Creating a more energy-efficient home (or business)

BY NICOLE GOLDMAN

When it comes to energy-efficiency, it’s hard to know where to begin. You may feel drafts in the colder months, be running extra fans in the summer months, and paying more than you feel is necessary, but without some type of evaluation, whether diagnostic or visual, you’ll be plugging leaks in one space only to be letting air in through another. With the talk in Congress about the HomeStar (Cash for Caulkers) program, which will provide tax incentives and rebates for energy-efficient improvements, it’s a good time to think about the state of energy affairs in your own home.

Building Energy Assessment – You may feel able to conduct your own assessment. If so, start with a visual examination of the building both inside and outside, including attic and basement spaces. If you can see through
in any place, that’s an opportunity for caulking and sealing – look for daylight, feel for drafts, notice loose insulation, particularly in the basement and attic. If you need some professional input, there are a lot of options, from the free audits provided by MassSave programs, which provide a limited review, to a more extensive and diagnostic approach from a professional energy assessor with blower door and duct blaster testing and infrared thermal imaging to help highlight specific areas of concern.

An energy assessment should provide both qualitative and quantitative data so that recommendations with solutions that should be implemented to address problems can be proposed in a prioritized plan of action. The cost benefits of implementing the recommendations cannot be undersold. In fact, they sell themselves. With the existing and soon to come additional incentives, there is little reason not to put these energy savings into place immediately. Most assessments will offer a thorough look both visually and diagnostically and can help calculate the expected savings using your utility bill information.

Again, there are DIY options as well as many well-qualified contractors to perform the agreed upon scope of work and implement the solutions. Finally, you’ll want to repeat the diagnostic tests to be certain the work was executed properly. ■

Nicole Goldman, owner of ‘g’ Green Design Center in Mashpee, is a NARI board member and Leader of NARI’s Green Team. Learn more at naricapecod.org.


Published in Cape & Plymouth Business July 2010