Energy Audit Story 06-06-2007

Awinquist

Informations

• Publié par: Phoos
• Nombre de lectures: 75
• Langue: English

Extrait

June 7, 2007 (edited by Sun, Tarnay)

Homeowners: Kent and Rita Wiggins

Home: Douglas Park Cape Cod, 2000 square feet. Built in 1941.

Sometimes the Little Things Count

Audit Helps Couple Find More Ways to Cut Energy Costs

ARLINGTON, Va. -- Kent Wiggins is the kind of guy who cleans the air-conditioning

filter in his summer vacation rental, just to make sure it is operating at peak efficiency.

So even after replacing all the windows in his 66-year-old Cape Cod-style home in South

Arlington’s Douglas Park, and installing an

Energy Star

-rated furnace and HVAC,

Wiggins wondered if there wasn’t more he could do to cut down on heating and air

conditioning bills. He and his wife, Rita, applied for one of 20 free energy audits the

County is giving away this year as part of

Fresh AIRE

(Arlington Initiative to Reduce

Emissions), the County’s campaign to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by boosting

energy efficiency.

“We just wanted to see if we could be more efficient,” Rita Wiggins said. The couple was

particularly concerned that the two additions they have made to the house in the 20 years

they have lived there – an upstairs expansion into the attic to create a master bedroom

suite and a more recent first-floor addition on the back of the house to expand the kitchen

and create a dining area – may have reduced their home’s energy efficiency.

What the Wiggins learned during the

energy audit conducted by Eric

Lundquist, a building science consultant

with NSpects, was mostly good news.

The investments they had made in

double-paned windows and new heating

and air conditioning systems have paid

off – and their additions had created no

new leaks.

But the couple also learned that aside

from the big-ticket energy items in your home, many smaller, easy, low-cost

improvements can make a big difference in boosting energy efficiency.

Blower Door Sucks Out Air, Measures Leakage

Lundquist started the audit by measuring each room to determine the home’s square

footage. He then closed all the doors and windows and installed the blower door in the

front door. A blower door is a large calibrated fan that takes about an hour to suck the air

out of a house. Computer software attached to the fan measures the air flow through the

fan and the pressure difference between the inside of the house and the outside.

“When we add it all up, we can determine how leaky the home is overall,“ Lundquist

said.

With the blower working, Lundquist – equipped with a head lamp, infrared scanner and

digital camera – scoured each room, starting with the basement. He methodically

searched for air leaks around doors, windows and recessed lighting.

Each time his infrared scanner detected a leak,

Lundquist snapped pictures to include in his report.

“I know every time that camera comes out, it’s bad

news,” Rita Wiggins fretted.

“When you’re heating your house, warm air is

leaving through the top of the home, where it’s the

most leaky. Air has to replace it,” Lundquist

explained. “The heat leaving through the top is

pulling the cold air in.

If air is leaking out, that’s

costing you a lot of money.”

Single-family homes can use twice the energy they

require

Most single-family, detached homes use one-and-a-

half to two times more energy than they actually

require, Lundquist explained. Homeowners can usually cut that energy usage

significantly simply by

adding insulation and sealing leaks

. “If you can keep more of

the air you heat inside longer, you can reduce your carbon footprint and save money,”

Lundquist said.

NSpect charges $325 to inspect an

average single-family home. The

auditor spends two-and-a-half to three

hours crawling through and under a

house, searching room-by-room for

anything that might be pushing energy

usage – and costs – up. He examines

ducts and heating and cooling systems.

He tramps through attics and

basements and shine his headlamp into

crawl spaces.

Homeowners can usually recoup those costs – and more – through the energy costs they

save if they make the recommended fixes.

At the end of the inspection, the homeowner gets an initial assessment. Two weeks later,

a more thorough written analysis arrives in the mail. It includes a checklist of the

problems discovered, recommendations for how they can be fixed, cost estimates for

making the fixes and a list of recommended contractors.

Lundquist said that homeowners often are surprised that instead of recommending that

they spend tens of thousands of dollars to replace windows or upgrade heating and air

conditioning, he looks for affordable fixes. Often, he said, his recommendations are to

invest hundreds of dollars in

caulking and weather-stripping

, or a few thousand in

additional insulation

.

“

The main culprit is the attic

,” he explained. ‘If you can stop leaks in the attic – that’s

half your problem solved right there. Usually, all it really needs is to seal leaks with foam

insulation or caulking. If you don’t have an attic, sealing windows and

doors will help.”

Even such simple fixes, Lundquist said, can

save homeowners between 10 percent and

50 percent

on their utility bills.

With Rita Wiggins following closely

behind, Lundquist clamored over her

furniture, crawled through the dirt under

the first-floor addition and pressed his face

against closet doors to feel for leaks.

Too often, Lundquist observed, additions

worsen an older house’s energy efficiency.

“A lot of these additions look great, but

they are so poorly done that they just leak

terribly,” he said. The worst culprits?

Badly fitting doors and windows and

recessed lighting

that leaks air into the

attic.

But he had mostly good news for the

Wiggins. Their additions had been well-

constructed and well-insulated, and had no

serious leakage. The rest of the house also

had few serious leaks. Where there are

leaks – around the fireplace, some doors,

windows and

molding--caulking and

weather-stripping

are all that will be needed.

“Overall, it doesn’t look like we have a whole lot of upgrading to do,” Lundquist said.

“The guys who worked on the additions actually improved the overall house, and that is

very unusual – additions can be trouble,” he said. “In your case, making the little fixes

will save you a little money – but overall, you’re in a pretty good situation.”

Lundquist’s initial assessment delighted Rita Wiggins.

“I’m glad to hear that the work was done well and that we didn’t create any problems by

adding on to the house,” she said. “I learned a lot today about the way heat circulates in a

house, and how you lose heat and cooled air. It’s amazing how much you learn by having

someone lead you through your house and look at every minute detail – and I’m sure

Kent will have his caulk gun out as soon as he gets the written report.”

endit

Top Tips:

Window Extensions:

The Wiggins turned to their Neighborhood List Serve for

referrals when they were looking for a company to replace their decades-old, single-

paned wooden windows. In the end, they picked a company that installed wood

extension windows. There was less mess, because the original frames could stay

intact, and cost were lower than tear-out wood-frame replacements.

The $1 test:

Close your doors to the outside. If you can slide a $1 bill under the door

easily, you have leakage. The fix? Weather-stripping that comes in rolls and is

available at hardware stores. You can install it yourself.

Close the fireplace damper:

a fireplace is a tunnel from your house to the outside.

Keep it from leaking when you’re not using it by closing the damper.

Keep storm windows down

– year-round. Whether you’re air-conditioning or

heating, you can reduce leakage--and your costs--by keeping storm windows down.

Caulk around the fireplace

– seal opening between the fireplace grill and the wall to

keep air from leaking in and out/to keep leaks at bay.