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03/30/2012
We use nothing but energy-saving light bulbs in our house, but there’s one lighting factor that I can’t control: Kids! It’s a rare day when we don’t come home to find they’ve left at least one light on all day. We’re convinced they’ve got stock in the electric company. We use occupancy sensors at my office building. Would this be a good idea in a kid’s room? For readers who don’t know: Occupancy sensors, also known as motion detectors, save electricity by turning off lights in unoccupied areas and turning them on again when they detect movement. Now to your question: Sensors can be cost-effective energy savers in certain locations. An office building is a great example because lots of lights are used and, so, it can be costly to keep all of them on. In your home, where fewer lights are used in a room and those lights are energy efficient, the cost of the occupancy sensor isn’t likely to be worth the savings. I’m afraid that your solution is simply an old-fashioned one: Turn off the lights before leaving in the morning. I know that’s not always going to happen when kids are in the mix, so keep using low-energy bulbs like CFLs (compact fluorescent light bulbs) and LEDs (light emitting diodes). You’ll save as much as 76% and 90% in lighting energy costs, respectively, over incandescents in those times when the lights are on and nobody’s home! Bob for The Home Team
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03/23/2012
At this time of year, we’ve usually been able to stay comfortable turning off the central, natural-gas heat and running a portable electric space heater in whatever room we’re using. But my daughter is learning about energy at school and she says it will cost less in energy to use the central heat. That makes no sense to me, but I said I’d bring it to the experts. What do you say? Using an electric space heater usually doesn’t save you money because electricity is typically one of the most expensive ways to make heat. There’s another factor that’s important to be aware of if you’re only heating one room at a time. In some houses, rooms that are allowed to get cold can suffer damage, like frozen pipes or cracked plaster or drywall. As notable is the potential problem of condensation forming on cool surfaces. Without enough heat to dry them out, these surfaces can become ideal spots for mold and wood rot. This may happen where you can see it or where you can’t—within the walls, floors, or attic. The likelihood of these problems depends on a number of factors, including the home’s insulation, air leakage, and humidity levels. If you decide to not consistently heat a room, see that your house’s air sealing and insulation are up to snuff, be sure there are no pipes running through the unheated space (or in its walls, ceiling, or floor). Then, monitor the room for cold surfaces where condensation may form. I hope this answers your question. Thanks for writing. Stay warm! Li Ling for The Home Team
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03/16/2012
Our daughter got her first apartment last year and she does a good job of making ends meet on a modest income. She was going without a TV, so we surprised her with a big-screen, flat-screen TV for her birthday, just before the Super Bowl. (She’s a big Patriots fan.) She was thrilled with the TV, but she tells us that her electricity bills have been higher lately. Could it be due to the TV? Without knowing more about your daughter’s TV and about other electricity use at her apartment, I can’t say if the TV is definitely the culprit. But I will say that it’s possible. Naturally, anytime you start using a piece of electrical equipment where there was none before, you increase electricity use. And today’s home electronics can be energy intensive. That goes for TVs, game consoles, recording devices, high-definition cable/satellite boxes, and more. To put this in perspective: Before large, flat screens became popular, a typical home might have had a 28-inch cathode-ray set, using about 100 watts. A 42-inch plasma flat-screen can use more than three times that amount. The bigger the screen, the more energy used. The good news is that, if your daughter’s TV is ENERGY STAR® qualified, it’s 40-60% more energy efficient than a comparable standard model, depending on size and features. I’ll mention that many kinds of home electronics and office equipment use power even when off. Your daughter can control this ongoing energy waste by plugging devices into an advanced power strip that automatically shuts off power to any idle equipment she wants. These are available at hardware stores. If your daughter wants to pinpoint the cause of her higher electricity bills, she can borrow a meter, at no cost from Efficiency Vermont, that will measure the energy demand of most anything that uses electricity in her apartment. Sign up to borrow a meter today. Bob for The Home Team
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03/09/2012
We’ve always had to crank up the heat to stay warm in our drafty old house. So, when our ancient furnace finally quit last fall, we bought an energy-efficient replacement. Well, we still have to crank it up. We’re using less fuel but we’re not saving as much as we thought we would. We trust the guy who sold it to us and he says there’s nothing wrong with it. So what’s the deal? Is this “energy efficiency” stuff just smoke and mirrors? It’s great that you have an efficient furnace. Here’s the deal: Any furnace in a drafty house works hard. That costs you, in fuel. Your furnace is doing battle against air leaks in your house. Those leaks bring in cold outdoor air and they allow your heated indoor air to escape. The furnace is trying to fill your house with heat but the house can’t hold it. It’s like trying to fill a leaky bucket. To get the energy savings that your furnace is designed to deliver, tighten your house. Leaks can occur in numerous spots; around windows, doors, wiring, pipes, and more. Seal those leaks, and then see that you have sufficient, properly-installed insulation. The most comprehensive, energy saving approach is to work with a professional. Home Performance with ENERGY STAR® contractors are specially trained and certified to do a thorough job of finding the causes of drafts, high heating bills, indoor air quality problems, and more, by taking a whole-house view. To find a contractor who is trained in air sealing and insulation, and to learn about rebates, visit the Home Performance section. I should also mention a few energy-saving tips for furnaces: Follow manufacturer guidelines for maintenance and filter cleaning. Also, see that your heat vents and air returns are clean and unobstructed by furniture, rugs, drapes, or other objects. Thanks for a great question and best of luck with tightening up your home so you’ll be more comfortable while saving money on your heat bills. Note to readers who are considering a new heating or cooling system: It makes sense to tighten your home first. By reducing your heating or cooling demands, you may not need to buy as big a system as you currently have. Kathleen for The Home Team
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03/02/2012
I’d love to replace all my windows with energy-efficient ones, but I've seen conflicting information about them being worth the price. Do they do a good job or not? I’ve got to do something about my high bills and drafty rooms! Properly installed, high-quality energy-efficient windows do a great job of reducing drafts and increasing comfort. But the payback period, from energy savings, on the cost of replacement windows is long. So it's generally not advisable to replace windows for money-saving reasons alone. The best way to cut energy costs and reduce drafts is to take a whole-house view, with a focus on sealing air leaks and seeing that you have sufficient insulation. A certified Home Performance with ENERGY STAR® contractor is specially trained to take this comprehensive approach, to find the causes of high energy bills and uncomfortable rooms. These contractors can then perform the work you decide to have done. Efficiency Vermont offers up to $2,500 for energy-saving home improvements that have been completed by a Home Performance with ENERGY STAR contractor. Learn more and to find a list of Vermont contractors. One of the things these contractors can do is help determine if window replacement makes financial sense for you. You see, the cost-effective time to buy a high-performance window is when you need to replace a nonfunctional or damaged window or when you need a window where one has never been, like in a new house or an addition. But if you've got windows that work, you're usually better off, cost-wise, improving them than replacing them. And that’s pretty easily done: Repair any cracked panes and glazing, run a bead of caulk around window frames, and use side-mount sash locks to hold windows firmly in place. Block drafts through sash-weight pulley openings by using pulley seals. Use inexpensive window weatherization kits, available at hardware stores. If you have storm windows, use them in the winter. If not, look into well-installed, low-E storm windows. Li Ling for The Home Team
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02/24/2012
My grandson and his wife gave me a heated mattress pad so I could have a warm bed to get into at night. They said it saves $131 per year on energy bills, but I don’t see the logic in that so I haven’t used it. Can you tell me the truth about heated mattress pads? What’s true is that, if you stay in bed with the pad on and with the house thermostat low, you’ll stay warm and you won’t use as much central-heating fuel over the course of a night. However, the same can be said anytime you turn down the house thermostat at night and keep your bed warm. Many people are able to warm the bed with blankets and body heat. Some use a hot-water bottle. If you prefer to add an electric mattress pad or electric blanket, you’ll increase your electricity costs. As for the $131 claim, it’s based on the manufacturer’s assumption that you’ll turn down your house’s thermostat eight degrees, around the clock, for 25 weeks, and use the mattress pad for eight hours each night of those weeks. That would mean about six months of keeping your house eight degrees colder than you now keep it. I don’t know how you’d feel about such a change, but it makes me shiver just thinking about it. So, I’m with you; I don’t see the logic in the claim. If you want to use your grandchildren’s gift to make the bed warm when you get in it, I suggest using an appliance timer for your electric mattress pad. You could set the timer to turn on the pad about half an hour before bedtime and to turn it off at bedtime. You can experiment with the timing to get it right for you. Thanks for sending in this interesting question. Kathleen for The Home Team
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02/17/2012
I've been seeing ads for Amish or infrared quartz heaters. Are they really better at saving energy than other electric space heaters? No. All portable electric heaters produce the same amount of heat per kilowatt hour consumed. A claim of energy savings from any portable heater is based on the idea that you'll turn down your central heat and use the portable heater to keep you warm only in the room you're occupying. But electricity is one of the most expensive heating fuels in Vermont. So, the cost of the electric heat is likely to outweigh the energy savings from reducing your use of your central heating system unless you turn down the house thermostat substantially. Unfortunately, the colder a house gets, the more you put it at risk of problems like frozen pipes, cracked plaster or drywall, and wetness on the inside of the home and the outside. As notable is the potential problem of condensation forming on cool surfaces. Without enough heat to dry them out, these surfaces can become ideal spots for mold and wood rot. This may happen where you can see it or where you can’t -- within the walls, floors or attic. A better approach is to make your central heating system work as efficiently as possible. Be sure your furnace filter is clean. Seal and insulate heating ducts, and have your furnace or boiler professionally inspected, cleaned and tuned as often as the manufacturer recommends. Vacuum or dust heating vents or baseboards and move furniture away from them so heat can circulate. Bob for The Home Team
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02/10/2012
I know people planning to use portable electric heaters this winter to ward off some of the high cost of heating. Does that really lower the cost of heating a house? I can see why people would think that this would be an energy-saving solution to today's fuel prices. But in Vermont, electricity is still one of the most expensive ways to heat. A portable electric space heater will most likely increase your heating costs unless you intend to turn your central heating system down and use a portable heater in only the room you occupy. The cost of the electric heat is likely to outweigh the energy savings from reducing your use of your central heating system unless you turn down the house thermostat substantially. Unfortunately, this can lead to problems. The colder a house gets, the more you put it at risk of problems like frozen pipes, cracked plaster or drywall, and wetness on the inside of the home and the outside. As notable is the potential problem of condensation forming on cool surfaces. Without enough heat to dry them out, these surfaces can become ideal spots for mold and wood rot. This may happen where you can see it or where you can’t -- within the walls, floors or attic. A better approach is to make your central heating system work as efficiently as possible. Be sure your furnace filter is clean. Seal and insulate heating ducts, and have your furnace or boiler professionally inspected, cleaned and tuned as often as the manufacturer recommends. Vacuum or dust heating vents or baseboards and move furniture away from them so heat can circulate. Then, make sure that your house is sealed from air leaks and has enough insulation. The most thorough approach, and the one with the highest energy savings, is to have a trained contractor do the work. Efficiency Vermont offers up to $2,500 for energy-saving home improvements that have been completed by a Home Performance with ENERGY STAR® contractor. These pros also can do a whole-house evaluation to determine steps you can take to lower your heating costs. To learn more and to find a list of Vermont contractors, visit the Find a Contractor page. Bob for The Home Team
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02/03/2012
I keep an eye on an elderly neighbor who lives alone in a drafty house that costs way too much to heat. I wish he could afford to hire a professional to take care of air leaks and insulation in the whole house. I did that at my house and the job is paying for itself in what I save on heat. Is there anything like that for somebody on a fixed income? If not, what’s available to help him? Vermont has excellent weatherization services for low-income renters and homeowners. If your neighbor meets the eligibility criteria, he may be able to get weatherization services at no cost. You can find out more at www.dcf.vermont.gov/oeo/weatherization. If he isn’t eligible for weatherization services and he owns his home, contact your area NeighborWorks organization. These organizations offer low- or no-interest energy loans to qualifying homeowners for energy-saving improvements. Their website is www.vthomeownership.org. Fuel assistance is available from the state to certain low-income Vermonters. If your neighbor qualifies, the amount he receives will depend on how much need there is in the state this year. The more people receiving aid, the lower the assistance is for each person. You can learn more at www.dcf.vermont.gov/esd/fuel_assistance. Thanks for writing about a situation that many Vermonters face as they try to stay warm and healthy through the winter. Your neighbor is lucky to have you! Kathleen for The Home Team
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01/27/2012
I stayed in a bed-and-breakfast in the mountains on a chilly weekend this fall and they had insulated cellular window shades that the owner swears by. Do shades like that lower heat bills enough to make them worth the price? It’s tough to say. These shades do reduce the escape of indoor heat through windows and they help you feel warmer. The amount that they lower heat bills depends on how much you’re able to turn down the house thermostat as a result, and that depends on how drafty/cold your windows are without shades. (The leakier the windows are, the more of a difference the shades will make.) It also depends on something immeasurable, which is the temperature that feels comfortable for you. So, I’m sorry that I can’t give you an exact answer about whether or not you’d get savings that would outweigh the shades’ purchase and installation costs in a reasonable time. Whether you use insulated window treatments or just heavy curtains, covering a window is just one way to increase your comfort near windows. Here are some others: Repair any cracked panes and glazing, run a bead of caulk around window frames, and use side-mount sash locks to hold windows firmly in place. Block drafts through sash-weight pulley openings by using pulley seals. Use inexpensive window weatherization kits, available at hardware stores. Thanks for writing in and stay warm! Li Ling for The Home Team
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