It has been a long time since my last post.  I have some personal reasons, but they may sound more like excuses to many.  Now I have a lot of catching up to do…

First and foremost, the sharp decline in real estate values has financially devastated us.  When we started the new house project, we were under contract to sell our old house (the nice profit from which was supposed to help pay for the new house).  The deal fell through when the buyers were unable to sell their own home.  Now, 12 months later, we find ourselves in a situation where we still “own” the old house, and have a new house that cost more to build than it is worth (because it also declined in value).  Unfortunately, there is no good news to report on the overall financial front.  Like so many others in this country, we are struggling.  I have been a bit depressed, and it has put a huge damper on my enthusiasm for many things.

Now the good news…

Our family has been living in this house since mid-January 2009, and it has been wonderful.  The house stayed cool in the summer months, even on the hottest days, and warm in the winter – even on the coldest.  On sunny winter days the sun passively warms the entire house to 71-72F and because of the super-insulated shell, it stays warm long into the evening.  On those days, the heating system simply doesn’t come on.  Neat.

I was energized a bit recently because I had the unique opportunity to compare utility bills with my next door neighbor.  Their house is ~400’ away from ours.  The houses are of similar size, and were completed within 6 months of each other.  Their house was built on-site using standard construction methods - 2”x6” studs and fiberglass insulation.  Their house and hot water are both heated with oil.  They have a wood burning stove and electric air conditioning.  Their house has Andersen 400 series windows with a 250 square foot Brady Sun Room.  Their house faces West.  The sun room is on the East side.  I will provide more details soon, but here is a very quick peek:

Our house – total electric and propane total cost 12/2008 to Mid 11/2009 - $4,843.57

Neighbor’s house – total electric and oil cost since 12/2008 to Mid 11/2009 - $5,674.86

That’s $831.29 in our favor.  But wait, there’s more… We pay an extra $0.02 per kWh in order to get 100% renewable energy directly from the grid (see: http://www.massenergy.com/green.gs.html).   Rather than shell out $25-$30k for a solar electric system on our roof, we pay extra to get solar, wind, and small hydro power from others.  This voluntary cost of $372.29 was included in our total above.  Had we paid standard rates for electricity, we’d be $1,203.58 ahead.  We should also add in the 2 cords of wood they used during the year (at $225/cord).  Now we’re ~$1653 ahead after just the first year.  I can’t express how wonderful it is to see the fruits of my labor paying off.

Aside – When my neighbor moved in, heating oil was over $4.00 per gallon.  It is currently about ½ that price.  If the cost had remained high, we would be $3,774 ahead.

Sure, our savings is decent, but I wasn’t completely satisfied.  We should be saving more.  I started looking around the house for things that are wasting electricity for no good reason.  I found our entertainment system was using quite a bit of electricity (even when the equipment was off).  I added a timer to kill the power when there is no chance of it being used (i.e. middle of the night).  I did the same for my office equipment.  I also added timers to the UV lights in our HVAC system.  Rather than using 50 watts 24x7, they will only run 12 hours per day.  The timers, which cost between $4.95 and $19.95 each, will easily pay for themselves in just a few months.

In addition to this, I decided to reduce the airflow going through the energy recovery ventilator (ERV).  Rather than running it on high for 195 CFM, which consumes over 275 watts, I reduced it to ~100CFM.  This cuts energy usage to 75 watts AND increases the efficiency of heat recovery.  I also switched the first floor air handler from “circulate” to “auto”.  When on circulate, the blower comes on about 33% of the time to move air around the house (in addition to it coming on when the heat or cooling is on).  I initially did this to keep air circulating and internal temperatures even.  I am thinking this may be unnecessary.  We’ll try it this way and see.  I did leave the 2ndfloor unit on circulate, however.  One bedroom, the playroom, and the 3rd floor do not get the direct benefit of passive solar (no south facing windows).  Having the fans circulate the air keeps those rooms as warm as the remainder of the house.

Well, that is all I have time to write at this moment.  I’ll post some pictures of the finished house.  Many people have been asking me for them.  Let me know what you think.

Ed

Mr. Green Dreams