Conservation Pros, Asheville and all of Western North Carolina

Our Most Popular How-To Video

8,800 views of "The Best Way to Weatherstrip a Door".

Turns out, there are a lot of leaky doors out there…

Watch on YouTube

Maybe Insulation Isn’t So Sexy After All

I wrote a post in August of 2010, with the title “Is HomeStar DEAD? Quite Possibly”. Since then, it's been one of the most popular posts on my site. (Maybe that's because it's #2 on the Google page for that search term… link)

Now we're halfway into 2011 and nothing has changed. It appears that, yes, HomeStar is long dead, with no chance of recovery. If you'll recall, at the time Harry Reid was preparing to bring it to the Senate floor, even with a majority in both houses of Congress, there were only thirty three senators who had committed to signing the HomeStar bill. The likelihood of it resurfacing, in this deadlocked administration, is paltry at best.

Heck, when's the last time you heard Obama say "Insulation is Sexy"?

I've got to say, I find that phenomenally disappointing. I'm all for solar and other alternative sources of energy. BUT, energy efficiency is the key to reducing energy consumption in the US and the rest of the world.

What's the point of installing a $40K photo-voltaic solar array on a home that wastes 30% of its energy?  The thing that's needed is for the players in national politics to get behind a comprehensive incentive package for residential energy efficiency that's equal to, or even better than, those for solar and other renewables.

There are still quite a few optimists out there. And God love 'em for it. We need unbridled optimism in order to swing the balance away from cynics like me. But if you're counting on the Fed to provide incentives for energy efficiency, home energy retrofits, and general reduction in the power demands of residential housing, you might be waiting a loooong time.   

Cash for Caulkers?  How about "Clunker for Caulkers"?

NYT article says historic homes are already green

It's originally from an article in the UK and is directed, exclusively, at sidewall insulation as you don't calculate u-values for floors and ceilings. I agree with the sentiment, as does Joe Lstiburek, the modern Moses of building science. That's why, at Conservation Pros, we spend an inordinate amount of time talking people out of filling their existing wall cavities with insulation.

That, and, we don't have a lot of walls in the US made of timber, cob, limestone, slate, or granite.

At any rate, it's an interesting read.  The rest of the article is here:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/earthnews/8395482/Historic-homes-are-already-green-say-experts.html?sms_ss=facebook&at_xt=4d8bbadefbe818b0%2C0

Mold and Allergy Season is Upon Us, Asheville!

Here we go again, Asheville, it's allergy season in the mountains of Western North Carolina!  Somehow, the "healing air" of the Southern Appalachians seems to have turned on many of us.

Not only is it allergy season, but it's time for the molds and fungi to start popping up in our crawl spaces.  If you have a sealed crawl space, you don't have much to worry about.  If, like most of us, you're still over a skanky old dirt crawl space, you might need to think about what it could be doing to your health.  

Mold is a massive problem in Asheville and much of it can be traced to moisture in our crawl spaces.  There are three things mold needs to survive and thrive, the right temperature, the right level of humidity and, of course, food.  The temperature in your crawl space is perfect for molds, the humidity is spiking as you read this, and the food is the very thing your home is made of; wood.

If you have mold in your crawl space, it's not going away without some major effort on your part.  Since you can't very well get rid of the food, and controlling temperature in your crawl can be a pricey proposition, you need to address the humidity.  One way or another, you need to keep that level in check, below 60%, ideally around 50%.

With a traditional, vented crawl space, that can be difficult, but it's not impossible.  First, you need to be sure your vapor barrier is intact and complete.  Next, you need some sort of dehumidification.  Ideally, you'd use a ducted de-humidifier because the stand-alone type tend to dehumidify the air around themselves and not touch the stuff back in the corners.

You should also use a separate humidity meter, known as a hygrometer.  The ones in the dehumidification units tend to be unreliable.  They can be had for a few dollars in any number of places.  

Better still is to have your crawl space completely sealed, encapsulated and unvented.  The North Carolina building code has recently been changed to include this option, as have the Asheville City and Buncombe County codes.

If you're unsure about the humidity in your crawlspace, go ahead and get yourself one of those hygrometers and check it regularly.  If you have humidity above 60% in your crawl in the Asheville area, you can bet there'll be mold as well.

To learn more about sealed crawlspaces in Asheville, click here:  sealed-crawlspaces

Survey Probes Americans’ Incorrect Opinions on Energy Efficiency

Quick – what’s the most effective for you to save energy? If you’re like many Americans, you’d say turn out the lights or turn up the AC’s thermostat. And, like many Americans, you’d miss the mark.

What you can do

Massachusetts man decides efficiency is better investment than solar

 By Patrick Cassidy

SOUTH DENNIS — Michael Slattery’s home looks perfect for solar panels.

"I’ve got this huge roof," he said during a recent interview at his Cape-style home on Asack Drive. "South is right there."

An engineer by trade, he decided to bypass an expensive photovoltaic system and attacked the many small ways his family could reduce its energy use. Three years later they are saving more than $900 annually on electricity and natural gas bills.The home’s south-facing shingles get plenty of sun, but after Slattery took a renewable energy class his perspective changed on whether solar was the right move.

Slattery is among a growing number of homeowners and businesspeople who are taking advantage of incentives, courses and other opportunities in energy efficiency.

Cape Cod Community College has seen enrollment quadruple in its renewable energy and energy conservation classes in the past six years, said college spokesman Michael Gross.

Seventeen students participated in one such class offered by the college in 2004. This year 71 students took six different classes and in many cases are taking more than one class in the field.

Slattery learned to start with an energy audit to learn the best ways to save on energy bills at his house. After the audit, offered by the Cape Light Compact, the family first replaced traditional light bulbs with more energy efficient compact fluorescent light or CLF bulbs.

The audits, bulbs and other incentives are paid for through a charge on all ratepayer bills.

Slattery analyzed how much he would save by using a CFL bulb. By replacing three bulbs in an exterior candelabra-style light fixture with one CFL he is saving $26 a year. With the $42 cost of the new lamp and bulb his return on his investment was a little over a year and a half, he said.

He also discovered that heat was escaping his home through a poorly insulated crawl space. By sealing up the area, having an extra 10 inches of insulation blown into the attic and sealing small areas around electrical wiring in the home’s walls, Slattery cut off the flow of heat, and his money, going through the roof.

The cost: $2,000. But after rebates from the Compact and Mass Save, an organization sponsored by utilities and the state that provides incentives, training and other information on ways to reduce energy use, the total out—of—pocket expense was $500, he said.

By installing programmable thermostats and upgrading to Energy Star air conditioners, dehumidifiers and dishwasher, Slattery reduced his bills even further, he said.

Other measures cost even less. Slattery used plastic and insulation in a sun room to cover large skylights and other windows. He hid the plastic on the sky lights with colorful tapestries. He also bought smart power strips that automatically turn off plugs when a primary device is powered down.

Nothing has really changed for the family, said his daughter, Jaci, who wore a tie-dyed T-shirt a bit more colorful than her father’s tapestries.

"Honestly my dad just does all the work," she said.

And, while his wife — a math teacher — questioned Slattery’s actions at times, when she saw charts tracking their savings she was impressed, he said.

"It sunk in really quickly," he said.

Now he is sharing his experience with family members and friends. Several have already had energy audits done, he said.

His advice: Make a plan and take it one step at a time. "I think a lot of people are intimidated to get started," he said.

Through the host of rebates and the resulting reduction in demand, careful utility customers are becoming a small but growing part of the energy supply, Compact energy efficiency program manager Kevin Galligan said. By reducing demand for electricity the amount of total energy available can serve more customers.

It also means that investments in new transmission infrastructure can be deferred, Galligan said.

The Compact plans to issue a request for proposals soon for the second phase of a successful pilot program that will give homeowners even more control over their energy use by monitoring it via computer, he said.

A slew of other grants are available for energy retrofits and upgrades, including for agricultural projects, he said.

There is also a large queue of commercial and industrial projects seeking advice on energy improvements, he said.

"We may be an early indicator of economic recovery," Galligan said of the interest in energy efficiency projects.

Is Minnesota Power shooting itself in the foot?

Historically, advances in household energy efficiency have come from colder climates.  No surprise, since homeowners in snowy, frigid places spend way more on heating than their more southerly counterparts.  I mean, what we call affectionately the "blower door", is more appropriately called the "Minneapolis Blower Door" (Retrotec fans, don’t come after me, we still say Kleenex, too!)

Consider this…  Minnesota Power has put together a website that does nothing more than educate their own customers about how to buy less of what they’re selling!

This ain’t no Greenwashing, folks.  This is where residential energy efficiency comes from.  (In the US, that is.  In North America, we owe much of what we know to Canada. Those Loons!)

What on Earth would possess a utility to encourage people to reduce their own bottom line?  How about good stewardship of the resources we’ve been "loaned"?  

Man, I tell ya, that’s just crazy talk.

Even if you’re not in Minnesota, you can still benefit from this site. Pay particular attention to the "Pyramid of Conservation".  Very cool. http://www.mnpower.com/powerofone/one_home/index.htm

Is Home Star DEAD? Quite possibly.

In what’s being described as a "punt" in the national press, the Spill Bill has been pulled from the floor of the Senate.  And, with it, Home Star.

From Politico.com:

Senate Democrats on Tuesday punted their oil spill response bill to next month, but the extra time doesn’t guarantee the measure will pass — far from it.

The delay virtually ensures that strategists from both parties will use the congressional recess to hone their plans, talking points and poison-pill amendments for any floor debate, all with an eye toward the midterm elections.

Majority Leader Harry Reid’s decision to pull the plug on offshore drilling is the latest blow to Democratic efforts to move energy legislation, beginning with the deaths of a sweeping climate change bill and then a scaled-down renewable energy bill.

It initially appeared that the slender offshore drilling package was a must-pass bill with political momentum, but it became evident over the past week that the Nevada Democrat lacked the votes within his own caucus to force the issue as the Republicans held firm against it…

Read the full story here…

Huff PO gets in on the Home Star act!

Laura Hutchings, Huffington Post

July 20, 2010

Like many small business owners in the energy efficiency and construction industries, I have spent months writing letters to my senators in support of the home energy retrofit legislation called Home Star. Tomorrow, Congress will determine whether the Home Star Retrofit Act of 2010 will make its way to the Senate floor as part of the Small Business Jobs bill. As the Co-Chair of Efficiency First Colorado, I am writing with an urgent call to action from Efficiency First Chairman Greg Thomas and Policy Chair Matt Golden:

The American construction industry, fueled not so long ago by new housing developments and urban renewal, has come to a crashing halt. Unemployment in the construction sector has climbed to nearly 25 percent, greatly impacting the nation’s rate of unemployment at 9.3%.

Fortunately, a viable solution to this ongoing employment crisis is now moving through the United States Senate. The Home Star Retrofit Act of 2010 would make direct consumer incentives available to American homeowners for residential energy efficiency upgrades, reducing household energy waste by 20-50 percent. By boosting demand for skilled home improvement work that cannot be outsourced overseas, Home Star would create good, living-wage jobs for tens of thousands of construction workers who have been sidelined by the recession–and get domestic assembly lines rolling again to provide the insulation, sheet metal, heating and cooling equipment and other manufactured goods that are used in energy upgrades.

This bipartisan legislation, which passed the House of Representatives in May and now resides in the Senate, has the potential to create an estimated 168,000 new jobs in construction and related industries over the next two years. Much of the hiring would be done by small business owners in all 50 states who are already engaged in saving American homeowners money on their energy bills. The program has strong support from a broad spectrum of business leaders, trade associations, environmental groups and nonprofit organizations, ranging from local contractors and HVAC services to the Sierra Club and the United States Chamber of Commerce.

America’s Home Performance industry is poised to take on the task of retrofitting America’s existing housing stock with cost-effective energy efficiency upgrades, but now that word has gotten out about Home Star, we’ve seen a 15-20 percent drop in business over the past two months as consumers wait for the Home Star incentives to become available. The sooner we get this law enacted, the sooner we’ll be able to get hardworking Americans off the unemployment rolls and back in productive jobs that are good for the nation and the environment.

To ensure rapid near-term job creation in the construction industry, we call on Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid to bring Home Star to the Senate floor this week as part of the Small Business Jobs bill.

Don’t miss out on your $1,500 in stimulus money!

You could be walking away from $1,500 from the federal government if you don’t make energy efficiency improvements to your home by the end of this year. The available money, part of the ARRA stimulus package, is payable as a credit against your 2010 tax bill.

Known as the Residential Energy Tax Credit, the program pays for improvements to the “building envelope” of your home as well as heating, cooling and water heating equipment. However, in order to get the credit, the equipment has to be “put into service” by December 31^st, 2010.

As of 2011, the program will expire and likely will not be renewed, says Carl Donovan of Conservation Pros, an Asheville, NC based building performance contracting firm.

“There’s a bill pending in Congress right now, know as Home Star.”, says Mr. Donovan, “If it passes, it will certainly replace any sort of tax credits or other federal incentives.” The pending bill is dubbed “Cash for Caulkers” due to its resemblance to the very popular Cash for Clunkers program of earlier this year.

One of the most important similarities is that Home Star will be an immediate, “point of sale” rebate for residential efficiency improvements, rather than a tax credit, which could take months to claim.

There are differences between the two programs, however, that bear consideration. “Perhaps most importantly”, says Mr. Donovan, “Home Star won’t offer any rebates for do-it-yourself improvements, while the existing tax credits do.”

He goes on to suggest that it’s possible for homeowner’s to take advantage of strengths and weaknesses in both programs, maximize efficiency gains and get substantial rebates and credits in the process. “However,” cautions Mr. Donovan, “let’s not forget that Home Star is still just a bill before Congress and that the tax credits are very real. And that they’re expiring very soon.”

For instance, Mr. Donovan points to an example of a homeowner who recently contracted with his company to do work in his moist and moldy crawlspace. “Not only did he get a better insulated home and a completely dry, mold-free crawlspace, he will qualify for the entire $1,500 credit on his taxes this year.”

To clearly define the pros and cons of each program, and explain how to get the most from each, Conservation Pros has put together a presentation entitled “5 Things You Can Do To Claim The Home Energy Tax Credits In 2010”, which they will be offering for free at area libraries.

The program will cover air sealing, insulation techniques, door and window replacement and solar and geothermal options. Some of these things can be undertaken by homeowners and some require contractors but they all qualify for the expiring tax credits.

Dates and times for the presentations are as follows:

Wed, July 28, 5:30 – 7:00pm

North Asheville Library, 1030 Merrimon Ave., Asheville, NC 28804

Wed, August 4, 5:30pm – 7:00pm

Black Mountain Library, 105 N. Dougherty St., Blk Mtn, NC 28711

Thu, August 12, 5:30pm – 7:00pm

South Buncombe Library, 260 Overlook Road, Asheville, NC 28803