Energy Usage in Your Home

What you need to know about green energy barrier scams

While making energy saving improvements to your home is backed by both APS, SRP and the Department of Energy's Home Performance With Energy Star Program there are many unethical companies out there that are taking advantage of these programs and making a bad name for those home performance companies that are doing things right. Many of the unethical companies are using the APS and SRP program as a cover, making it appear that they follow the strict guidelines of their program by simply using their logos, mixing the solar rebate program with the home performance rebates, and taking the rebates off the top of the costs so it appears you are getting the rebate when actually it is just a smoke and mirrors trick. These companies are hurting both homeowners and home performance contractors alike.

Here are some guidelines to help you spot a phony from a real home performance contractor.

1. The company has called you from an auto dialer blast.
2. The company rep does not go past the attic hatch in their inspection of your attic (the pros know this is where the majority of your problems lie and it's not just about adding insulation or radiant barriers)
3. The company rep does not do a blower door test or a full energy audit on your home .
4. The green energy company rep is not BPI certified. This is the basic certification all energy consultants will have to know what to look for in your home and to give you energy saving recommendations based on what your home needs.
5. The company will start at a price point in the range of $20,000 for a solar/ solar water heater/ radiant barrier/ solar attic fan package.
6. The company will not perform a test-out audit with a blower door fan.

Here is what you can ask the green energy company to protect yourself from buying something that will not fix your hot and cold rooms or make your home more energy efficient.

1. The green energy companies BPI certification and make sure the energy consultant at your home is BPI certified.
2. Call APS and SRP at (602) 532-2991 to verify they are on the Home Performance With Energy Star Program.
3. Your energy consultant should talk to you about at a minimum hour air leakage, duct leakage, room pressure and duct static pressure. These are part of the required tests all APS and SRP certified companies need to do or their inspection.
4. You should complete a home performance authorization form found on APS and SRP's website.

Don't get us wrong, there is nothing wrong with solar electricity or solar hot water heaters. The danger or harm comes from homeowners thinking they are making their home more energy efficient when many issues are still left unfixed and things that were never tested for or addressed. Things like air balancing, high room pressures, high static pressure, insulation that is installed wrong, air barriers that leave the house uninsulated and overpromising the cost savings from radiant barriers.  An additional benefit to using a home performance contractor is that the utility companies will audit our work, so you have another party watching your back.

Disclaimer: Green ID's energy auditors are all BPI Certified. Green ID's founder, David Byrnes, is a BPI trainer and LEED AP professional. We do not recommend radiant barrier products without first addressing a homes' priority needs by performing a whole home energy audit.

Why baffles along bird vents in your attic are a good idea

Infrared image from inside along the side of a home where the insulation has been blown back because of lack of baffles placed along the bird vents

If you have two or three bird venting holes along the outside of your roof line these are a great way to ventilate your attic along with gable ventilation on each end of the roof end.

The problem lies in that the builders and insulation contractors or any other contractor for that matter essentially do not talk to each other. That is the cause for hot rooms, poor airflow, unless art heat gain into your home and high utility bills but I digress. The lack of communication and just poor practices or laziness on part of insulation contractors is the reason why baffles or ridge vents are not placed at all the bird vents above the house.

But why are they even needed in the first place? The reason is two-fold.

1. Baffles direct airlflow up the roof slope and out the ridge vents if you have them. If you don't have baffles then the air that vents the attic will blow back the insulation a good foot or more from the sides of the house.

2. Some contractors will put a fiberglass batt in-place of a baffle because the fiberglass batt is rigid and won't blow back. The fiberglass batt insulation will allow airlflow to pass through it (as all loose fill insulation will) but there is a problem with this scenario. The fiberglass batt insulation allows hot outside air to pass through it but it does not direct the airflow up and away from the drywall ceiling. So while the outside air is passing through the batt, it is also heating the drywall which defeats the purpose of the fiberglass batt.

Baffles can be cardboard, plastic or Styrofoam material and come in 16" on center or 24" on center sizes. Expect to pay a little more for baffles especially in a retrofit situation and garages are NOT included in the square footage of your attic or in insulation quotes.

Do I Have Enough Attic Ventilation?

With the recent massive hail storm Phoenix experience two years ago, many homeowners in Glendale were able to claim new roofs and AC units and roofing companies started popping up from out of nowhere.  One thing roofing company’s love is attic ventilation and without an understanding of how a home performs as a system, this can be more harmful than helpful.

Attic ventilation can seem to be a good thing, you cool down your attic in the summer and less heat will get into your home.  Many homeowners also get told more attic ventilation will extend the life of your roof and when roofing sales people start down that path combined with homeowner speculation, too much of a good thing becomes bad?

See roofers gone wild at:

http://gerryraysroofing.com/blogger/ventilation-issues-in-your-attic-space/

http://www.radiantbarrierguru.com/attic-ventilation-basic-tips/

Source: http://www.dom.com/about/conservation/pdf/attic_ventilation.pdf 

There is no documentation that attic fans actually extend the life of roofs and no documentation that they even help cool an attic.  I have stood in from of many attic fans and solar attic fans while performing energy analysis and blowing insulation and I can’t feel a damn thing and that is the truth.  From personal experience I didn’t feel any cooler in an attic with a huge power fan than an attic without.  Well enough of my experience, let’s look at the studies that have been done on this topic.

It has been proven that attic fans installed without air and duct sealing a home will pull your conditioned air up from the house and into the attic.  Yes that’s right, the average house an equilivent of a 1 sq ft window open all the time from leakage connections to the attic.  If you had an attic fan that moves a lot of air (like an attic fan) you might as well leave your door open while the AC is running.

Where attic fans become harmful is when they start pulling carbon monoxide in from an attached garage and cause a gas water heater to backdraft or pilot lights to go out on gas appliances.  Air leaks and wasting energy is fine, that can be fixed but having family become sick because of CO poisoning is dangerous and people need to be aware of attic fan side effects.

Proof about attic fans and their lies:
http://www.dom.com/about/conservation/pdf/attic_ventilation.pdf

“Unplanned Impacts On Houses By Powered Attic Ventilators”http://www.advancedenergy.org/buildings/knowledge_library/ventilation/Attic%20Ventilation%20Case%20Studies.pdf

http://www.servicemagic.com/article.show.5-Myths-about-Attic-Ventilation.16547.html

The best way to control your attic temperatures is simply adding more insulation.  Yes the garage and the attic gets very hot in the summer, and heat transfer is driven by temperature differences… but it is also driven by pressures (your AC unit) and pathways (holes and leakage).  You can greatly slow down the transfer of heat into your home with properly installed insulation up to R-30, air sealing attic penetrations and properly sealing your ductwork with verification testing.  If you are purchasing a new roof, light colored shingles are a great way to reflect the sunlight and making sure your home complies with current codes for attic ventilation.  Usually your home already has enough ventilation especially if you have the bird hole venting with gable vents on both sides of your attic, you don’t need any more attic ventilation.  As always if you like this article like us on Facebook for more energy saving tips!

Sell your old stuff and gadgets online

Being a Phoenix energy auditor is not all about crawling around insulation, measuring duct leakage and sizing solar electric systems for homes.  We are all about reducing your utility bills but there are many other benefits to an energy efficient home such as a more comfortable home, a home with less dust and a quieter heating and cooling system.  We recommend both conservation and efficiency upgrades to reduce your APS or SRP electric bills.  Conservation recommendations are if it is cold in your home, rather than turning on the heater, you put on a sweater.  Efficiency upgrades have to do with upgrading your insulation, ductwork sealing and window treatments so your home is more comfortable and you don’t have to change a thing.  

Here is a recommendation we don’t always talk about but many homeowners may find useful and that is what you can do with open, unwanted gifts or extra stuff lying around your home.  Lots of us have old books and other knacks we never use and you may not want to go through the effort of a garage sale.  With the web there are many places where you can sell your old stuff rather than the trash.  www.amazon.com is a great place to get rid of old books as is www.ebay.com.  If you aren’t getting any takers on those websites, try www.swap.com.  For your old gadgets try www.gazelle.com  and for your cell phones www.recellular.com or try your local women’s shelter.  Have old Apple iPod or a used iPhone?  www.tunecycle.com is a great place to sell old iPhones and Apple products.  

We hope you have a great holiday season and if you enjoyed this blog, please leave a comment or like our Facebook page at www.facebook.com/aGreenID.  

Air Leakage Around Recessed Canned Lights

If you have had an APS energy audit or SRP energy audit performed on your home the auditor probably showed you the blower door readings or thermal images of your canned lights.  These are notoriously leaky and if a smoke pen is held up to the light, you can see the smoke gets easily sucked right up into the attic through recessed light.  If your home has more than 10 of these recessed lights, it can be a significant source of air leakage in your home.  The average home wastes about $5 to $30 per year per recessed light so it is an important cost savings consideration and health and safety concern if moisture escapes into the attic as well. Here is a little background on these lights and what you can do to stop excess air leakage in your home.

Recessed lights are typically installed in areas of high traffic areas like kitchens, hallways and family rooms.  Canned lights are either IC rated, insulation contact rated, or non IC rated, which cannot come into contact with insulation.  If additional insulation has ever been added to your home you may want to check that the insulation contractors put some sort of protector around the light before blowing more in.   Typically in homes built before 1995, non IC canned lights were used but I have seen plenty of newer homes with non IC rated canned lights installed.  You can find out if your lights are IC rated by going in the attic and looking at the nameplate of the metal light.  There is usually a label glued on top of the light that says the specifications of the light and it will say, “IC Rated”. 

Recessed lights in a two story home can also contribute to the stack effect if there are enough lights in the ceiling.  The stack effect is when warm air rises and is replaced by cool air entering the home through outside penetrations and duct leakage.  The stack effect and air leakage can be stopped by air sealing the home including the canned lights.  To find more information on how canned lights can contribute to the stack effect in your home check out this article by the Pennsylvania Housing Research Center.

There are several ways you can effectively seal your canned lights by either replacement or retrofit.  Replacement options can be done with air tight LED lights or air tight recessed canned lights.  Both replacements are very effective, the advantages of LEDs are a longer lifespan, are fully dimmable, and use less energy.  Replacements done with air tight recessed lights are also very good.  I recently performed an energy audit on a home built in 2006 that had the new air tight recessed lights and can verify that the leakage of the light is very low.  The reading from the canned light you see on my manometer is 0.9 Pa and a typical canned light measures at 40 Pa, which is a lot of leakage.

The other option is to build energy lids with at least 3-inches of clearance between the light and the box.  The energy lid can be fitted over the canned light and sealed at its edges.  Warning!  Do not use expanding foam to seal a canned light; the foam can drip down into the house and on the trim.  The energy lids can be effective if you have non IC rated recessed lights and need to add more insulation to your attic.  You can view more tips on how reduce your energy bills here.

For a guide on ways to seal up your home check out EnergyStar’s publication on air leakage and air sealing your home.