Experts offer tips to help keep your house warm

"Anything you can do to stop airflow helps"

As the temperature plummets into the blue during winter days, energy bills tend to jump into the red. Fortunately there are many ways for both homeowners and renters to keep warm during the winter without paying high energy bills. Winterizing strategies range from filling air leaks in a home, to exposing a tile floor so it can absorb more sunlight, to opening and closing blinds on a regular basis. There are also incentives for energy efficiency like tax credits or special loans.
Energy efficiency in the winter "starts with trying to get a good thermal envelope," says Bart Laemmel, a certified Energy Star home efficiency rater who owns B2 Building Science. Laemmel says there are other names for it, but a "thermal envelope" basically means keeping air inside the house. Most homes are filled with small leaks that allow warm air out and cold air in, and winterizing primarily involves creating air barriers that stop this flow, he says.
Creating air barriers is easier when constructing a new home and basically involves using the minimum amount of framing materials and the maximum amount of insulating materials, Laemmel says.
Existing homeowners and renters have a greater challenge minimizing air loss, but Laemmel says a tube of caulk and some spray foam insulation go a long way. "If you’re a renter anything you can do to stop airflow helps," he says. "Most of those places are pretty leaky… You’re going to get more payback from caulking than from replacing windows or the furnace."
Bruce Van Buskirk, building director for the Office of Resource Efficiency (ORE), agrees that caulking is one of the best ways to keep homes warm. "It’s amazing what a difference it can make," he says, adding that applying spray foam insulation under exterior awnings and windowsills is also very effective. However, renters may not always be allowed to modify their homes very much, Van Buskirk says.
Laemmel says he believes many renters don’t use weatherizing products because they may feel the investment isn’t worthwhile, or the landlord pays the energy bills. Laemmel says it may be worth asking the landlord to lower the rent if the renter agrees to install weatherizing products.
Crested Butte resident and home renter Mikey Strauch says he uses plastic window coverings as insulation during the winter. "If they’re old windows, they’re poorly insulated and the plastic helps keep whatever warmth there is inside the house," he says. Also a hardware store employee, Strauch says landlords are typically the ones buying caulk and weather-stripping, while renters go for plastic window insulation since it’s easy to remove.
On a cold day, it’s pretty easy to find where air leaks are, Van Buskirk says, either by feeling for cold air or by passing a candle by windows and floorboards to look for air currents.
For those who wish to go a bit further, ORE offers home energy efficiency audits that use a blower door test. In this process a blower door is installed in place of a regular door and is used to depressurize a house, making it easier to find air leaks, Laemmel says.
The blower door can also calculate a home’s overall efficiency by determining the total amount of air a home leaks. During a sustainable home tour sponsored by ORE last month, Laemmel used a blower door to demonstrate a home’s efficiency. Laemmel said the new home, owned by John Murphy, leaks only 6 percent of its entire volume of air every hour. That means every hour 6 percent of the air must be re-heated.
In comparison, most new homes lose about 60 percent of their air every hour; the average home in America loses close to 120 percent, Laemmel says.
Harnessing mass is another great way to keep the house warm, Laemmel says. "There are lots of different ways to do mass. Some people have big barrels of water in the house and have solar orientation to the water to heat it up—same thing," Laemmel says. Harnessing mass is considered a passive heating technique and works best on concrete floors or other surfaces that can absorb heat, although carpets and coverings negate the effects, he says. During the day sunlight heats the surfaces and in the evening they release stored heat.
Another passive heating technique related to—but not dependent on—mass is opening blinds and curtains during the day and closing them at night.
Van Buskirk says this can be effective, but residents have to be diligent about closing their blinds each night. Otherwise more warm air can seep out and "It can work the other way," Van Buskirk says.
Strauch says he keeps energy bills low by using a central gas stove to heat the main room of the house, while using individual space heaters when bedrooms are occupied.
While not related to home heating, Van Buskirk says using compact fluorescent (CFL) light bulbs is an easy upgrade with immediate rewards. Energy Star estimates that if the average home replaced all lights with CFL bulbs there would be a yearly savings of $60.
Cleaning the lint trap before each dryer load can save $34 a year; using a low-flow showerhead can save $145 in water heating; and using cold water in the washer can save more than $300, according to Energy Star statistics.
There are other incentives to energy efficiency than just a lower energy bill. Murphy will receive a $2,000 tax credit from Energy Star as a result of his energy conservation strategies.
Local electricity provider Gunnison County Electric Association (GCEA) has low interest rate loans available for customers who want to winterize. "The loan program is basically designed for members who would like to do retrofit kinds of things like weather-stripping or a new thermostat," says GCEA member services manager Dan McDonough.
Energy Star estimates that a programmable thermostat can save $150 a year in energy costs if used properly.
McDonough says there is a $100 fee to get the loan process under way, but up to $5,000 can be borrowed for home improvements. However, McDonough says, GCEA is not a bank, and because the company is cooperatively owned each and every customer’s money is put on the line. Lots of paperwork and pre-planning is necessary to get a loan. "The board is extremely careful with how we loan money," he says.
On the other hand, McDonough says, these programs are becoming only more popular as the cost of electricity rises.
For more information and tips go to www.resourceefficiency.org and www.energystar.gov.