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 a 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 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 thinking that radiant barriers suffice for insulation installed wrong. 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. For more information visit are website at  www.greenintegrateddesign.com

Does Radiant Barrier Work or is it a Scam?

We have been getting lots of questions regarding radiant barrier products.  Radiant barriers seem to make sense to reduce attic temperatures in the summer. You may have seen the home show demonstrations where one side of a mock attic has a high pressure sodium lamp heating one attic with radiant barrier, and one attic without radiant barrier.  These are very convincing demonstrations that you can actually feel or see the temperature differences.  So does a foil radiant barrier product work?

Let me give you a background of where we are coming from as a US EPA Home Performance with Energy Star energy auditor and contractor.  We use a science based approach to reduce your energy bills and make your home more comfortable.  That means our recommendations are based on a comprehensive energy audit using a blower door, thermal camera, energy modeling and heat transfer principals… not on a PowerPoint Presentation someone developed who probably is not an energy auditor.  We have performed hundreds of APS energy audits and SRP energy audits so we have some experience under our belt and seen the benefits and a home that performs well, and the broken promises that are not only costly but bring down companies that do quality work.  So let’s get back to your question.

Here are the facts - 

1.       In Phoenix, with 360 days of sun a year, in a house with minimal insulationyour home is only getting a maximum of 20% heat gain from the attic.  We have written about the importance of your insulation being installed correctly in a previous post.  The majority of your heat gain is through the windows.

2.       Using the most outrageous radiant barrier savings claims of a 30% cost savings onyour heating and cooling bill (sometimes even the sales rep gets confused and says it’s 30% of your total bills), let’s do the math.  I’ve provided a radiant barrier savings calculator you can use to get accurate estimates on your savings below, just enter in your highest summer electric bill.  Let’s say that’s $300 and 50% of that is from cooling.  So that means you are spending $150 on cooling for, let’s be generous and say May, June, July, August, September (5 months).  $150 x 5 months = $750 on cooling (overestimated).  Then we’ll find how much of your cooling bills is from the attic (20% from #1 above) by taking $750 x 20% = $150.  Now take 30% of $150 = $45.  That’s your annual savings from radiant barrier, $45! 


3.       If you are spending $2,000 on a radiant barrier to save only $45 a year, there are much better ways to save money on your bills!  One would be to install a solar hot water or even solar electric system for a much quicker payment and ROI.  That is why we will never recommend a radiant barrier product without tacking the big items found in a home energy audit first.

We hope that helps and feel free to leave comments below or like us on Facebook for a free Energy Savings Guidebook to learn how you can start saving today.

Why Are There Radiant Barrier a Scam Claims?

So you are doing your due diligence by researching whether or not radiant barrier is a scam is true.  Radiant barriers installed in existing homes have generated a lot of confusion and controversy.  Often energy saving claims have become grossly bloated from 20% of air conditioning bills to 20% of your entire electricity bill, which is quite different.  Consider this, if heat gain into a home with good insulation is only 15%, how can a radiant barrier reduce the energy bill by a minimum of 25%?  It’s impossible!

A homeowner today should also be aware that there is no one energy saving upgrade that will create a high performing home in terms of comfort, lower air conditioning bills and air quality.  Homeowners should therefore be considerate of alternative recommendations such as duct sealing and air conditioning tune-ups to work in conjunction with a radiant barrier.  The Department of Energy has performed studies and written articles on radiant barrier foil and has concluded it works by reducing attic temperatures and thus reduces heat gain into a home.  What is the problem then?  We will cover that later but first I’d like to go over the different types of radiant barriers on the market.  

Radiant barrier paint, radiant barrier chips and radiant barrier foil are the three types of radiant barriers.  We do not support the installation of radiant barrier chips or radiant barrier paint.  Radiant barrier paint can be diluted in the field with water and will lose its effectiveness when applied.  I’ve seen many houses where the radiant paint looks more like gray paint rather than a reflective paint, which is a sign of dilution.  Radiant barrier paints also has lower performance standards with higher emittance values and lower reflectance values than traditional radiant barrier foils.  Radiant barrier chips are not recommended because installers usually do not install them with enough density to cover the entire surface area of the attic and they can be easily moved.  Besides the radiant barrier paint and chips, we do support the use of radiant barrier foils.

The radiant barrier foil comes either in single or double sided; breathable with ventilation holes or it may not have any ventilation; or has a foam core with some insulation value to it.  By itself, a radiant barrier has no insulation value because it reflects radiant heat from radiation, unlike insulation that slows down the transfer of heat through conduction.  Radiant barriers should also be installed along the roof trusses whenever possible compared to laying along the attic floor.

How Much Heat Comes From The Attic?

Surprisingly, not as much as you would think.  According to APS and SRP studies only 14% - 20% of your utility bill is driven by heat gain from the attic, most of it comes from windows.  I can also validate these findings from my personal experience modeling hundreds of homes in the Phoenix area under the APS energy audit program and SRP energy auditprogram.  On a side note, there is up to $1,000 in APS rebates and SRP rebates available for home energy upgrades.  Visit the APS Energy Audit Program and SRP EnergyAudit Program for more information.

If There Is No Radiant Barrier Scam, Then Why Do Most Fail?

The problem just like a driving a Prius with a hole in the gas tank - is how it is installed and a lack of understanding of what homes it will have an effect on and what homes it will do nothing for.  Most radiant barriers are sold by a sales consultant who is not a certified energy consultant and will sell radiant barriers to every home they go to and overpromise on their performance.  A comprehensive energy audit should be performed with a blower door test and by a BPI Certified auditor to test and identify the real causes and solutions to reduce energy bills and eliminate hot and cold rooms.  In an attic with R-38 insulation, the heat gain into the house is small and is approximately 80% conduction and 20% radiation.  The radiant barrier is going after that 20% of heat gain which may not be the most cost effective option.  There are certain cases where a radiant barrier would be a good choice for your home, but GreenID will not sell or install radiant barriers where it is not needed or better options exist.