Insulate your windows

Windows and skylights are a great way to save energy by using daylight to illuminate your home. Unfortunately they can also let a lot of the heat escape from your house in winter. While modern building codes require that walls have at least an R-19 insulation value, windows are generally below R-5 and can also be a major source of air infiltration.

Replacing windows seems like an attractive option to many people. Some high tech windows are claiming R-values over R-10 these days but replacing windows is rarely a cost effective energy improvement for your home. The high insulating windows are very expensive and the labor involved can be costly as well. Pulling a building permit to replace a window can trigger a process that requires upgrading windows to current egress codes turning what seemed like a minor job into a major renovation requiring significant demolition and reengineering of a wall,

The easier approach is sealing and insulating your existing windows. Most hardware stores will have a big display of winterizing products in the early Fall varying from foam rope, caulk and door sweeps to seal leaks to plastic to create seasonal storm windows. These are fairly inexpensive product which when applied appropriately can save a lot of energy and money through the heating season.

The next step up would be installing insulating shades like honeycomb or cellular shades. These shades come in a wide variety of colors and styles and can offer a very appealing look while cutting down on your heat losses. Marjorie Mullany of  Andoway in Albuquerque New Mexico (Andoway.com) makes custom insulating window treatments Her insulating curtains and shades boast an R value of 7.6, which is significantly higher than most new windows. These custom curtains can be made from the fabrics of your choice to fit your room décor. Many of these more permanent window improvements may qualify for the 30% federal tax credits as well. Check with your tax consultant for how this program could benefit you.

Upgrade Your Water Heater

High efficiency and on demand hot water heaters can save a lot of money and energy. On demand heaters save energy by only heating water as you need it instead of cycling on and off continuously to maintain a tank at a temperature setpoint. Solar heating of hot water is perhaps the best way to go in the long term, but it represents a significant up front investment.

If you are not yet ready to invest in equipment upgrades, there are a lot of simple things that you can do to improve the efficiency of your existing system. The easiest thing to do is simply turn down the temperature setpoint. You then simply mix in less cold water at the faucet for the same delivered water temperature. Insulating your tank and hot water pipes can also save a lot of energy, especially if they are located outside of your building’s thermal envelope. PNM will usually pay for your water heater blanket if you present them with your receipts. If you have a recirculation pump to save water by keeping hot water circulating to remote fixtures you should know that they can use a lot of energy if they run constantly. We recommend that recirculation pumps be placed on timers or have infrared triggers that turn the pump on when they detect motion near the remote fixtures. Some companies have remote push buttons to activate the pump a few minutes before you use the hot water.

Fireplace Improvements and Efficiency

A fireplace that’s not in use could be creating    a convection current, pulling conditioned air out of the house. Often the metal damper used to close the chimney does not form an effective seal so even in the case of the flue being closed, air is still flowing out. A top sealing damper with a silicone seal may be installed fairly easily. Even easier to install is a fireplace plug. Made of 14ml polyurethane, a fireplace plug is inflated inside the chimney below the damper. It can be removed when one want to light a fire and re-installed once the fireplace cools. To find out about this safe, inexpensive option, go to http://www.fireplaceplug.com/solution.htm

To get the most heat out of the fire in your fireplace consider a fireback. A fireback is a cast iron plate set in the back of the fireplace. It stores heat and radiates it out into the room.  Another option to get more heat from your fire is a fireplace heater. Fireplace heaters are installed in the fireplace with a fan on the outside which blows hot air into the room. The efficiency of the fireplace is greatly increased.

Design Consultations are Critical

for Both New Construction and Remodels

For those who need to meet the city of Santa Fe’s building code for efficiency or who wish to gain a New Mexico Sustainable Building Tax Credit, part of the HERS rating system requires that a certified auditor  inspect the home at key points during the building process to verify construction methods comply with rigorous guidelines.

In our work as home energy auditors we are often brought in to audit a home after construction is complete. Sadly we are there after the fact, finding all of the missed opportunities and deficiencies in construction practices that affect the building’s energy performance. At this point correcting the errors is costly and not correcting them adds to the long term cost of operating your home. Working with an energy auditor during the design stage will guarantee that the home meets strict industry standards.

There are a lot of interesting and innovative ideas out there for saving energy, but as we learned from the solar boom in the 1970s, a lot of seemingly great ideas don’t perform all that well in the long term. Today home energy professionals, like ENERGY SOLUTIONS NEW MEXICO llc, have the technical training and computer modeling technologies to evaluate these great ideas before they are field tested on your home.

Architects and builders often feel that they can provide the design service, but generally their advice is based upon personal experience, traditional practices, gut feelings or advice from other building professionals, not sound scientific analysis. A design consultation with a professional home energy consultant can help debunk the myths that lead to energy wasting building practices. In addition, a lot of new innovative methods are springing up to build more energy efficient houses. We network with energy professionals across the country, who are modeling and field testing these new ideas to weed out the ones which really work from the neat ideas that fall short.

Developing an Energy Efficiency Plan for Existing Homes

Assign priorities by asking yourself a few important questions:

• How much money is spent on home energy?
• Where are the homes greatest energy losses?
• How long will it take for an investment in energy efficiency to pay for itself in energy cost savings?
• Do the energy-saving measures provide additional benefits that are important to you (for example, increased comfort from installing double-paned, low-e windows)?
• How long will you own your current home?
• Is it a do-it-yourself project or will you need to hire a contractor?
• What is your budget and how much time will the upgrade take?

Once you assign priorities to your energy needs, you can form a whole house efficiency plan. Your plan will provide you with a strategy for making smart purchases and home improvements that maximize energy efficiency and save the most money.

Upgrade to LED Lighting

Incandescent lighting is great for warming my bald spot while I am reading, however, the benefits of upgrading light fixtures from effective space heaters to efficient lighting are well worth the investment. Pin based and compact florescent bulbs have been the most energy efficient option for years but LED lights are proving to be more efficient, durable and environmentally friendly.

Many people were excited by the prospect of saving energy by replacing incandescent bulbs with high efficiency compact fluorescents. Unfortunately many switched back because of the limited light color choices, the inability to effectively dim the bulbs, failure to achieve the rated life expectancy or the environmental disposal issues they represented. The arrival of LED lighting is once again offering hope for a better lighting method.

LEDs or Light Emitting Diodes are the same technology that we have seen for years in power indicators on appliances and calculator displays. When used to replace traditional residential lighting they are actually a cluster of many LEDS. This configuration allows the manufacturer to combine different blends of colored diodes to create warmer or cooler lighting colors.

Commercially available LEDs are comparable to compact florescent bulbs in electrical efficiency. Both technologies yield approximately 55 lumens per watt compared to the 15 lumens per watt delivered by typical incandescent bulbs. Laboratory experiments have demonstrated LEDs achieving lighting efficiency as high as 131 lumens per watt so there is potential for even better bulbs in the future.

Without the fragile filaments of incandescent bulbs or thin walled glass tubes of florescent bulbs the typical LED light is both more shock resistant and less susceptible to power or temperature fluctuations. While incandescent lights typically last for about 1,000 hours and fluorescents are rated to achieve 10,000 hours, LED lights are rated to last between 50,000 and 100,000 hours. Rather than burning out entirely, LED bulbs will dim over time at the end of their life expectancy so the replacement timeline will largely depend on the location of the specific light and customer preferences.

LEDs are entering the market with virtually all types of bases to fit your existing light fixtures and they promise to offer new lighting options which were not possible with the other lighting technologies. They are not as widely available in retail shopping centers as of yet, but the price has dropped substantially in recent months and they can be ordered through specialty lighting stores or through a wide variety of internet stores.

Seal Your Home’s Envelope

A home’s envelope consists of walls, floor, ceiling and roof. Sealing air leaks can save up to 40% on your annual energy bill:

• Add weather stripping around windows and doors to reduce drafts.
• Install foam plates inside light switches and outlets
• Use caulking to seal around ducts, plumbing and any other openings in walls, floors and ceilings to reduce air leakage. Begin in the attic, a common place for warm air to escape.
• Seal larger gaps that cannot be covered with caulk with expanding foam.

Test for air leaks by holding a lit incense stick next to windows, doors, electrical boxes, plumbing fixtures, electrical outlets, ceiling fixtures, attic hatches and other locations where there is a possible air path to the outside.

If the smoke stream travels horizontally, you have located an air leak that may need caulking, sealing or weather stripping.