May 21, 2008 9:41 pm US/Mountain
Save Green By Going Green At Home
Good Question: How Can I Get The Most Bang For My Buck?
DENVER (CBS4) ―
A husband and wife talk about their desire to cut their emissions and get a little greener.
"I mean we know it will effect us in the long run, it's just shelling out the money in the beginning, it gets a little difficult."
"It's not easy being green," says another woman.
They are homeowners faced with tough choices.
The average family on the Front Range pays a $1,600 to $1,700 utility bill over each year and can often cut that by 40 percent with some intelligent changes says the Colorado Energy Science Center.
Matt Thornberry says the average cost of a small solar system might be $8,000 to $10,000. That's even with tax breaks and they're hard to find right now. It might be more than a decade before that pays for itself.
For people planning on owning their home long term, it might make sense, but the first thing they'll want to do is cut energy use.
"It's like having your broccoli before having your dessert," says Paul Kriescher of Lightly Treading, a company that does home energy audits.
"Solar is great," he says, "But it should be done after you do the other things."
He finds the ways people waste energy at home. Kriescher uses a blower set up in an outside doorway to suck air out of the house. When the pressure is lowered, air is drawn in from cracks and crevices. He tracks them with a smoke stick.
Windows, doors, heating air ducts, bathroom fans, light switches, all of them can bleed air into, or out of, a house. The home CBS4 looked at in Boulder was only 12 years old and looked pretty tight. But Kriescher found the fan could blow 4,500 cubic feet of air a minute out the door and that air had to come from somewhere.
Homeowners might spot a few, but the experts can detect far more. Look for the spider webs.
"Spiders are always telling for us. Wherever we find spiders, there is almost assuredly an air leak," says Kriescher. "Their bodies know how air moves through a building and bugs will come in and out through openings, where there are leaks so that's where they set themselves."
Many homes need to go deeper with attic insulation. Older homes might have none in the walls. While those moves can cost hundreds, even thousands, think about it.
People who reduce their energy use a great deal might find it will be far more cost effective than solar or wind.
"I think it should be taken in a procedural or logical step that you start by doing the things that are really basic that are really important to reduce your energy consumption and then go for the solar after that."
Wind power is good for some, but not all.
"Wind, usually is only going to apply to people living east of the Front Range or on the Western Slope away from the mountains. You need to be up above tree lines and up above areas where the wind gets disturbed to have it work real well."
Kriescher says most wind turbines work best with winds between about 8 and 20 mph.
Solar hot water heaters can pay off faster since the up front cost is lower than photo-voltaic. But remember, consumers might save a lot by changing their shower head first.
The Governor's energy office agrees - the best way to go green is to start at home by simply cutting demand.
Additional Resources:Here is Lightly Treading's top ten energy saving ideas and a link to their Web page explaining them:
1. Capture the Sun
2. Window Coverings that Insulate
3. Attic Insulation
4. Wall Insulation
5. Weatherstrip & Caulk
6. Use Compact Florescent Bulbs (CFLs)
7. Use a Programmable Thermostat, Change your Furnace Filter and have a Furnace Tune up
8. Insulate your water heater and pipes
9. Low Flow water fixtures
10. Energy Audit or Rating
(See the list with details at
lightlytreading.com)
Environment Colorado
(© MMIX CBS Television Stations, Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)
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