Category — Cash for Caulkers/HomeStar

Dear Mr. Energy,

What’s this I hear about Cash for Caulkers?  I know you’re probably excited about it, because it will mean business for you, but what does it do for me? Seems like the government is just throwing money down the drain.

–Disgruntled in Durham

Dear Disgruntled,

My, my, sounds like someone has low blood sugar. No need to be so upset! Cash for Caulkers, or Home Star, or HR 5019, or S 3177, will be very beneficial to consumers, if it passes. While it will definitely benefit companies like Mr. Energy’s – after all, we conduct energy audits and are a full service weatherization company, which is exactly the kind of business that will be able to add employees and expand once the program hits — it equally benefits everyone who pays an energy bill .

Basically, Cash for Caulkers is designed to stimulate consumer demand for exactly what Mr. Energy is always telling you about: energy audits and weatherization. It will do this by offering direct rebates to consumers for qualifying home improvements. There will be two types of incentive: a “silver star” program, where consumers get rebates for things like air sealing, insulation, duct sealing or replacement, insulation, energy efficient appliances and windows, and a “gold star” level, which is a plan more tailored to individual houses, and includes a comprehensive energy audit that lays out a plan of action. People who achieve “gold star” are going for overall increased energy efficiency, and the financial incentives are greater as long as the homeowner increases his/her home’s energy efficiency by up to 20%, with additional incentives for greater increase.

Here’s why this is fantastic news for consumers: Mr. Energy has already told you how an energy audit and subsequent weatherization pays for itself in just a few years. This will make it pay for itself much quicker! A super-fast return on your investment.

 As for the government, Mr. Energy makes it a policy to stay out politics, at least publicly. It is not his job to run the country, thank goodness! Bottom line: Mr. Energy thinks this is a worthwhile piece of legislation. He will be able to hire more workers  and help everyone in the greater Triangle area save energy and money. And you, sir , can be one of them.

Here’s a super-simplified made-for-CNN version of how Cash for Caulkers will work, if/when/once it’s passed into law (sorry, commercial first…then video):

What I like about the video is the end, where the homeowners say that they’ve calculated their payback and it’ll be sooner rather than later. This is a very important point to make – yes, you have to spend money to get an audit and weatherize your home – but you will get paid back by saving energy and money over time. Not next week. Not next month. In  most cases, not even next year. But two years out? Possibly. Three years? Definitely.

What our weatherization crew chief likes best about the video is the crawl space the company in the clip is working on. It’s rare that he hangs out in crawl spaces here in central North Carolina that are that high! Maybe it’s because many of the houses we work on are older…but he’s a little envious of a crawl space in which those workers are standing upright.

I’ve written a bit about Cash for Caulkers, or the HomeStar program before, and am waiting to write much more before it’s voted on in Congress. Suffice it to say that when HomeStar hits, Home Performance NC is well prepared to help you make your home more energy efficient. We are BPI Analysts, RESNET-HERs raters, and a full-service weatherization company, and as such can help you achieve the silver star /prescriptive path or the gold star/performance path – whichever you choose to pursue.  At Home Performance NC we believe  know that an energy audit and subsequent weatherization will pay for itself – many times over the period of only a couple years. Home Star will help this payback happen much faster, which is always a very good thing.

The Home Star Coalition has an excellent fact sheet outlining the proposed HomeStar bill, if you want all the details.

Dear Mr. Energy,

I need to replace my old, inefficient hot water heater. What should I get to save the most energy (and therefore the most money)?

–Morrisville Mama

Dear Mama

You’ve said that your goal is twofold: to save the most energy over the long haul, as well as to save the most money. In a perfect world the answer to this question would be the same. But alas (Mr. Energy has always wanted to say alas!), we are not living in a perfect world.

First, the type of hot water heater that is most energy efficient to run is a solar hot water heater.

This is also the most expensive type of hot water heater to install. According to American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy, the overall cost of this type of heater over a 13-year period (which is the average lifetime of all hot water heaters) is about $7000.

The type of hot water heater that’s least expensive to install is the conventional electric storage model, but this is the most expensive to run, even if it’s an energy efficient model. Its 13-year lifetime costs are about $6500.

An on-demand hot water heater, which is what Mr. Energy has in his home, is on the lower end in terms of energy costs per year, but not the lowest. It’s about half-way between solar and conventional storage models. But at a lower cost to install it is a pretty good option for many people, with its 13-year cost at $5000, and if you curb your hot water usage by using cold water in your wash, for example, you can come in well under the yearly costs that the ‘average’ family generates.

Finally, the overall cheapest system to install and run is an electric heat pump water heater. This is a relatively new type of hot water heater and it works much the same as the electric heat pumps people use for their homes. It costs about double to install one of these over a conventional gas or electric storage model, but uses only a touch more energy a year than a solar hot water heater (an estimated $190/year). According to industry models, this type of heater will cost a homeowner only a little over $4000 in the 13 years it will last.

With the possibility of HomeStar/Cash for Caulkers looming on the horizon, which will extend and increase rebates on replacement of hot water heaters if it passes, plus any rebates your electric or gas companies may be offering, the installation costs of many of these items may be cut significantly, which is nothing to sneeze at.

Dear Mr. Energy,

What will give me the best return on my money: replacing my single-pane windows with double-pane low-e windows, replacing my traditional hot water heater with a solar hot water heater, or sealing my attic and adding more insulation?

–Perplexed in Pittsboro

Dear Perplexed,

Mr. Energy loves a no-brainer. For, neighbor friend, this is one of the easiest questions he’s had in a long time. Of these three possible home improvements the answer is obvious: seal your attic and add insulation. The reason it’s so obvious is in the math – sealing your attic and adding insulation is the cheapest fix of these three (even if you add in the cost of a home energy audit to help you pinpoint your air leaks) and will garner you the most in energy savings over time. The return on your investment is high.

The other two options will absolutely save you money and energy in the long run, but they cost a lot more, which means a much longer pay-off. We’re talking decades (even with tax credits and energy company rebates) as opposed to just a year or two for the attic sealing and insulation combo.

Your question has allowed me to get on my soapbox. Please indulge me for a moment. Here it is: companies that install windows or solar hot water heaters have done a marvelous job convincing the public that the best things homeowners can do is to buy their products. Marvelous.

It is absolutely true that new windows are more energy-efficient than old, and solar hot water heaters do save money when compared to the costs of heating water using traditional hot water heaters. But – dear readers – do not believe any company that promises a pay-off in a few short years for these two items. Do the math yourself. Base it on your own energy bills, energy use, and actual cost of installation.  Once you do this you’ll realize that if your goal is to save the most energy for the least cost, there are more immediate and cost-effective solutions.

Dear Mr. Energy,

Does buying Energy Star really save that much money? I’m wondering how cost-effective it is to spend $1000+ on a new washer or refrigerator to replace perfectly functional existing appliances.

–Cheap in Chapel Hill

Dear Cheap,

Mr. Energy completely understands where you’re coming from and in fact, he has mixed feelings on the matter. On the one hand, Energy Star appliances are much more energy efficient than older appliances, particularly those from the 1980s or before.  Appliances more than 20 years old should definitely be replaced and you will recoup your investment over the lifetime of the new item. If you have a newer fridge or washer that’s not Energy Star, however, replacing these is a bit less clear cut when it comes to cost-benefit. Energy Star replacement will save between $100 and $200 on energy costs for the lifetime of a refrigerator and more than double that for a washing machine. 

So the return on investment is not 100%, but the operating costs are less. Still a draw, in Mr. Energy’s opinion…until you factor in this hidden benefit of replacing old appliances, specifically your washer.

Here’s the deal: when thinking about replacing your washer you need to factor in the fact that Energy Star washers use less water. This isn’t a factor that contributes to a washer’s Energy Star rating, but it definitely impacts energy use. Not only do Energy Star washers use less water, but they are more efficient at removing water at the end of the wash cycle. This means that your dryer won’t have to work as hard. A dryer that works less hard = less energy used by the dryer. Plus, every time your dryer runs it vents to the outside, and believe it or not, this venting draws air into your home through gaps and cracks – air that either needs to be heated or cooled depending on the season.  

So – bottom line: Mr. Energy thinks it’s a good idea to replace your washer. He is neutral on replacing your fridge if it’s 10 years old or less. Older than 10 years? Replace. 

Question for you: What zip codes do you serve?

That’s an excellent question! And yes, in case you’re wondering, this is a shameless attempt to work some SEO magic for our blog + website.

Home Performance NC does energy audits, energy ratings, green ratings, and weatherization in the greater Triangle NC area. Once Cash for Caulkers/ HomeStar hits, we bring the experience, quality, professionalism and knowledge you will need to get your rebate checks! If you’ve stumbled onto this post wondering about our services, please click on the links to the right and feel free to contact us at 919-360-1570 with any questions you might have. 

This means we serve these towns:

Raleigh, Cary, Apex, Holly Springs, Wake Forest, Morrisville, Durham, Chapel Hill, Carrboro, Hillsborough, Pittsboro, Sanford, Siler City, Burner,  Garner, Alamance, Bynum, Saxapahaw, and Moncure. We will also go to Southern Pines, Pinehurst, Greensboro, Graham, Burlington, and Knightdale. We’ve done audits in Rougemont and Lexington, too! We’ll actually go pretty much anywhere in the state of North Carolina as long as we don’t need to take a boat to get there. 

The basic zip codes we service are: 27601, 27602, 27603, 27604, 27605, 27606, 27607, 27608, 27609, 27610, 27611, 27612, 27613, 27614, 27615, 27616, 27619, 27620, 27621, 27622, 27623, 27624, 27625, 27626, 27627, 27628, 27629, 27634, 27635, 27636, 27640, 27650, 27656, 27658, 27661, 27668, 27675, 27676, 27690, 27695, 27697, 27698, 27699.

(breathe)

27701, 27702, 27703, 27704, 27705, 27706, 27707, 27708, 27709, 27710, 27711, 27712, 27713, 27715, 27717, 27722, 27514, 27515, 27516, 27599, 27312, 27559, 27510, 27278, 27511, 27512, 27513, 27518, 27519, 27502, 27560, 27529, 27203, 27231.

I’m sure I’m forgetting a zip code here and there, but hopefully you get the picture.

I wish I could tell you that Cash for Caulkers was going to be retroactive from the beginning of this year, or even last year. I wish that the plan was a little further along in the process and we knew more details. This would help homeowners make decisions about what they can do now, and it would help us here at Home Performance NC know the best move to make to help out people living in central NC. We are hoping that it will be a retroactive plan, at least to the beginning of this year. Several blog posts on various energy efficiency/”green” blogs have suggested as much. 

In any case, if it *is* going to be retroactive from the beginning of the year then I suggest that anyone who wants part of the action contact a BPI analyst for an energy audit appointment as soon as you can. We’ve heard through the BPI newsletter that BPI professionals will be the ones performing “quality assurance testing,” which only makes sense to us. This means a complete, professional energy audit, including test in, to determine the problems in your home, then a test-out, to determine whether the work that was done will yield result.

We predict that energy auditors are going to become pretty busy in the next couple of months. This is great news for us, but for you – the homeowner – it means you’ll need to plan ahead. We don’t know how long Cash for Caulkers will go on, but people will need to plan several months ahead in order to get the audit and the work done, especially in a competitive environment. 

If you’re interested in an energy audit by a BPI analyst, please contact us at Home Performance NC. Mark, our lead auditor, is BPI certified, and has a bunch of other certifications and verifications to his name – in other words, he’s thoroughly qualified to do an audit on your home. He is happy to travel anywhere in central NC to do an audit – we’re located in Pittsboro, but he’s traveled to Lexington, Rougemont, Greensboro, North Raleigh – anywhere within a couple of hours of our home in central North Carolina – to do an audit. He’d also consider traveling further if he was doing more than one audit over a period of several days. E-mail: mark@homeperformancenc.com ; phone: 919 360-1570.

Here is the link to the fact sheet presented by the White House on Cash for Caulkers. Finally!

We’ve been waiting for this for a while. We are still interested to find out exactly how this will all go down, but the basics of the program (cut and pasted directly from the fact sheet) seem pretty good:

Rebates delivered directly to consumers: Like the Cash for Clunkers program, consumers would be eligible for direct HOMESTAR rebates at the point of sale for a variety of energy-saving investments in their homes. A broad array of vendors, from small independent building material dealers, large national home improvement chains, energy efficiency installation professionals and utility energy efficiency programs (including rural utilities) would market the rebates, provide them directly to consumers and then be reimbursed by the federal government.

$1,000 – $1,500 Silver Star Rebates: Consumers looking to have simple upgrades performed in their homes would be eligible for 50% rebates up to $1,000 – $1,500 for doing any of a straightforward set of upgrades, including: insulation, duct sealing, water heaters, HVAC units, windows, roofing and doors. Under Silver Star, consumers can chose a combination of upgrades for rebates up to a maximum of $3,000 per home. Rebates would be limited to the most energy efficient categories of upgrades—focusing on products made primarily in the United States and installed by certified contractors.

$3000 Gold Star Rebates: Consumers interested in more comprehensive energy retrofits would be eligible for a $3,000 rebate for a whole home energy audit and subsequent retrofit tailored to achieve a 20% energy savings in their homes. Consumers could receive additional rebate amounts for energy savings in excess of 20%. Gold Star would build on existing whole home retrofit programs, like EPA’s successful Home Performance with Energy Star program.

Oversight to Ensure Quality Installations: The program would require that contractors be certified to perform efficiency installations. Independent quality assurance providers would conduct field audits after work is completed to ensure proper installation so consumers receive energy savings from their upgrades. States would oversee the implementation of quality assurance to ensure that the program was moving the industry toward more robust standards and comprehensive energy retrofit practices.

Support for financing: The program would include support to State and local governments to provide financing options for consumers seeking to make efficiency investments in their homes. This will help ensure that consumers can afford to make these investments.

It’ll be interesting to see what’s required of already certified, licensed BPI analysts and HERs Raters. Hopefully not much more than what they’ve already done. A national standard exists – there’s no need to reinvent the wheel.
No matter what you think about Obama, the stimulus program, or government spending, there’s no doubt that this program has massive potential for companies like ours. If this goes into effect anytime in the next couple of months by the years’ end we could see tripling or quadrupling our workforce, for sure. Good for us and good for potential employees. Especially good for homeowners who want to make long-term changes in their homes’ energy efficiency!

Minnesota Power is responsible for this wonderful graphic that prioritizes how homeowners can achieve energy efficiency:

I like how the arrow on the left has the equation: complexity/investment. Return on investment is exactly what we have been preaching all along. What can a homeowner do that does the most good for the least amount of money? This is what the graph says are the top 4 things you can do as a homeowner (of a preexisting home) that will get you the MOST bang for your BUCK:

#1 In-home energy audit.  This helps the homeowner understand what is going on. Hey! This is what we do here at Home Performance NC!

#2 Rid yourself of energy vampires and change habits.

#3 Look at easy, cheap fixes like switching out bulbs and getting rid of inefficient fixtures

#4 Air sealing. This is the primary thing that we suggest once we complete an audit. Please read my ode to caulk here as well as an entire category of blog posts on the necessity of duct sealing. And  A couple of blog entries back I thought of a good analogy as to why adding more insulation to an unsealed attic is stupid: it’s like adding more water to a cup filled with holes. It won’t make a bit of difference until you plug up the holes.

I’ll let you read the rest of the suggestions by yourself, because you can clearly see that the items at the top are those that cost the most for the consumer (like replacing your windows, your HVAC system, and installing solar panels, for example – none of which are bad things to do, mind you) but which clearly give the least return.

Interesting, no?

Here’s a nice little article/blog entry about how homeowners can prepare themselves for Cash for Caulkers/HomeStar should it go into effect.

Number one on the list of suggestions? Get an energy audit by an “accredited buildings professional.” Nice!