If you have an attic, chances are you have a substantial heat loss if your attic door or hatch is not properly sealed.  For most of us, the attic and attic doors are not the first item we think of when we think of heat loss.  Usual suspects are windows, doors and outside facing walls.  How many times do you go up to the attic in your house anyways?

We had an air leak test in our 30 year old home and although our attic was rated above average for insulation, the attic hatch or better described in our home as the sheet of plywood held up by four latches, was just as effective as a 24 square inch hole in the side of the house.  During our EnerGuide test, our poor excuse of an Attic Hatch was the third item on the list of offending items to address.

I could have just worked with the sheet of plywood and some weatherstripping, but I wanted to address the size of the hatch as well so I opted for an engineered hatch from the local hardware store.  The pre-fabricated attic hatch is built with a sturdy structured pine frame, one and a half inch thick insulated door with magnetic strip that keeps the door air tight against the accompanying magnetic weather stripping on the hatch frame.  This system works like the seal on a fridge door.  The weight of the door sitting on the magnetic weather strip keeps it nice and tight, but also easy to remove for access to the attic.  For the price, ease of installation and piece of mind, you cannot go wrong with one of these pre-fabricated units.  All that was needed was to cut the existing hole to 32 inches and the attic hatch fit snug between the rafters.  I used caulk and insulation foam to create a tight seal around the frame and the rafters.

This is a pretty easy upgrade and good bang for your buck.  The entire process should take approximately 2 hours from start to cleanup.   Basic hand tools and handyman knowledge is required, but I would not consider this out of anyone's league.  If you own a saw, hammer, drill, 3ft level and a measuring tape you should be good to go.  Don't forget to seal the deal, pun intended, with caulk and insulating foam after the hatch is level and securely attached.

If you are wondering what the number 1 and number 2 items on the EnerGuide to do list where: Basement insulation and replace old leaky windows and doors.  Windows and Doors have been replaced and we hope to move on to insulating the basement before Winter comes to Atlantic Canada ;o)

Until the next time... Keep it Green!

There are government programs out there to help cover the costs of completing major energy savings retrofits and completing some sort of Energy Efficiency Evaluation Report. Here is a list of Energy Savings Tips that although are not usually covered by such programs, can greatly reduce your energy consumption and help make your home more energy efficient:

1. Replace your light bulbs with energy-efficient ones, such as compact flurescents (CF). They last longer and reduce electricity consumption.
2. Insulate the first two metres of the hot and cold water pipes with insulating foam sleeves or pipe wrap insulation. By doing so you will save on your water heating costs and will reduce your water consumption. Besides saving energy, water will arrive at the faucets warmer or colder. Insulating cold water pipes will also avoid condensation from forming on the pipes. This prevents dripping on ceiling tiles or the basement floor.
3. If you do have a pool, install a timer on your pool pump.
4. Use a timer for your car's block heater. Set the timer so that it turns on two hours before you start your vehicle.
5. Install an Energy Star qualified kitchen or bathroom exhaust fan.
6. Install a timer on your bathroom exhaust fan(s).
7. Install low-flow shower heads (rated at less than 9.8 litres per minute and faucet aerators.
8. Fix leaky faucets and outside hose bibs.
9. Install and use a programmable electronic thermostat (set the heating temperature to 20c while you are at home and 17c at night and when you are away). For each degree of setback, you can save up to 2 percent on your heat bill.
10. When replacing lighting, appliances, electronics and office equipment, look for Energy Star labelled products. Energy Star labelled products use less than half as much energy in standby mode, when turned "off".
11. Plug your home office equipment into a power bar that can be easily turned off when equipment is not in use.
12. Install motion sensor light switches.

There are also more expensive projects such as replacing your current toilets with low-flush toilets and installing a Drain Water Heat Recovery system (DWHR), which in itself can save you up to 30% on your water heating.

Of course there are also the major retrofits:

• Install a wind-powered generation system, which will supplement your energy use with an environmentally friendly source of electricity.
• Install a solar wall system to supplement your space heating, which will ease the load on your primary heating system.
• Install a photovoltaic system, which will supplement your energy use with an environmentally friendly source of energy.
• Install a trombe wall if the means are available to reduce heating and cooling via thermal mass.

That's it for today... I'd be interested in hearing what other low costs energy savings tips people have come up with and will share.

Keep it Green!

So you are thinking of introducing some sort of Renewable Alternative Energy into your plans for a more Sustainable Living. Before you try to size your system you must begin with energy efficiency. Just as the government realized it is cheaper to invest in energy efficiency then energy creation, so will you as you run through your project.

More with less is the theme here, but do not think you have to revert back to oil lamps and cooking over campfire. There are lots of energy saving tips to make your home more energy efficient and best of all most governments in North America have millions of dollars in grants to help you reach your goals.  Once you know exactly what you are wasting energy on you will be happy and most likely make it your personal mission to reduce your energy consumption and monthly bill.

Here are a few examples:

• Swapping out old light bulbs to CF (Compact Flurescent) will reduce energy consumption by 80%
• Installing on-demand water heaters will reduce hot water energy consumption by approximately 50%
• Turning down the thermostat and putting a water heater blanket will reduce your energy consumption by approximately 20%
• Low-Flow shower heads and aerator faucets will reduct water consumption as well as energy consumption used to heat that water
• Replace old appliances with Energy Efficient appliances
• Get a leak test done in your house and follow the recommended remediation steps could save you up to 50% of your heating costs
• Adding Solar Water Heating system can save you approximately 50% of the energy used for heating water
• Install a home power meter like the cent-a-meter to precisely monitor your energy consumption and take action appropriately like reducing Phantom Electric Loads

These are just some of the examples of what you can do. A quick Google search on home energy efficiencies will give you more information then you can handle and as mentioned above, make some calls into your local and federal/state governements to see what programs they have available for energy efficient retrofits.

These action items can be done over a period of time and most are not that expensive to accomplish. Here is the list of items we've done or are planning to action by the end of the year:

• Bought bulk CF bulbs on special and replaced in all fixtures. Some local government have give aways for CF bulbs to promote use, so be sure to check that possibility.
• Installed a water heater blanket and foam insulated all hot water pipes
• Installed low-flow shower heads
• After having a Leak Test done, we've replaced all windows and doors. Needed to be done anyways with 25year old wooden frame windows
• Installed foam gaskets in all electrical outlets to reduce draft
• Installed child safely plugs in unused electrical outlets to further reduce draft

The Leak Test was an eye opener for us and the follow up report was great. It detailed what action items would give us the biggest bang for our buck, literally. We are expecting a nice grant for our energy efficient upgrades so far. Before we call them back to do a second test and submit our paperwork for the grant, we will also replace the attic door with a new efficient, insulated attic door.

Living on the East Coast of Canada we have long cold winters so every bit insulation and reduced heat loss helps and equates to electricity and dollars saved.  Over the winter we also plan on purchasing and installing the cent-a-meter home metering system.  This will allow us to monitor, identify and reduce energy consumption during the heavy heating season and give us good numbers to work with for planning our hybrid renewable energy system.

That's it for now... Keep it Green ;o)

The fist step in planning a renewable energy system is to reduce the energy consumption. Phantom electrical loads account for approximately 6% of a homes electricity consumption. Phantom electrical loads can be easily reduced to save electricity, money and carbon footprint.

Take a look at the appliances you have plugged into your electrical outlets around your home. Appliances used throughout the home usually have on/off switches. What most people fail to realize is that even when you turn off these appliances, most will still draw energy. This energy draw is called a "phantom load" and needs to be taken into consideration to reduce energy consumption and planning a renewable energy system for implementation in your home.

Some devices are easy to recognize such as appliances with built in clocks, DVD players, televisions, coffee makers, etc... Others are not so obvious such as your door bell, electric charge razor, computers, etc... Appliances that can be operated with a remote-control is also consuming power around the clock. It has to stay in a ready state in order to be switched on by the remote control. The ready state consumes less electricity than when the device is turned on, but over a 24-hour period the energy consumption can be substantial. Multiply that by 365 days and you are looking at a nice electricity bill and wasted energy for "convenience".

The easiest way to reduce or eliminate phantom power draw is to plug these devices and appliances into power bars that include their own on/off switch, also called switchable outlets. When you turn off the device or appliance, turn off the power supply to the switchable outlet.

If you think this will be inconvenient or a pain, remeber the fact that you will be saving approximately 6% on your electricity bill. Do the calculation yourself and you'll be pleasently surprised. This the cost of grid energy going up and the up front capital cost of haressing your own renewable energy, every bit helps.

Move on energy savings coming soon... in the meantime keep it Green!

PART 1

Before you start shopping for Solar Panels and related Solar Power Equipment, you must first determine your electrical consumption to size the system that is required to meet your needs. It is more cost effective to reduce consumption then to produce or harness the Solar Energy. There is no need to buy everything immediately. It is easier to proceed one step at a time and avoid buying equipment that will have to be replaced later.

Start by listing the electrical equipment that will be used and determine how energy will be consumed. There are products such as the cent-a-meter that is wired directly to your electrical panel and can be used to monitor and trend your electrical use. This research, monitoring and planned reduction will open your eyes as to how much electricity we waste. The more accurately you define your energy requirements, the easier it is to determine which photovoltaic energy system meets your expectations.

After you have accurately defined your present and extrapolated future needs and identified your consumption habits, you can decide what size of system you need. Some of the factors that need to be considered include:

• the seasonal profile of the load, i.e. the period when electricity demand is highest and electricity output is lowest, which is usually in fall or winter.

• the weekly/monthly profile of the load.

• the daily profile of the load (power required and number of hours per day) for each appliance.

• -type of load to be powered (motors, lights, etc.)

As the consumption for each household is different, so will the configuration of the system. Just remember, you do not have to create a 100% self sufficient Solar PV Array or invest hundreds of thousands of dollars to setup an off-grid or grid-tie renewable energy system. Start slow, research and plan... the point is to start and take action. Keep it Green!