Does Your Home Need an Energy Efficiency Makeover?
by Wendy Croix
wendy.croix@homeimprovementideas.net
Home Improvement Ideas Columnist
It's no secret that an energy efficient new home will save you money on heating costs. You'll breathe good air in your warm home as well, since high performance home construction can improve indoor air quality significantly. If you've shopped for homes and mortgages lately, you also know that a new home's efficiency of energy use improves its buyer's mortgage interest rate. Increasingly, efficiency of energy consumption is also available to owners who want to improve their home's energy rating.
Home Performance Inspections
Assessing your home’s energy consumption and air quality begins with a healthy home check up. An inspection can take from three to five hours and is offered by specially trained contractors who follow the EPA's Energy Star guidelines for efficiency of energy use. Your inspector can show you the paths indoor air takes through your home, the places where indoor air leaks out of your home, and the ways that outdoor air leaks in. You'll see how your home's energy efficiency may be compromised by your vents and your insulation, too. Shop for EPA qualified home energy experts who offer free home performance inspections.
Energy Efficient Improvements: Long-Term Investments, Immediate Payoffs
If you already own your home, and you plan to stay there, then improving indoor air quality and energy efficiency means improving the quality of your life. In Danville, California, a homeowner who invested $25,000 in improvements--like a new and smaller furnace, R-8 insulation, duct replacement, and bathroom fans--is content to wait to recoup his investment. He expects to save about $800 a year in heating costs, though recent increases in the cost of energy may bump up his savings. If you follow his lead, your improvements will pay for themselves as you pay off your mortgage. However, you should expect the real payoffs to come in immediate noticeable differences in indoor air quality--and the 30 percent drop in energy costs the EPA estimates you'll experience.
About the Author
Wendy Croix is a cultural critic, creative writer, and freelancer with more than twenty years’ experience in the field of education. She received her doctorate in English from the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign and is a professor and self-confessed home improvement junkie.
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