Well, not me, but MassSave will. If you’ve got a second fridge in the basement (do people keep them anywhere other than the basement?) that is doing nothing but wasting energy, they will not only PICK UP your fridge for FREE but they’ll give you $50 for the trouble.
Hype aside, second refrigerators really can suck up $100 in energy costs for doing little more than keeping that crummy six-pack of Bud Light your ex-friend brought to the party last year. Get rid of all three (the fridge, the Bud Light and the ex-friend) but get $50 for the fridge. Why not?
There have been severalarticlesrecently about thermal images that will be taken of some Arlington/Lexington homes.
Neither Arlington HEET or Sustainable Arlington is affiliated with the program, we don’t get any money from it, and we won’t be able to see any individual images (unless you’d like to share an image of your home with us) but we are supporting it as a great way to show people just how leaky their home is.
What a thermal image of a home looks like.
As frequently as we do audits, and as much as we try to explain heat loss, it is often a difficult concept for people to understand. With good reason – even with a blower door running and a smoke-stick showing just how much air is leaking, it can be hard for the mind to translate that into “I’m losing a lot of money from these leaks and/or lack of insulation.”
There is something about that visual image – the exterior of a home which, in the dead of winter, is bright red from escaping heat, that really helps people understand the value of insulation/air sealing.
Sagewell, the company taking the images, has been driving the streets of Arlington and Lexington late at night, in a fuel efficient vehicle, taking thermal images of homes. They’re now in the process of analyzing the images to highlight the estimated value of weatherizing and/or insulating the homes.
The images will be online in the next few weeks for homeowners, and only the owners, to view. Sagewell has instituted certain privacy restrictions to ensure this. Arlington HEET will not have access to the images, though we’re happy to talk to you about your images if you have additional questions.
With the cold weather (finally) abating, the chances that more images can be taken is slim. There needs to be a temperature differential between the inside of the home and exterior air for the images to be valuable.
However, owners who want to request that their homes be included in the study can send an email to priority@sagewell.com. Sagewell says they cannot guarantee that a particular home will be included in the study. Alternatively, owners can “opt-out†of the study by sending an email to optout@sagewell.com or by calling 1-888-586-1726. The image will then be permanently deleted from their systems.
A note on privacy concerns:
Most of us are probably familiar with thermal or infra-red imaging from grade B military or sci-fi thriller movies. We see thermal images of people, or creatures, moving around in the night. Some people might legitimately be concerned about whether these thermal images might show people inside their home through walls or behind windows.
The simple answer is no, the images cannot do that.
The thermal camera takes an energy reading of the first surface it sees, whether that is a row of bushes, a deck railing, a wall or a pane of glass. It cannot “see” through walls, windows or anything else.
If you happen to have your face pressed up against a window at the precise moment the thermal imaging vehicle is driving past (typically between midnight and 6 am) then the thermal image would “see” and register the temperature of your face, but not your neck or anything else behind the glass.
20+ people swarmed over the home and did an amazing job while having a great time. Some people seemed to find their calling sealing the hole around the chimney in the attic, others set windows tight, and others seemed to discover a new hobby in using mortar. It was an amazing crew. Thank you.
Before I get to the good news about how much air infiltration you stopped, I should point out that due to ongoing renovation in the home AT LEAST ¼ of the holes in the home could not be sealed.
That out of the way, we went from 3345 cfm air flow down to 2645 cfm (after calculating for temperature) – a 21% drop! That translates to at least $123 in fuel savings/year*, $1230 over the next ten years, and will allow them to feel far more comfortable – no more drafty windows while sitting on the couch, cold air coming through the attic door, etc.
To that point the homeowners told me today “It was a great experience and we loved meeting the group. We woke up to a MUCH less drafty house this morning!â€
It also means a reduction of 783 lbs. of CO2 per year.
Thank you all again for making yesterday such a success!
An aside: If you ever have suggestions what we should do differently, things we aren’t doing but should, things we shouldn’t do but are, or anything else we hope you’ll let us know – we’re always trying to improve the experience for all.
* – For the math inclined, each 100 cfm drop equals approximately 7 therms of saved fuel.
700 cfm/100=7. Therefore 7 x7=49 therms saved.
One gallon of oil equals 1.38 therms.49 therms/1.38 = 35.5 gallons of oil saved.
35.5 X $3.486 (avg. cost of oil in our area) = $123
If you are a member of the Union of Concerned Scientists you may have received your most recent Earthwise newsletter in the last few days.
Front page, to the right, you’ll see a nice piece about a recent A-HEET event. You can find the article online here.
After you read it remember to sign up for this Saturday’s event! Saturday, Feb. 26, 9 am until 1 pm in Arlington Heights. RSVP by emailing ArlHEET@gmail.com
If you’ve ever met me you’ve likely seen my coffee mug. If you’ve been to an A-HEET event you’ve likely seen me use that coffee mug as an example of insulation vs. weatherization.
Bathroom fans are great. They rid the home of excess moisture and allow you to see your face when trying to shave afterward, as long as they’re set up properly.
The down side is that when first installed, a hole is cut in the ceiling somewhat larger than the unit itself. Sometimes it is significantly larger, sometimes just a bit. That gap between the unit and the drywall allows conditioned air to escape whether the fan is blowing or not. That means warm air in the winter and cold air in the summer is leaving even if you finished your shower hours ago.
This is one of the easiest fixes around the house and it takes about ten minutes, including set-up and break-down.
1. Turn off the fan and the light within the unit (if it has one.)
2. Remove the light cover and light bulb.
3. Pull down the fixture cover (plastic piece that sits on the drywall.) In most cases you’ll now see that the cover is held in place with two metal spring clamps. You can leave it as is for now or make your life easier by pinching the clamp to remove it from the metal housing. (Tip: See where the clips attach BEFORE removing them.)
4. Now the fun part – see that gap all around the metal housing? Use an appropriate tape such as an aluminum tape or FlexFix to cover that hole. (See note about tapes below.)
5. As long as you have a CFL in that fixture you can also cover all the many holes inside the housing with FlexFix or similar tape. IF YOU HAVE A HEAT LAMP OR USE INCANDESCENT BULBS do NOT use FlexFix which will melt – use aluminum tape instead. As a rule we now recommend using aluminum tape.
Similar to a dryer exhaust, bath fans should vent outside. Venting a bath fan into an open attic is a recipe for rot, mold and other issues.
One great, and inexpensive, addition is a simple timer switch. Before entering the shower set the timer switch for about ten or 15 minutes longer than you’ll be in the shower. Now you don’t have to remember to shut the fan off – it will do its job.
There are nifty humidity sensing bath fans but if you don’t want the hassle or expense of a new fan, this switch is fast and inexpensive (just make sure you hire a competent electrician to do it.)
Well, not me, but MassSave will. If you’ve got a second fridge in the basement (do people keep them anywhere other than the basement?) that is doing nothing but wasting energy, they will not only PICK UP your fridge for FREE but they’ll give you $50 for the trouble.
