How do we reduce our carbon footprint while also reducing our cost of living?

I believe that eco-friendly should be more than just good for the ecology, it should also be economical. There are a lot of inexpensive ways to solve our energy consumption problems. There are just as many or more, expensive ways to accomplish the same goal. You may be suprised to find that descions such as placement of windows or types of light fixtures can have a huge effect on your home or business's energy consumption.

  You may already be aware that the major consumer of energy in your home or business is your HVAC system. The second major consumer of energy is your hot water heating system. Fortunately there are many ways to reduce these costs, saving hundreds if not thousands of dollars a year per building. This is money you could spend on fun stuff like gas,food or your mortgage. Sure new HVAC equipment may help reduce these costs dramatically but there are some other things that should be addressed first.

  You will find that I structured this information in such a way that the first half is intended to help those who live in an older home and have a limited budget. The second half is geared more to those interested in building a new building that will minimize it's carbon footprint and maximize it's return on investment. If you are in the latter group please read all of this because there is a lot of information that pertains to you as well.

  Insulate and seal up cracks and gaps. The most cost effective way to reduce your heating and cooling costs is to stop infiltration of outdoor air and insulate your home or business.

  Replace worn weather striping and fix any gaps around doors and windows. If you can see light or feel any air movement around window and door frames, infiltration is occuring at a rate that would surprise you. Also electric wall and ceiling boxs can also allow out door air infiltration. There are gaskets available to solve this problem and are easy to install. Another electrical device that causes major infiltration is the can light. These light fixtures are gaining in popularity because they are very attractive however there are many problems associated with them. They protrude into unconditoned areas like attics and ceilings, displacing insulation. By design they vent air from your home into these areas to dissipate the heat that their light bulbs generate. Just like a chimney air is heated by the bulb and rises by convection through the can light housing and out of the room. Any air that leaves your home will be replaced by air from outside. This has to occur because the structure will always maintain a pressure close to the pressure outside. So whatever you do don't leave that bath fan on. Better yet put it on a timer or motion sensor.  There also specialized ventilation systems that transfer heat between the air entering and leaving your home or business. They are known as Heat or Energy Recovery Ventilators. These systems provide an excelent solution to the problems associated with sealing a building tight. Most homes with crawl spaces will have vents installed around the foundation of the house. These vents need to be open in the summer and closed in the winter. A vapor barrier should be used to cap the ground in the crawl. The soil under a building can off gas large amounts of water vapor from the Earth. Improvements on crawl space design have finally begain to happen. from using power ventilation to conditioned crawl spaces. This is because of the publics recent concerns over mold growth. Mold grown in a crawl space could enter the home if infiltration exists from the crawl to the conditioned space within the building. The largest amount of infiltration does occur from the crawl space in most homes built under current building practices. Mold must have a source of moisture. Even water vapor in the air at a level greater than 60% relative humidity can fuel their growth. It is difficult to maintain humidity levels lower than 60% in a crawl space in the summer time when the warmer air outside often has a relative humidity higher than 60%. When this air enters the crawl space it is cooled and it's relative humidity increases due to the fact that warmer air has a greater capacity to hold water vapor than cooler air. As you can see it is very important to seal up any leaks in the return air duct work that may be located in unconditioned spaces such as your crawl or attic. 

  Insulation is next thing to address on your way to saving big money.Insulation is relatively inexpensive and easy to install. Attict insulation can be installed in batts or blown in. Most home improvement stores will loan you a insulation blowing machine when you purchase a certain amount of insulation. Your attic insulation should at least be 14" deep, 14"=R-30, New construction code currently requires 18" which is R-38. Wall insulation is also important, but not nearly as important as the insulation above your head. A typical 2x4 wall will have R-11 to R-13 insulation value. Some older homes will not have any insulation in the stud spaces within the exterior walls. Holes can be drilled in walls and insulation can be blown into wall cavities however insulation installed in this manner will tend to settle to the bottom over time. The proper way to insulate an empty wall is to remove the wall board on the inside, then insulate and install a vapor barrier over the studs. While you have the wall opend up, use this opportunity to do any wiring you would like then seal up all penetrations between the stud spaces and unconditioned spaces with fire caulk. If you can't afford to do this to an empty wall, sealing up openings and cracks will still go a long way to saving you money. An inexpensive way to decrease the cost of hot water is to insulate your hot water piping. Pipe insulation is available that is split down it's length and allows you to slide it on piping that is already installed. A leaky faucet can also be costing you a lot of money.  Fix that drippy faucet.

Replace old inefficent windows. Again infiltration is costing property owners huge amounts of money. A window is a window is a window right? NO. Windows today have more variables than those confusing numbers on the side walls of the tires on your car. This is a subject within itself. If you have older windows that have storms, use them. Don't open your windows durring the summer if you have air conditioning. Air conditioners take a much longer time to remove humidity from the air than they take to reduce the temperature of a building. An airconditioner may take 24 hours or more to remove the water vapor introduced by a window opened for a short time back to a comfortable level. Window screens still serve a purpose, they can be used to provide some shading to the windows and interior surfaces. Just leave that window shut.  If possible shade windows that face any direction other than south externally with landscaping, trees, fence, screens etc. If you are in the design phase of building a new home consider orienting the length of the structure east and west. Try to orient the bulk of the windows on the south facing exterior wall while limiting the glass surface area on the other walls especially on the north side. This is the primary critera for a passive solar heated home which I will delve into towards the end of this page.

This page is under construction. Please have patince. More to come soon.

Have Questions?

Contact me.

Heat Recovery Ventilation

 http://healthandenergy.com/balanced_ventilation.htm

Passive Solar

http://mb-soft.com/solar/index.html

http://www.coastlocalize.org/html_pages/Passive_Solar_Design.html

 http://www.enertia.com/Home/tabid/36/Default.aspx

http://www.dennisrhollowayarchitect.com/html/SolarDesignb.html

http://southface.org/web/resources&services/publications/technical_bulletins/PSD-Passivesolar 00-790.pdf

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Passive_solar_building_design#Special_glazing_systems_and_window_coverings