The "Single-Trade Contractor" Strikes Again!

Here’s a list of recent competitor projects that completely missed the mark....

A customer in Longmont with a 2,000 square foot ranch built in 1953 had their existing attic insulation removed and replaced, going from an R-Value of 30 to 50, which will take about 25-years to pay for itself.  The walls however remain uninsulated and would have paid for themselves in about 5 years.  The customer says the additional insulation in the attic seems to have made little or no difference and has no remaining budget left for further improvements.

A customer in Fort Collins lives in a condo built in 2003.  The master bedroom was hard to heat and cool.  A heating and cooling contractor just replaced both the furnace and air conditioner, barely 10 years old at a cost of $7,000.  Turns out the master bathroom and closet have no insulation in the ceilings or upper half of the walls and the problem can be fixed for $675.

A customer in Fort Collins lives in a contemporary home with vaulted ceilings built in the 1980s.  They just had their roof replaced with new “solar-shingles” installed to offset cooling costs in the summer.  The entire plywood roof deck was torn -off, revealing only a thin layer of fiberglass insulation in the vaulted ceiling.  The plywood was replaced and the new $45,000 solar roof shingles where installed, without adding insulation.  Adding 8" of cellulose insulation would have costs about $1,200 and done more to offset cooling costs than the solar panels. 

A customer in Loveland had extensive air-sealing and insulation work done in a two-story home with a basement, built in 1994, at a costs of $6,000! The energy audit reveals that the building was fairly tight and well insulated to begin with and the customer called us looking for answers when the heat wave hit.  After performing advanced diagnostics on the duct work we found that the vents on the third floor provided about half the needed airflow for heating and cooling.  We modified the duct work in the unfinished basement and doubled airflow to the third floor, for less than $900.   

Learn more about The Complete Home Performance Contractor at www.ThisEfficientHouse.com

Boulder and Longmont Energy Rebates Decrease After October 15th, Fort Collins and Loveland Energy Rebates Holding Steady...

There is a big last minute push from homeowners wanting to take advantage of current rebates offered through the Boulder County EnergySmart program.  Homeowners need to be enrolled by September 15th and the work need to be completed by October 15th.  The Boulder program is grant based and runs out at the end of 2013.

On the other hand, residents of Fort Collins and Loveland enjoy a "rate payer" based Residential Energy Efficiency Programs where all rate payers pay a small amount on their utility bill every month and the funds are pooled to support low-cost energy audits and rebates for energy efficient improvements.

Measures that qualify for rebates include; air sealing and insulation, new double pane low-e windows, high efficiency furnaces and air conditioners and whole house fans.

This Efficient House is an approved contractor in both programs and strives to use materials that are made either in Colorado or the United States. We install Milgard windows which are made in Denver, insulation manufactured in Colorado, Amana Furnaces which are built in Texas and AirScape Whole House Fans, which are manufactured in Portland, Oregon.  

Learn more at www.ThisEfficientHouse.com, This Efficient House

Great Article in The Denver Post - When you remodel, start with an energy audit.

Seven things to consider before starting a home remodeling project

Posted:   09/01/2012 12:01:00 AM MDT

By Susan Clotfelter
The Denver Post

1. Start with an energy audit

2. Saving drops and dollars

3. Insulation, well done

4. Trees, green by definition

5. Window shopping

6. Analyze heating/cooling systems

7. Alternative cool      

Read more: Seven things to consider before starting a home remodeling project - The Denver Post http://www.denverpost.com/style/ci_21445784?source=pop#ixzz25tVB0ATL
Read The Denver Post's Terms of Use of its content: http://www.denverpost.com/termsofuse

http://www.denverpost.com/style/ci_21445784?source=pop

Learn more about remodeling with energy savings and comfort in mind at:

Here’s a few more inexpensive but highly effective ideas for you: 

1.      Ridge Vents/Attic Ventilation:  We all know that the roof is supposed to keep the house dry and provide shade, but due to miserably inadequate building codes we now have roofs that literally “bake” the home with 150+ degree temperatures in the attic all summer long.  

2.       Reflective Low-E Window Film on west facing windows.  As an energy auditor, I have found that low-e glass was not consistently installed in new homes until about 2005.  Overheated upper levels in homes with lots of east and west facing glass can benefit from reducing the solar gain through those windows. 

3.       Update the fan motor in your existing furnace.  Did you know that the only difference between an old refrigerator and a new one is the “DC Brushless” motor that runs the compressor.  The old motors are “permanent split capacitor” motors and they use twice the electricity as the new ones.  The same upgrade can be made to the fan motor that circulates air throughout the house when the furnace or air conditioner is running.  The old “PSC” motors usually use between 500 and 1000 watts, compared to about half that of the newer motors.  The costs is around $500 for parts and labor and the energy savings will pay for the unit in less than 5 years.  Cities like Boulder and Fort Collins offer rebates that cover $150 to $250 of that costs, bringing the payback period down to less than 3 years.

Learn More at www.ThisEfficientHouse.com

 

House Too Hot? Five Common Problems that are Simple to Fix with Rebates Available.

The heat wave this summer has put a strain on the electric grid, increased utility bills and made a lot of homes unbearably hot.  We have been inspecting about 25 homes a week all summer long and these are the most common issues that we see which can be easily addressed and also qualify for rebates from your local utility.

1.       Problem:  Inadequate Attic Ventilation and Attic Temps that Commonly Exceed 135 Degrees:

Due to an oversight in the building code some 40 years ago, standards for the Front Range were accidentally lumped in with the Rocky Mountains, so nearly every attic has about half the ventilation that is recommended today. 

Solution: Install additional passive ventilation, like ridge vents, roof vents, gable vents and/or soffit vents.  This is affordable and highly effective (also, choose a lighter color whenever you replace the roofing). 

2.       Problem:  Excessive Building Air Leakage, especially in Architecturally Interesting Homes: 

Many newer homes have complex floor plans, roof lines and framing.  This often results in numerous hidden bypasses between the indoors and the outdoors.  Bypasses allow over-heated attic air or 100° outside air to migrate into interior building cavities causing overheated homes.  The old “brick box on a basement” might not be as interesting, but they are usually easier to heat and cool.

Solution: These bypasses can be identified with a low-cost home energy audit, using a blower-door test and infrared camera.  The leaks can be cost-effectively fixed by a skilled air-sealing crew and rebates often cover much of the cost.  Insulation can also be added if needed.

3.       Problem: High Solar Gain through West-Facing Windows:

Here on the Front Range “mountain views” are highly desirable, but large west-facing windows drive up interior temperatures significantly. 

Solution:  Apply reflective window film to reduce solar-gain by up to 60% and reduce the costs of cooling these rooms significantly.  Materials and Labor costs are about $5 per square foot and rebates cover 30-50% of that cost depending on your utility company.  This is considered to be so effective that it’s one of the few improvements that still qualify for federal tax credits.

4.       Problem:  Summer “Tiered-Rates” for Electricity Driving Up Monthly Electric Bills for AC Use.

Cooling a home during the day with air conditioning is expensive.  The typical 3-Ton AC system uses 3500 watts and a 5-ton system uses about 6,000 watts.  With tiered summer electricity rates, the 3-Ton system costs 50 cents an hour to run and the 5-ton system cost 85 cents per hour, which adds up to $5-$10 dollars per day or $150-$300 a month in cooling costs.

Solution:  Cool the Building at Night with an Energy Efficient Whole House Fan.  The Northern Colorado Front Range is high and dry which gives us a 30-40 degree temperature difference between the daytime high and the overnight low.  The latest generation of whole house fans are designed to run quietly all night long, bringing in the cool night air and “pre-chilling” the building to as low as 67 degrees.  The truly amazing part is that this only costs 5 cents per night or $1.50 per month. 

5.       Inadequate AC Airflow and Inadequate Return Duct Airflow on the Upper Floor:

On a hot day, three-story homes are often 65 degrees in the basement, 75 degrees on the first floor and 85 degrees upstairs.   Sound familiar?  The hottest air in the home just stagnates on the upper levels.  One common reason for this is the inadequate system air-flow and minimal “return-vents” on the upper floor. 

Solution: AC systems in Colorado need 400-500 CFM per ton of cooling.  Adding additional dedicated return air ducts to the top floor will moderate temperature differences between floors.  Depending on the home, this can be a simple job or more involved.      

Feel free to call or write with questions regarding the efficiency or comfort of your home at:

 www.ThisEfficientHouse.com

info@thisefficienthouse.com

970-204-9931

 

Colorado and Wyoming Natural Resources sold to Chinese Energy Company

Chesapeake Energy has sold 1/3 of it's Colorado and Wyoming Oil and Gas operations to a Chinese Energy company.  What assurances do we have that a foreign company will protect our air, water and soil?  Ask Cory Gardner next time you see him.

http://coloradoenergynews.com/2011/01/china-firm-to-pay-570m-for-oil-and-gas-interests-in-colorado-and-wyoming/

The Jobs are Gone but the Bad Water Remains...Forever?

Once again we see that drilling has only short term benefits and long term consequences for Colorado.

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/06/29/us/energy-boom-turns-to-bust-in-colorado.html

Windsor residents worry about health implications of fracking

http://www.coloradoan.com/article/20120418/NEWS01/204180379/Windsor-residents-worry-about-health-implications-fracking

Rifle-area residents say oil-drilling companies not maintaining roads

Are these costs factored into the benefits?

http://www.coloradoan.com/viewart/20120413/NEWS11/120413004/Rifle-area-residents-say-oil-drilling-companies-not-maintaining-roads?odyssey=mod|newswell|text|FRONTPAGE|s

U.S. Caps Emissions in Drilling for Fuel

 This is great news, really, about time.

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/04/19/science/earth/epa-caps-emissions-at-gas-and-oil-wells.html?_r=1&hp