an estimate 73% of homeowners would be willing to pay more for building and remodeling products that offer green or energy-efficient advantages.

Ride Out the Housing Slump with Simple Home Improvements

Since a sagging market brings both housing woes and financial uncertainty, it might be wise to change the priorities of your planned home improvements and renovations.  More likely than not, you’ll want to stay in your home a little longer while still taking steps to increase its value.

As suggested by Dan Fritschen, author of Remodel of Move? Make the Right Decision, many people feeling the strain of the market should reorder their home improvement plans by expense and required skill.  Following your budget, there are a number of things that can be done, relatively inexpensively, to increase both the value and livability of your home.  For instance, painting or refinishing kitchen and bathroom cabinets and floors, installing new interior doors, replacing windows, new crown molding and baseboard, replacing old model toilets and sinks with new water efficient designs, layering new carpet and refinishing hardwood floors, and fixing and upgrading appliances are all things that can be done on a relatively fixed budget, in a short amount of time, with little or no professional labor necessary.

For more extensive projects, Fritschen reccomends that you take your time, research possibilities, and calculate the costs and benefits of the improvement.  Some of the smarter, more in-depth projects people choose to do include: remodeling a kitchen, remodeling bathrooms, finishing basements or attics, adding on rooms, enlarging family rooms, and adding stories.

As always, regardless of the extent to which one decides to make home improvements, the current market strongly supports green improvements that both save you energy and increase the value of your house.

Replace Old Appliances: Save the Earth… and Some Money

If you are looking to trim some money off of your utility bills and help out Mother Earth at the same time, your first green steps could start in the kitchen and laundry rooms.

According to the Association of Home Appliance Manufacturers (AHAM), since 2000, the energy consumed by new home appliances has rapidly decreased, with refrigerators, dishwashers, and clothes washers accounting for nearly 50% of the drop.  For instance, replacing an eight year-old clothes washer with a newer average-efficiency one will not only trim more than $60 off of your electricity bill every year, it will also save nearly 5,000 gallons of water per year – a statistic that carries significantly more weight in drought-ridden areas of the South.

Not ready to take quite that leap of replacing your perfectly well working appliances?  Here are a few tips to save some energy and trim down those bills with what you already have:

• Allow hot foods to cool before placing them in the refrigerator.  Also, cover any foods that may release moisture.
• Limit the number of times you open the refrigerator and freezer doors.
• Scrape, but do not pre-rinse dishes before loading them into the dishwasher.
• Use that “no-heat air dry” feature on your dishwasher when you are not in a rush.
• Make sure to appropriately set the load size on your clothes washer and use the cold water settings whenever possible.
• Leave the door open on the washer when you are finished washing to allow air to circulate.
• Clean the lint filter in your dryer after every load (you might even want to do the same to the dryer’s outside exhaust on a regular basis).

Simply by taking these steps, you will be well on your way to a greener lifestyle (environmentally and financially).

First Steps Toward a Greener Home

An environmentally friendlier home (emphasis on the “friendlier) should be the goal of every homeowner and builder, says Nick DiCosola, president and founder of the Chicago-based custom-homebuilding firm Distinguished Dwellings (www.distinguishedwellings.com). And according to DiCosola, most of the upgrades that can make a home greener and more energy efficient won’t affect its traditional appearance. In fact, visitors to your home won’t even notice most of the green upgrades you make.

Of course, if you want to provide visual statements to your commitment to green building, you can opt for bamboo flooring, countertops made from recycled materials, and similar materials that will make your home look good as well as more efficient and eco-friendly. DiCosola calls these “aesthetic green” improvements, and draws a distinction between them and “functional green” improvements, which are relatively inexpensive and easy to incorporate in any home, no matter its design or location. Some of DiCosola’s functional green home improvements include the following:

• Insulation: Use as much as you can appropriately fit in any given space. There are many new insulation choices available today, ranging from recycled newspapers and denim to injected foam. High-absorption insulation also slows the flow and leakage of heat.

• Furnace: Install a power-vented, dual-stage furnace with an efficiency rating of 90+ percent.

• Hot water heater: Install a tankless, on-demand hot-water heater, which is 20- to 25-percent more efficient than a traditional hot-water tank and takes up much less space.

• Low-flow toilets and washing machine: An older toilet can use three to seven gallons of water per flush. Today’s standard low-flow toilets use 1.6 gallons of water per flush and save thousands of gallons of water a year. Dual-flush toilets, widely used in Europe, are the next step in efficiency

• Low-E and argon-filled windows: These produce the best R-factor (degree of insulation) and minimize the escape of heat in the winter and cool air in the summer. Triple-glazed or paned windows are the ultimate in energy-efficiency

• Energy Star heating and cooling products: The EPA says that if 10 percent of households used these energy-saving appliances and products, we could keep 17 billion pounds of pollution out of the air.

• Build tight with ventilation: Homes that are built tighter are more comfortable and less drafty. However, it is important to bring in fresh air through mechanical means such as a heat-recovery ventilation unit.

Now is the time to incorporate energy-saving features, DiCosola says, as the expense of building green is on the decline. While it used to cost at least 15 percent more to build with green products, it will now only add one to three percent to construction costs.

Tankless Water Heater Q&A

Many homeowners have heard about tankless or “on demand” water heaters (also called instant water heaters, though installers are quick to point out that the hot water isn’t delivered “instantly”). And with today’s rising energy costs, many homeowners are considering installing these devices. However, questions abound.

An alternative to tank-style water heaters, where the water is heated and then stored in a tank until its needed (which sounds incredible inefficient, doesn’t it?), a tankless water heat is essentially a box that mounts on the wall and heats the water only when you need it. A typical tankless unit can operate up to three devices (shower, dishwasher, clothes washer, etc.) simultaneously, according to Rheem, a manufacturer of tankless water heaters. The company provided the following Q&A to help homeowners better understand how to make the transition between a tank water heater and a tankless unit.

Question:  What is the first step in making the switch to a tankless water heater?

Answer: The first step is to hire an experienced contractor or plumber for installation.  He or she will advise you on the right model for your home, and your installation options.

During installation, your old water heater is disconnected and removed.  Next, your installer will mount the new tankless water heater inside or outside your home, and connect necessary plumbing, piping and venting.

Because tankless heaters “fire” at a much higher temperature than tank-based heaters – but for a much shorter time – you may need to upgrade your natural gas piping to accommodate the increased flow of natural gas needed by the tankless heater.  Your installer will be able to advise on this and other issues.

Question:  How much money can I save by going tankless?

Answer: This will depend on how much hot water you consume and the efficiency of your current water heater.  Typically, an average homeowner can save up to 35 percent on water heating costs by switching to a tankless water heater.

Question:  Will there be a difference in my hot water with a tankless heater?

Answer: Yes!  You won’t be running out of it anymore – and you won’t be paying to keep a tank of water hot when you’re not using it.  You’ll be able to have someone showering, the laundry going, hot water for the breakfast dishes in the sink, and still you won’t run out.  As with a tank water heater, there will still be a short period when you first turn on the tap before the hot water hits the faucet, but it won’t run out (once it has started) before you’re finished.

Question: Can anything be done about the time it takes for the water to heat up after I turn on my fixture?  It’s quite wasteful.

Answer: The time it takes for the hot water to reach your faucet is not due to waiting on your water heater to start working.  Rather, it takes a few seconds (and perhaps longer, depending on your home) for the cooled water in the pipes to be displaced by the hot water from your heater.  Granted, this can be wasteful, given that the standard 3/4-inch pipe holds a quarter gallon of water for every 10 feet of pipe.

One solution is to have a professional contractor or plumber install a circulation pump system in your home.  These can be triggered by motion sensors so that, for example, when you walk into your bathroom, the pump would start and pull hot water from the heater and circulate the cold water in your pipes back to the heater.

Another solution would be to install tankless water heaters in different parts of your house, so the distance from the water heater to your faucet is shortened.

For more information on Rheem tankless water heaters, visit www.rheemtankless.com.

Energy Star Appliances and Lighting

Generally, Energy Star-rated appliances use 10 to 50 percent less energy and water than standard units. Among the 50 categories of Energy Star products are energy-efficient air conditioners, clothes washers, dishwashers, refrigerators and dehumidifiers.

Swapping a 10-year-old room air conditioner for an Energy Star-qualified unit can easily save $25 annually in energy costs. Every Energy Star air conditioner comes with an Energy Guide label that lists the unit’s EER (energy efficiency ratio) and compares the energy use of that unit with all similar models within the same BTU range. The greater the EER, the greater are the savings.

Energy Star clothes washers use fast spin speeds to extract more water from clothes than non-Energy Star models, reducing clothes dryer time and therefore energy use. Energy Star dishwashers consume at least 41 percent less energy than the federal minimum standard requires. They also use less water, including hot water, therefore saving on heating of the water as well.

Today’s Energy Star refrigerators use about half the energy of models predating 1993. Featuring high-efficiency compressors, better insulation and more precise temperature and defrost mechanisms, they use, at minimum, 15 percent less energy than required by current federal standards and 40 percent less energy than conventional models sold in 2001.

The more efficient refrigeration coil, compressor and fan of an Energy Star dehumidifier enable removal of moisture from interior air with less energy than a conventional unit, potentially saving up to $20 annually.
Energy Star-qualified light bulbs or light fixtures use up to 75 percent less energy than standard lighting, produce 75 percent less heat (reducing the air cooling load for a space) and last up to 10 times longer.

LEDs, still an emerging technology, consume the least amount of energy of any lighting source (except daylight, of course). Because they are highly directional and put together in an array, they require special fixtures to maximize light distribution, which some manufacturers already offer. In addition, LED strips are increasingly popular choices above cabinets, under counters and inside kickspaces. For more information: www.energystar.gov.

Smart Wine Storage

It’s becoming more and more common these days to install a small, built-in or freestanding wine cellar in the kitchen. Not only is a kitchen-based wine cellar considered a convenience by many homeowners, but it’s also a great way to show off your wine collection. These stylish cellars can hold anywhere from a few to as many as 40 or 50 bottles or more, and will keep your wine in a cool, low-light, humidity-controlled place until you’re ready for it.

Generally, two types of kitchen wine cellars are available – those cooled by compressors, similar to your refrigerator, and those cooled by a thermoelectric system, which uses an electrical current flow through two dissimilar conductors to create a cooling effect. The benefits of thermoelectric cooling is that is uses less electricity than a compressor, is very quiet, gives off no vibrations (which can sometimes affect the sediments in a bottle of wine), and releases no CFCs (chlorofluorocarbons), as compressors do.

On the downside, thermoelectric cellars can take longer to cool a bottle of wine, and can cool only to a certain temperature, usually about 18 to 20 degrees below the ambient temperature of a room. So if your kitchen is 70 degrees, you can cool your wine bottles to about 50 degrees – fine for reds but not ideal for whites.

Thermoelectric wine cellars are widely available. Haier, for instance, sells a number of thermoelectric wine cellars with capacity from six to 48 bottles. Some have dual storage compartments (for whites and reds) and electronic control LED displays. Franklin Chef, Avanti, Urbina Design and SubZero also make thermoelectric wine cellars. Prices range from a few hundred dollars and up.

Which type of wine cellar is right for you? That depends on your home, your tastes in wine and your interest in energy efficiency and air quality. Talk to your local wine dealer or retailer, but just be aware than you have options before you buy. For more information: www.haieramerica.com.

Energy-Saving Awnings

Homeowners have long installed awnings as a way to shade windows, improve the appearance of their homes or provide a shaded area to sit outside on a warm, sunny afternoon. But awnings also can have a positive affect on your energy bill, according to a new study conducted by the Center for Sustainable Building Research at the University of Minnesota, in conjunction with the Professional Awning Manufacturers Association (PAMA).

In a cooler climate, such as Seattle, installing window awnings can reduce home cooling requirements by as much as 80 percent, the study found. And in a warmer climate, such as Sacramento, awnings can reduce cooling requirements by as much as 48 percent. The amount of energy saved varies, and depends on the location of the home, the number of windows, the orientation of the windows (east, south, west) and the type of glass in the windows.

The study measured the impact of awnings in seven U.S. cities, including Albuquerque, Boston, Minneapolis, Phoenix, Sacramento, Seattle and St. Louis. There were significant savings in all cities for all window orientations.

For a home in Phoenix, a warm climate, windows awnings can reduce the use of home cooling energy by as much as 26 percent, compared to a home with unshaded windows, the study found. In St. Louis, a mixed climate, awnings can reduce the use of cooling energy by as much as 23 percent, while in Boston, a cold climate, awnings can reduce the need for cooling energy by as much as 33 percent.

“Depending on the region, awnings can save homeowners more than $100 annually [in energy costs],” says Michelle Sahlin, managing director of PAMA. She also notes that “when homeowners reduce their need for energy, there is less demand at the time of peak usage, resulting in overall savings to utility companies and the public.”

The study measured energy performance for a typical new home of 2,000 square feet, with 300 square feet of window area. To view charts of specific energy savings in various cities or to locate a local awnings retailer or installer, visit the Awnings Today website at www.awningstoday.com.