Every homeowner has a list of projects to do. It usually is made up of things like new countertops for the kitchen, painting a bedroom and renovating the bathroom.
But the most important upgrades you can make to your home has nothing to do with the look – it’s all about energy efficiency. At least that was the message Ted Stiles delivered to a dozen local residents at the MAxT Makerspace on Wednesday night.
Stiles, an energy auditor with Yankee Thermal, is one of a handful of presenters of the home energy savings workshop, Button Up New Hampshire. He gave a similar talk in Mason two months ago that was attended by close to 50 people and returned to Peterborough, where he used to live, last week to help provide a glimpse into what energy efficiency means in the home.
“If you look at how we can bring down our carbon footprints, looking at energy efficiency is very important,” said Dori Drachman, a member of the Peterborough Energy Committee who hosted the event. “And doing things in your home is much easier for someone to handle.”
After outlining the topics he planned to discuss, Stiles asked a simple question: “What is the greenest energy?” With a long list of possible answers, it’s not what you might think.
“It’s the energy you’re not using,” Stiles said. “That’s about as green as you can possible get.”
Stiles was attracted to the idea of reduction. About 64 percent of costs are associated with heating a home in New Hampshire with another 16 percent coming in the form of heating water.
With more than half of energy costs associated with heating the rooms and spaces of a home, it makes the most sense to figure out if there are ways to better insulate. One fact that people are constantly getting wrong, Stiles said, is the myth that heat rises. In fact it’s the warm air that rises and gaps or improperly installed insulation can allow for that warm air to escape. But it needs to be replaced by something and it usually comes in the form of cold air through windows, walls and doors that don’t have the right seals to keep it out.
“It’s the constant in, constant out,” Stiles said.
The ABC’s of air sealing should begin with the most important area of your house, the attic. Most people think its the living space, but since all that warm air rises, making a good seal so it can’t escape to the attic area – which can lead to a whole host of problems including ice dams – is No. 1. Then it’s the basement. Properly insulating the walls and making sure that bulk head doors have a barrier are a place to start. When it comes to the center of your house, weatherstripping doors and making sure windows are latched make a difference.
“It’s so important to do your air sealing first,” Stiles said.
Stiles has seen it all in his profession. From walls filled with seaweed and ears of corn (both old practices) or not at all, to linoleum floors pulling up when he hooked up a blower door (a way to test for deficiencies) due to air trying to come up from the basement. Unfortunately not all homes are built to the same standard and while some may view their brand new home as a energy efficient dream, the reality is that it can be worse off than one built in the 1800s.
Andy Schwartz is building a home in Jaffrey and wanted to see how energy efficiency pertained to a new house.
“I think it’s going to be an excellent resource,” Schwartz said. “To see how I can make my new house more energy efficient.”
Once your home is well sealed and insulated, its little things that can go a long way when it comes to conserving energy. Using power strips is the best way to control energy usage and reduces the amount of energy drips, which account for close to $19 billion in electricity costs in the US each year.
Daniel Bemis is in the process of buying a house in Jaffrey that was built in 1809. He knows there will be some upgrades needed to make it more energy efficient and was looking for tips that he could do himself. Counting the inlaw apartment, the residence has four heating systems – propane, electric, oil and a wood stove.
“The first thing I want to do is just go through those low hanging fruit items (Stiles) talked about,” Bemis said. “The small things I can do myself.”
Other simple tricks are to turn down the hot water heater to a maximum of 120 degrees, turn off lights when you leave a room – which should be replaced with LED bulbs – and wash your clothes in cold water. Set dehumidifiers to the proper range, typically 45 to 55 percent, insulate heating pipes and turn down the thermostat when you will be gone for an extended period of time and at night.
“A lot of it is behavior changes,” Stiles said.
The workshop was hosted by the Peterborough Energy Committee, Monadnock Energy Hub, Belletetes, Citizens’ Climate Lobby and Mothers Out Front and is sponsored by NHSaves and coordinated statewide by the Plymouth Area Renewable Energy Initiative.
“We were hoping that people will see that it’s important and achievable,” Drachman said. “It saves money and reduces their energy usage.”
Rhonda Barkley of Bennington went both for tips for her own house and to pass on to her son who is buying a house soon.
“It’s so informative,” Barkley said. “And it now motivates me to work on the basement air leaks and the power strips, I didn’t even think about that.”
Under the NHSaves program, residents can test their home to see if it qualifies for an energy audit. Those that qualify, based on the assessment, may be eligible for a 50 percent incentive, up to $4,000, to help pay for any of the qualified measures including lighting upgrades, water conservation measures, air sealing, and insulation.
“We definitely think it’s underutilized,” said Gordon Tuttle, program administrator for energy efficiency services for Eversource. “For the first five years, it was probably one of the best kept secrets in the state for energy efficiency.”
The program has been around for seven years and Tuttle said around 800 homes will benefit from it in 2019.
According to NHSaves, “NHSaves is a collaboration of New Hampshire’s electric and natural gas utilities (Eversource, Liberty Utilities, NH Electric Cooperative and Unitil). The utilities are working together to provide NH customers with information, incentives, and support designed to save energy, reduce costs, and protect the NH environment.”
For more and to see if your home qualifies, visit https://nhsaves.com.