Who Knew?

Interestingly enough, there's quite a bit of information from the gummint (government), about how to improve the energy efficiency of your home or business. I'm going to focus on home, but I'm sure there's quite a bit of overlap with workplaces... especially if you work out of your home, right?! I'm reading that there are tax credits to be had for energy efficient improvements, but that they run out in 2010. I'll try to find and document that info for us as quickly as possible.

I'm also finding that utility companies have quite a bit of information on their sites. It seems that they're anxious to find ways to be able to manage peak hours, since they're getting hit so hard at certain periods of the day and year. I've read that some even offer free energy audits, although mine doesn't. The first thing you might want to do it check out your utilities provider and find out if they offer any services like that.

Thanks to those who have sent me suggestions. Each one of them are good ideas (even the one that was sent to me as a joke), so I'll track them all backwards to lay out the steps and costs necessary to pull them off. I got everything from recycling household trash to recycling pet waste. I have a dog... a very big dog, who has private time in our yard twice a day. If there's the possibility that I can turn that into something good... well, then... that'd be good.

While I'm working on that, as well as continuing to research the "to do" list, here are a few tidbits I found that you can chew on in the meantime. I found these first facts on www.reliant.com, which is my electricity provider.

"...more than 80 percent of homes built prior to 1980 lack adequate ceiling insulation. Any house without sufficient insulation can lose up to 40 percent of heated or cooled air. Adding insulation is one of the most effective ways to save on your electricity usage."

This and Radiant Barriers are high on my priority list to research.

"...the average household dedicates 10 percent of its electricity budget to lighting. The use of new lighting technologies an reduce the amount of electricity used for lighting in your home by an estimated 50 to 75 percent."

Apparently, even periodic cleaning of light bulbs can help them last longer and work more efficiently. More on that later.

Now, as I first mentioned, it's hard to know where to start, and hard to know if what you do is going to be effective. Here's a case in point. I was intending on having my first project (very small project) be to put gaskets in my wall switches and outlets to reduce airflow. I'd seen it mentioned in a few "to do" lists, and thought "surely I can't mess THIS up." Then, while researching Home Energy Saver, at http://hes.lbl.gov, I found the following:

"Myth: Installing foam gaskets in electrical outlets will significantly reduce air leakage.

Measurements have shown that less than 1% of a home's air leakage is due to outlets. However, a lot of little holes add up to one big hole. If you're doing a thorough air sealing job, or you're in a very big house with a lot of light switches, it wouldn't hurt to install gaskets--but you might want to save this measure for last, in case you run out of time or energy."

Sigh... not my first project after all.

Keep the ideas coming!

so, what next?

I think the hardest part of beginning this process is knowing exactly what to do. Same as pretty much any process. I'm also not sure of the best way to quantify and measure results. Is it as simple as looking at utility bills? It would stand to reason that I'd have to look at a whole year of bills to truly see an apples to apples comparison.

The first thing I'm doing is researching recommended energy improvements to see what the consistent recommendations are. I'm researching websites, other blogs, home improvement books, and Green reference books. I'll pass on what I find as I find it.

All of this will have to be balanced against:

a) my available time

b) how much it costs (let's face it... knowing how much I'll save in the future doesn't change how much money I have to spend in the first place)

c) whether I have the knowledge to do it myself (remember, the whole point of this is to do as much DIY as possible)

For perspective, I'm going to bring in a friend of mine who is an experienced contractor, as well as passionate about finding ways to do things more efficiently and more eco-friendly. He's worked on both building new homes, and renovating older ones. I'll bounce all of this off of him for a practical view point. I want to see what he thinks the right list is, as well as get his thoughts on order of importance and DIY feasibility.

Feel free to go ahead and share any lists you may have.

What are your thoughts?

I'm Going Green!

So, I'm a DIY kinda guy that figures things out as he goes. I've got no training, and do most of my home improvement projects with "how to" books spread around me. I've got an old house, built in 1963, that needs alot of work. I like doing the work myself, and... I really don't like paying other people to do this stuff for me, if I can possibly help it. That gets me into trouble periodically. There are all sorts of shows about going "green", and we all talk about it, but when it gets down to the brass tacks of really knowing what to do, and how to do it, it's easy to get bogged down.

The questions I always have are:

• What projects are important to do?
• Is there an order of priority?
• What projects are feasible for me to pull off?
• What things are financially feasible?
• What are the different levels of each solution (what options are available, and what is the Return on Investment for each)?
• What are all the steps to do it correctly?
• How long will it take me?
• Where do I find the materials?
• How can I forecast and measure results?
• I've heard about tax credits, so can I get them for this project?

I'm an over-thinker, and a bit of a perfectionist, so if I don't know exactly how I'm supposed to do things, even the simple things throw me. Let me give you an example. I've been told I should caulk all of my windows. Okay... what kind of caulk? Is there a "green" caulk? Where exactly on the windows am I supposed to caulk? Am I supposed to scrape off everything that's already there? Can I screw this up?

So, I've decided to use myself as the guinea pig for all of you. I'm going to make a list of projects I plan on doing, and just start researching. I'll share what I find, and hope that other people like me will start posting their solutions on here, as well. I'll start with the simple things that I already know I should do. I'll tell you what I found, where I got it, and document how I'm doing it. Please feel free to weigh in.