Be The ChangeOur homes produce twice as much CO2 as our cars. Air leaks and poor insulation are the #1 source of wasted energy in the home. In most homes, better insulation gives you more bang for the buck than any other energy saving project.
Only 20% of homes built before 1980 are well insulated. Even if you don’t own your home, you can still reduce energy use by plugging air leaks. If you add up all the air leaks in most homes, you’d have a hole the size of a football that is letting cold air in during the winter and letting cold air out in the summer time. Besides saving up to 10% in heating and cooling costs, stopping drafts will also make your home more comfortable.
Even with such a big payback, it easy to forget about these cracks and holes that leak energy. That’s why we recommend making it fun. We suggest doing it with a buddy. Pretend it’s a detective game and work on both your houses on the same day.
One good way to check for drafts is to wait for a windy day and hold a lit incense stick next to windows and doors. If the smoke stream travels horizontally, write down where it happens. Turning on exhaust fans in the kitchen and bathrooms will increase the drafts coming into your house. Alternately, you can use a wet hand on a really cold day to feel for air leaks. Other good places to check are:
On the outside of your house, inspect all areas where two different building materials meet, including:
Look for dirty spots in your insulation. These often indicate holes where air leaks into and out of your house. You can seal the holes by stapling sheets of plastic over the holes and caulking the edges of the plastic.
If you’ve ever wrapped a present, hung a picture, or used Play-doh, you’ve got all the technical skills you’ll need to seal out drafts in your home. You can’t make anything worse.
Go to your local hardware store and show them your list of air leaks. Pick up a bunch of caulking supplies and some extra insulation, plastic, and duct tape if you found some larger holes.
If you really want to go to town and add more insulation to your attic, read this 12 page guide from Energy Star:
[Sidebar: Redo this pie chart and give attribution to http://www1.eere.energy.gov/consumer/tips/air_leaks.html] [Sidebar: If you are lucky enough to have a working fireplace, make sure to keep the flue damper tightly closed. An open damper, lets warm air escape —24 hours a day! ] [Sidebar: There are two safety caveats: 1. If you have recessed “can” lighting in your ceiling be sure that there is an IC rating on the back of the can. Otherwise, you might be creating a fire hazard. On second thought, unless you know what you are doing keep insulation a foot away from recessed light cans. 2. If you have a flame based heating system (gas, oil, propane or wood) make sure it has access to fresh air from the outside before you caulk up all the hole around it. If you are at all uncertain, have an energy audit.]
Many local electric and gas utility companies offer free energy audits and it only takes a phone call to set one up. A professional will survey your home, plug some information into a computer and give you a list of ways you can save money, how much it will cost and how long it will take to pay for itself in savings. The service is free and often comes with rebates for significant savings on insulation contractors, new heating and cooling equipment, CFLs, programmable thermostats and even taxes.
If your local utility doesn’t do free audits, you can pay someone (look up energy or insulation on the phone book) or do-it-yourself. You can also try this great do-it-yourself energy audit tool . You type in your zip code, answer some questions about your house and out pops some customized advice. You can also watch a four minute movie about the process. A directory of available energy audit services by state is available at RESNET. If you are someone who prefers to read a printed brochure, the US Dept of Energy has produced a comprehensive 34 page booklet on saving energy and money at home that you can order for free or download immediately in PDF format.
If this looks like just one more list of to do's—then STOP! How you go about being sustainable is MORE important than you might imagine. We can't create a sustainable world from overextended lives.
Don't proceed until you read
"Guiding Principles for Lasting Change"
and
"Why Be Sustainable?"
The 12 steps are organized so that the things that take the least amount of time and money come first. Most items on the list will actually save you money. Many will also save you time.
In all the steps, we ask you to spend more time connecting with neighbors. Connecting with your neighbors is the only way to avoid getting overwhelmed.
A sustainable world is only possible within a deeply connected community — It's that fundamental.
Go to my cart
