By Kenneth Barbalace

Over the past year or so (2009-2010) we undertook a series of weatherization and energy conservation projects on the home we bought in 2009. The first thing we did before undertaking these projects was to have an energy audit conducted (you can read about the energy audit here). Although the audit cost us $415, it was a very important first step in weatherizing our home as it helped us prioritize projects to make sure we used our weatherization budget in the most cost effective manner possible.

I'm way behind on my plans to document the projects we undertook, but now that I have a year's worth of energy usage data collected, I do have some hard figures to report.

We replaced our boiler at the beginning of November 2009, replacing a 20 year old oil boiler with a 96% efficient gas fired boiler. We don't have actual numbers on the fuel usage of the old oil boiler as we had replaced it before having gone through a winter with it. With that said the disclosure provided by the previous owner stated that she used 1,200 gallons of fuel oil per year (for heat and hot water). In our first full year with the new boiler (2010) we used 760 gallons of propane (for heat and hot water). Due to the BTU difference between a gallon of fuel oil and a gallon of propane, this works out to the equivalent of around 500 gallons of #2 fuel oil. We didn't even take extreme measures to save on heating by reducing our thermostat to sweater temperatures; rather keep our thermostat set at a comfortable 72º F.

That's right, based on what the previous owner reported, we have already reduced our home's annual fuel consumption by around 58% and this reduction is accomplished without sacrificing comfort.

It should be noted that due to contractor delays and call backs, the bulk of our weatherization projects weren't completed until March of 2010, so three of the months of propane usage (the coldest months of the year) were before weatherization was completed. Our weatherization projects during the winter of 2009-2010 included adding insulation to the attic, applying two inches of spray foam insulation to the rim of the floor joists in the basement, and air sealing wall/ceiling joints in the attic. This past summer we gutted and totally renovated our bathroom, including replacing the exterior wall insulation. In the fall of 2010 we undertook more air sealing projects to eliminate drafts between the wall and floor joints, better air seal doors/windows. We also undertook repairs to some of the weatherization completed by our weatherization contractor that had come undone.

It will be another full year before we see annual fuel consumption figures that include all of the weatherization projects we have thus far completed. However, I can compare December 2009 (the first full month on our new boiler) to December 2010. In December of 2009 we used on average 5.03 gallons of propane per day or approximately 156 gallons for the entire month. In December 2010, we averaged 3.48 gallons of propane per day or around 108 gallons for the month (the equivalent of 71 gallons of #2 fuel oil). This works out to around a 31% reduction in energy consumption as a direct result of weatherizing our home.

In real dollar terms, in December 2010 propane cost us $3.059/gal or about $270.60 for the month. If we had not weatherized our home and as a result had used the same amount of propane in December 2010 as we did in December 2009, it would have cost us around $477.20 or $206.60 more than what we actually spent. We don't yet know what our annual energy savings are. If, however, December of 2010 is any indication, it is very significant. Certainly from a monthly budget perspective the amount we pay on our weatherization loan is way less than what we would have spent on the extra energy we would have been using otherwise.

You may not be able to control how much energy costs, but you can certainly control how much energy you need to use. Even if you have to take out a modest home improvement loan to pay for it, weatherizing your home can be one of the best investments you make. You may not be able to reduce your energy costs by as much as we have, but done right your savings could be substantial. Conducting an energy audit and carefully planning out your weatherization priorities will help ensure that the cost of servicing the loan is less than the amount of money you will save on energy costs.

By Kenneth Barbalace

With all the home energy efficiency tax credits being offered up to home owners, I have observed a predictable uptick in advertising related to home weatherization goods and services. Not surprisingly, much of this advertising is targeted towards getting consumers to buy new energy efficient doors and windows. The thing is is that for most consumers replacing doors and windows WILL NOT result in the best possible return on investment (ROI) in regards to cost vs. energy savings. For most consumers, the best possible ROI on the money they spend on home weatherization is normally to add a significant amount of insulation to their attics (up to R-50 or 15" of fiberglass/cellulous) and sealing drafts in the home (e.g. simply adding weather stripping to doors/windows, caulking door/window trim, and sealing other sources of air leaks).

Window and door sellers go all out to sell replacing windows and doors with new energy efficient ones, but it must be understood that in the most extreme cases, going from a single pane of glass to a triple pane Low-E II window only takes that window from an R-1 to an R-3.5 in a best case scenario.

The best time to install energy efficient windows and doors is either when a house is first being built OR when the existing windows/doors need to be replaced because they have reached the end of their useful service life (e.g. 30+ years old).

Unless the windows are really old and can't be effectively sealed, the most cost effective means of dealing with inefficient windows is to caulk and weather strip the windows and maybe add the clear heat shrink plastic window weatherization film over windows in the late fall. These are cheap fixes and when properly done will provide just as much energy savings as replacing the windows, at a fraction of the cost.

We recently had an energy audit conducted on our home and did a lot of weatherization work on it. In our case, upgrading our windows to Low-E energy efficient windows would have had a return of investment of 1.4% and would have taken 72+ years to pay themselves back. The best use of our money was to insulate the attic and our rim joists and reducing air heat loss (sealing wall/ceiling joints, putting gaskets behind electrical wall plates, sealing window/door trim, etc.). Our energy audit projected a ROI 34.8% with a payback of 2.9 years on properly insulating our attic, and a ROI of 29.5% with a payback of 3.4 years for reducing air heat loss. Quite simply, adding proper insulation and air sealing our house will have saved us enough money in energy costs within the next 5-7 years to actually pay for replacing our windows and doors where as replacing our windows and doors will never save enough money in our life time to pay for the other weatherization work even though the costs would have been similar.

Don't be fooled by advertising, when it comes to weatherizing your home and reducing your energy costs. Do your homework and get an energy audit before undertaking any projects to make sure the money you spend will truly save you the most possible money on energy costs. If your primary reason for wanting to replace your windows and/or doors is to save energy, take care of other weatherization projects first.

By Kenneth Barbalace

For almost two years I have been working on starting a new section to EnvironmentalChemistry.com that would focus on building green homes and doing eco renovations. The challenge has been to find the right projects to document. Well after some false starts and frustrating delays I am happy to announce our first project and accompanying series of articles under our new "Go Green" section.

At the end of March 2009, we closed on a two-bedroom ranch that was built in 1970 and immediately began what will be a multi-phase eco renovation of the house which will span several years. We have dubbed this project "70s House Eco Renovation - From Green to Green", which makes light of the fact that we are transforming the house from 1970s color green to being more environmentally sustainable.

This series of articles will document our progress and share what we learn along the way. We will provide reviews of the eco products we use and provide tips for those who like to DIY (do-it-yourself). We will document not just what we did, but why we did it. Our eventual goal is to reduce our energy and water consumption and bring our home to as close to carbon neutral as is practical. At the same time we want our home to be comfortable with the amenities we are accustomed.

Read more about our 70s House Eco Renovation here.