Carbon Contest

An energy audit and inspection of your home is the first step in improving the energy efficiency and health of your home. This guide will not substitute for having a professional audit done, but it will give you some tips and techniques to do the most basic tasks yourself. A DIY audit will not be as thorough as one done by a professional, but it only costs you your time and can still save you a good amount of money.

We’ve all heard about the energy vampires that lurk in our homes. But just what do they look like and how can we get rid of them. A power stake (AKA power strip) right through their heart (flip the switch) will rid them from your home, saving you on your energy bill each month.

Heating and cooling make up between 40 and 70% of a home’s annual energy bills. Stopping air movement is the first step you need to take to create a more even tempeture in your home. Once you’ve sealed up the holes in the outside of your home, adding insulation will greatly increase the comfort and savings on your heating & cooling bills. Insulation does slow/stop airflow through the material which is itself a great insulator, but it does not stop air flow at the edges. So again, let me stress that you should seal the cracks and holes first BEFORE adding insulation.

Behind heating & cooling, water heating is the next biggest energy consumer in the typical home, about 20%. Being such a sizable portion of a home’s total, there is plenty of room for savings. If your water heater is less than 15 years old you will probably be better off by utilizing water saving technologies and behaviors.

Low-flow showerheads, faucet aerators, shorter showers and washing clothes in cold water will cost very little to implement, but save hundreds of dollars each year on your water and energy bills. Since that is not the emphasis of this guide, we'll write about that in another paper to be published soon.

Buying Criteria / Research

People often get confused about the difference between air sealing and weatherization. In the home performance world, weatherization is a subset of air sealing, which should be at the top of everyone’s list of projects.  Here is our list for the ten projects you should take on first in your home.

1) Use metal tape and duct mastic/sealant to seal the ventilation ducts. It will cost you $20 - $30 and a few hours if you do it yourself, but pay for itself in one heating season. Here is a short video of how to apply the tape and sealant.

In the first half of this piece we looked at the overall, most fuel-efficient vehicles, which had both two and four seaters, gasoline-electric hybrids and turbo diesels. Since most people look at classes of vehicles when making their purchase decision (SUV, sports car, family sedan etc.) I’ve decided to split up our study a little bit.