Posts from — July 2009

Sometimes trying to get people to believe that they need a home energy audit is a hard sell. Most folks aren’t fully convinced that an audit is worth the money or that if they follow through with what the auditor says to do that they’ll really save in the long run.

The truth is that for most people, particularly people in homes older than 10 years (and probably people in homes newer than 10 years old), an energy audit and subsequent weatherization will pay for itself in 2-3 years, and then will continue to cut the homeowner’s energy bills for years and years to come.

To demonstrate how this works, I’m using figures for the average house and average energy usage of said house in central North Carolina, according to the Department of Energy Home Energy Saver Calculator (description of average home is below). If your house doesn’t fit this profile, I suggest you go to that calculator and plug in your home’s data to see how it breaks down for you. Be sure to look up current energy costs for your home (refer to your energy bills for that information) as the energy costs listed on their website were mostly lower than the averages for this area when I did the calculations.

The average house in central NC (I plugged in zip codes from Siler City to Raleigh and got the same data, so I’m thinking they used housing data from Raleigh):

• Was built in 1972
• Has one level
• Has 3 occupants
• Is 1 story high
• Is about 1900 square feet
• Has a vented crawl, with no floor or foundation insulation, and an unconditioned attic with some insulation (R-11)
• And has air ducts in the crawlspace, which are insulated, but not sealed.
• Air temps are set from 64-68 degrees in winter (64 during day; 68 at night), and 78-81 in summer (78 night, 81 day).

I used the energy calculator’s basic data for the house and changed the energy prices to reflect energy costs for North Carolina from March-July, 2009. Depending on the type of energy used, I entered cost data that was 1-4 months old.

Here are the results:

• The average central NC house spends $2963/year in energy costs.
• Out of these yearly costs $1507 is used on heating, $332 on cooling. The rest of the energy is used in heating water ($350), running large appliances ($515), lighting ($127) and running small appliances ($132).

According to the calculator, however, if you upgrade your home to become more energy efficient, it’s possible to save $1262/year on energy costs. $900 of those costs are in heating and cooling alone. The rest of the money is in upgrading your water heater (an estimated savings of $190/year) and in changing out your large appliances and switching to CFLs (savings of $135/year).

For the purposes of discussing audits and weatherization, however, let’s focus on the things you can do to your home to save on heating and cooling costs. Below, I’ve listed weatherization tasks that will result in that $900/year savings, along with an estimate of how much they could cost. Bear in mind that although we’re basing this on this average central NC house, every house is going to be different. Every house will have different needs and costs, some more, some less. This is why the first thing you should do is get an energy audit, because it will pinpoint exactly what you’ll need to do to completely weatherize your house.

An estimate for weatherizing the average NC home:

• Energy audit: $350
• Seal ducts (this is for flexible ducts; many older homes have metal, segmented ducts which should probably be replaced): $200
• Seal attic: $300
• Insulate attic: $750
• Air seal crawl space: $300
• Total cost: $1900

At a savings of $900/year, in a little bit over 2 years this average homeowner’s energy audit and weatherization will have paid for itself – and that’s at today’s energy prices. Energy prices are forecasted to go up, so it’s likely that your energy efficient improvements will pay for themselves even quicker. Plus, after the 2 years are up you will continue to save money. Energy-saving improvements are a selling point for buyers, as well, so even if you’re not in your house for more than the 2 years you should see the payback in an easier sale of your home. And finally, if you’re a Progress Energy customer, you can get up to $705 back from them for doing all of these things! So your weatherization improvements will be paid off in a year and a half.

Could you use an extra $900/year? I know I sure could!

As I mentioned in my last post, several local utilities are offering rebates and other incentives for becoming more energy efficient. The very best program available to people living in central North Carolina is through Progress Energy. We’re hoping that Duke Energy will follow (right now they’re offering rebates for heat pumps and AC units, which is great if that’s what you need…), as well as the electric cooperatives (the owners of Home Performance NC are customers of Central Electric Cooperative, ourselves, and are NOT eligible for any rebates for energy efficiency upgrades at this time – boo!) but for now, if you have Progress Energy you are in LUCK. They are offering 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)

Home Performance NC can help you get your Progress Energy rebates because we are on their list of approved contractors. We’ve been to the training, we know how to do the test, and we can submit your information so you can get the cash. Here’s what we can do:

1. Super basic level: we can test your ducts for leakage. We’ll do this using the gold standard of duct testing: the Duct Blaster. If we do this for you, you will be eligible for the full rebate, which is half the testing price (1 unit: $60; 2 units: $90). This is very basic, however, and it’s our expert opinion that you’d be better off with:

2. A Full Energy Audit. This will include the duct testing and will qualify you for the full rebate from Progress Energy (see #1), but will also include a Blower Door Test accompanied by Infrared Camera imaging. This will show you and us ALL the spots in your home where you have air leaks…AND…

3. Will help you determine whether or not you have attic leaks and/or need attic insulation. Which, if you have us do that for you as part of our weatherization work, will qualify you for the attic insulation and leak sealing (which they’ll give you up to $375 in cash!! for doing. I say “up to” because I can’t tell you how much it will cost until we test for leaks and see what you need. It might cost less than this, or possibly may cost more. Each house is individual).

4. The Duct Blaster test (see #1) or the Full Energy Audit(#2) will also help you decide whether or not you need your ducts sealed. If you do, and you have us do it, you will get up to $240 back for having your ducts sealed (for 2 units). Again, I say “up to” because I don’t know how much work your particular ducts will need. Progress Energy is going to give you half of the total cost, and most people’s ducts can be completed for $240/unit.

All in all, this adds up to $705 back from Progress Energy, all for doing things that will save you WAY MORE THAN YOU”LL PAY FOR THIS in the long run. By sealing up your home’s ducts and making sure your attic is air-sealed and well insulated, you can save from 20% to 50% on your home’s energy bills, depending on how leaky your house was to begin with. Think about it. Spend now (and get up to $705 back)…save forever.

For more information on the rebate program contact Progress Energy: http://www.progress-energy.com/

For more information about our services, please see our main website: http://www.homeperformancenc.com, or e-mail Mark Bashista, our owner: mark@homeperformancenc.com. He can also be reached by phone at (919) 360-1570.

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