Category — eco-thrift

When my husband took the better part of a day to seal up all of the switchplates and electrical outlets in our home a year or so ago I thought he was nuts.

That can’t possibly make a difference, I said. How small are those holes, anyway?

Patiently my husband (a.k.a. a professional energy auditor) explained to me that while one unsealed electrical outlet might not make a difference…all of them together added up to a pretty good sized hole. A hole the size of a baseball.

If we had a hole this size in our house you’d want me to seal it up, wouldn’t you? he asked.

Uh, yeah. I would.

That little scenario aside, I want to tell you a really inexpensive (like under $25) way you can seal up a possibly baseball-sized hole (or maybe a golf ball, depending how many outlets and switchplates you have) in your house. It doesn’t even really take elbow grease. Just patience and a nice tube of caulk.

In the world of home performance and energy efficiency, we like to think of the living space of a home as being surrounded by a giant envelope. Anywhere this envelope is breached is a way for air (and therefore energy) to get in or out. Every single switchplate and electrical outlet is a breach of the envelope. Even though the actual leaks are probably small, they can add up to a big hole in your wall when put all together.

To seal up your switchplates and electrical outlets, buy inexpensive foam outlet and switch covers at the hardware store – enough for every outlet and switchplate in your home – and a couple of tubes of caulk. Remove the outlet and switchplace covers and run a thin bead of caulk where the box meets the drywall. Apply the foam cover on top and press the cover so it connects with the caulk. The foam cover by itself isn’t airtight; the foam cover and the caulk have completely sealed the outlet.

You can further seal the leaks by buying baby safety covers for the electrical outlets you don’t use to plug up the little holes that the outlet itself makes.

Or…if you don’t want to do this yourself, you can hire us to do it for you! Better yet, have an energy audit and see for yourself how leaky your outlets are. They probably won’t make the top of the list for the biggest bang for your time and money, but they’ll be on the list. I guarantee it!

Dear Mr. Energy,

I really want to make my home more energy efficient, but I have no money and no time. I can probably find a couple of hours this weekend and my budget is $50. Can I do anything that will make a difference in my home’s energy use with such a small amount of money?

–Busy but Broke

Dear Busy,

Good news! There’s plenty you can do to weatherize your home for $50 or less. Tiny steps add up to big changes over time. If you’ve read this column before you know that I think the very best first step for a homeowner to become more energy efficient is to have a comprehensive home energy audit to pinpoint exactly where you may be leaking energy, but since your current budget precludes an audit I can give you four different ways you can make that $50 and your free afternoon work for you.

Cheap fix #1: seal switchplates and electrical outlets. In the world of home performance and energy efficiency, we like to think of the living space of a home as being surrounded by a giant envelope. Anywhere this envelope is breached is a way for air (and therefore energy) to get in or out. Every single switchplate and electrical outlet is a breach of the envelope. Even though the actual leaks are probably small, they can add up to a big hole in your wall when put all together. To do this, buy inexpensive foam outlet and switch covers at the hardware store - enough for every outlet and switchplate in your home – and a couple of tubes of caulk. Remove the outlet and switchplace covers and run a thin bead of caulk where the box meets the drywall. Apply the foam cover on top and press the cover so it connects with the caulk. The foam cover by itself isn’t airtight; the foam cover and the caulk have completely sealed the outlet. You can further seal the leaks by buying baby safety covers for the electrical outlets you don’t use to plug up the little holes that the outlet itself makes.

Cheap fix #2: weatherstrip doors and windows. The size weatherstripping you’ll need will depend on the amount of air getting in or out (which you can determine by holding your hand up to the edge of the windows and doors on a windy day). Pay special attention to the bottoms of doors, as this is a place where previous weatherstripping may wear off more quickly than other places.

Cheap fix #3: seal up your escutcheon plates. Escutcheon plates are the metal or plastic round pipe coverings that are part of your plumbing. Anywhere pipes come out of the wall there is typically an escutcheon plate. Anywhere pipes come out of your wall, air can come in or out, too, so sealing these plates with a bit of caulk will prevent air, energy, and money seeping in or out of those holes.

Cheap fix #4: Using spray foam (you can buy cans of this at the hardware store), seal up anywhere your home’s plumbing enters the house in your crawlspace.

If you live in central North Carolina, you should be aware of several rebates, tax credits, and other incentives for becoming more energy efficient in your home. Here are but a few current (as of July 6, 2009) benefits for increased energy-awareness for homeowners.

This list is by no means exhaustive, and I welcome more information about ways homeowners can take advantage of financial incentives for becoming more energy-efficient. If you know of any programs – local, state, or federal, public or private, please contact me at adrienne@homeperformancenc.com.

1. The Home Energy Improvement Program / Progress Energy:

Cash rebates for:

• 50% off for air duct testing ($60 for 1st unit; up to $30 for additional units)
• 50% off for duct repair (up to $120/unit)
• Attic insulation/leak sealing ($375)
• High-efficiency heat pump ($300) and central AC ($300) or Geothermal Heat Pump ($300)
• HVAC maintenance ($45)
• Replacement windows ($30/window, up to $450)

For more information contact Progress Energy: http://www.progress-energy.com/

2. Piedmont Electric Membership Corporation
5% loan over 5 years for:

• Energy efficient electric heat pumps, doors and windows, or insulation
• Rebate for energy-efficient heat pump, $50/ton, up to 4 tons/system

For more information please see their website: http://www.pemc.org/conservation.php

3.Duke Energy Smart $aver
Rebates for purchase of:

• Air-source Heat Pumps: $200
• Air Conditioners: $200 (existing home)
• Geothermal Heat Pumps: $200 (existing home)

For more information please see their website: http://www.duke-energy.com/north-carolina/savings/smart-saver.asp
4. The Energy Efficient Mortgage Program – FHA EEM
EEM can be used to make energy efficient improvements if total cost is less than the total dollar value of the energy that will be saved during their useful life. Included in the EEM is $200 towards a HERS rating/energy audit
For more information see the HUD website: http://www.hud.gov/offices/hsg/sfh/eem/energy-r.cfm

5. The federal Residential Energy Efficiency Tax Credit:
Personal tax credit of %30 cost of:

• Water Heaters,
• Furnaces,
• Boilers,
• Heat pumps,
• Air conditioners (installation included),
• Building Insulation,
• Windows,
• Doors,
• Roofs,
• Circulating fans used in a qualifying furnace (installation not included),
• limited to $1500.

For more information see the IRS website: http://www.irs.gov

The eco-thrifty housewife in me loves that there is now a holiday all about getting rid of junk you don’t need by giving it to someone who might. I’ve been a long time lover of all things thrift, starting when I was 15 years old and sported pre-grunge styles best purchased at church rummage sales (not every teenager from the 80s had big hair and neon legwarmers; my crowd preferred plaid flannel, black trenchocoats and gas station attendant shirts, worn ironically, of course).

As a stay-at-home mom 10 years ago I discovered that the key to keeping my house somewhat tidy was to get rid of all the junk we didn’t need…and as a born and bred stingy person I’ve found that my local thrift shops are the best places to buy clothes for me and my family. In Chatham County, NC, where I live, we are lucky enough to have several brilliant second-hand and thrift shops operated by the PTA, Habitat for Humanity, and our local battered women’s shelter. If you go often enough and wait long enough you can literally find anything you need.

Naturally, National Curb Day has great appeal to me! Here’s how it works:

The first Curb Day will be on Saturday, May 16, 2009. On that day, or the night before, people are encouraged to take their valuable (but unwanted) items to their curbs. Because this is a weekend, it will not interfere with normal trash pickup. There will be treasures on neighborhood curbs all over the country. People will be out en masse picking up these free items. Kind of like Halloween!

I live in a fairly rural area and while there’s trash pick-up and curbs in the closest town (of 2500), there’s none on my road nor on the roads of the majority of people in our county. Some people pay for a trash removal service to come around and get their garbage, but my lovely husband takes our trash to the dump. So for me (and probably tons of other people around the country) Curb Day will have to be modified.

Here are some ideas for Curb Day for those of us who don’t have curbs:

• take your unwanted items to a central location as a freecycle event. No trading allowed – simply put it on display as ‘free for the taking.’ This would take some organization, but I can’t see why it couldn’t be done for next year’s Curb Day. (Note to self: in your free time organize this!)
•  take your unwanteds to your local thrift shop. The items won’t be free once they enter the shop, but it’s better than throwing them into the trash
•  investigate what your community has in place for unwanted(but still decent) items. Our dump/recycling center has a swap shop area, where people can leave items that are in decent shape. I have a friend who finds tons of clothes at the swap shop – no lie! If you always get your trash picked up, either by the town or by a service, you might not realize that something like this exists.

I think this is a brilliant idea and I hope it catches on. A big thanks to Mike Morone, the guy who invented it! We are of like minds, you and I.