- Appliances: use less power
- Beware vampire appliances
- Commercial building energy assessments
- Commercial building incentives
- Common mistakes
- Gifts that save energy all year
- Heating and coolling savings
- Holiday lighting: festive & efficient
- Insulation types: pros & cons
- Kitchens: ways to save
- Lower your utility bills
- Path to Energy Efficiency
- Programmable Thermostats
- Radon: test after energy upgrade
- Refrigerator: retire for quick payback
- Resolutions to conserve energy and save money
- Seal duct leaks
- Stack Effect Influences Energy Use
- Systems in house work together
- Wash clothes in cold water
- Water heating bills
- Where to make home improvements
- Windows: repair, don't replace
Common mistakes when making energy improvements
Your Path to Energy Savings
By Shawn Lindabury, Special to The Ithaca Journal
February 14, 2011
Reducing home energy use is a multi-step process. It is important to think systematically and identify the most cost effective options in planning and implementing property improvements. This week we are highlighting four common missteps well-meaning individuals have made when upgrading their homes.
Stopping after completing no/low cost measures. Many people think taking a few actions such as putting plastic over windows or weather stripping exterior doors means their home is "weatherized" and they are done- not considering other options to further reduce energy usage and increase their home's overall energy efficiency. Homeowners and landlords often don't know how leaky, uninsulated, and inefficient their buildings are and how much more comfortable a residence can become.
Installing new windows. A common misconception is that installing new windows is a cost-effective energy efficiency measure. Replacing the windows is one of the least cost-effective ways to save energy. Windows are very expensive and can take 20 to 70 years to pay back through energy savings. You can boost the energy performance of old windows inexpensively with caulking, weather stripping, and storm windows.
Replacing the heating system first. Homeowners often spend thousands of dollars installing new furnaces or boilers in a home without first tightening up their home through air sealing and insulating. If they had air-sealed and increased insulation first to reduce air infiltration and heat loss, they could have reduced purchase costs and avoided the higher operating costs of an oversized heating system.
Installing solar panels before doing energy efficiency measures first. Heating and cooling systems, clothes washers and driers, other appliances and lighting and should be analyzed before an owner considers installing more costly options like a solar-electric system By making energy efficiency improvements and reducing a home's total energy load where possible, fewer solar panels would be needed to meet energy demand, cutting the cost of the system.
