5 more tips for energy savings this winter

Like all savvy energy consumers, you're probably looking for ways to cut down on your energy bill this winter by eliminating waste. Earlier this month, we shared a few tips to help achieve this goal, and here are a few more:

• Don't block heating vents. Why would you want to restrict your heating system from actually heating your house? If your heating vents or radiators are blocked off by furniture and appliances, the heat can't escape and spread into the room. 
• Leave shades open during the day on the south side of the house. This will let in natural light and heat to offset some of the work your heating system would otherwise have to do.
• Make sure your furnace filters are clean. Dirty furnace filters are notorious energy wasters, restricting the flow of warm air and forcing your furnace to work harder to heat your house. You can change the filter yourself, or you can have the furnace serviced by a professional to save even more energy.
• Seal all the leaks. Anywhere where heat might escape — common culprits are fireplaces and chimneys, doors, windows, plumbing fixtures and ducts — should be sealed off for maximum heating efficiency. Caulk and weatherstrip doors and windows, and fill in all other leaks as you can. This will cut about 10 percent off your monthly energy payment.
• Turn down the temperature on your hot water heater. Having a hot water heater set to any higher than 120 degrees Fahrenheit causes energy loss. Turn it down to save 7 to 11 percent on heating costs.

Nothing will let you know exactly how to conserve energy quite like an energy audit from Alban Inspections. Contact us today to set up a time to have one of our accredited home inspectors evaluate your home's energy use. 

It's a task that many of us dread as fall turns to winter: raking leaves into huge piles, stuffing them into endless brown paper bags, raking up the excess leaves that got scattered in the bagging process, bagging them up, repeating the next day when more leaves fall. So it will come as a relief to some of you to know that you don't have to do it at all. In fact, environmental experts actually recommend against raking and bagging leaves. Instead, they recommend leaving them in place, then going over them with a lawnmower with a mulching blade attached.

The benefits associated with mulching rather than raking leaves are numerous. According to the National Wildlife Federation, fallen leaves provide a rich habitat for small wildlife, such as salamanders, toads, butterflies, shrews and chipmunks. In turn, this habitat enriches the soil and fertilizes the land for the coming year, improving the appearance of lawns and gardens — so if you're worried that mulching won't be as aesthetically pleasing as removing leaves, just wait until next year when your garden will be blooming better than ever before.

Moreover, the environmental and monetary costs associated with the removal of all those bags of leaves are absurdly high for something that isn't absolutely necessary — the cost to town and city officials of hiring leaf removal contractors can reach into the millions of dollars. On top of the financial cost, there is also an environmental cost that comes with using large vehicles to haul leaves away.

One New York landscaping contractor summed this up neatly in a New York Times article: "It's utterly insane to be driving tractor-trailers 90 miles away".

If you're looking for more ways to make your home more energy efficient this winter, consider scheduling an energy audit with Alban Inspections. We'll make recommendations based on the particular situation in your home. 

If you're looking into making energy efficiency improvements to your home, you're likely wondering how much it will cost you. Energy-efficient appliances can be more expensive, it's true, but not only do they pay for themselves in energy savings over a short period of use, there are also numerous government- and privately-sponsored programs to help consumers save on the up-front cost. These are designed to increase the average citizen's access to energy-saving technology, creating a social benefit for all through improved environmental conditions. One of these programs is the Potomac Edison Energy Efficient Products Program, available to customers of Potomac Edison in Maryland. 

The Potomac Edison Energy Efficient Products Program encourages participants to switch to energy-efficient appliances by offering partial or full rebates for the purchase. These rebates include up to $2.25 per bulb for compact fluorescent lightbulbs, $10 per bulb for LEDs, up to $150 for washing machines, refrigerators and other large appliances and up to $500 on heat pump or electric water heaters. All you need to do is submit proof of purchase and a mail-in rebate application to Potomac Edison, which can be found here. With the help of these rebates, your new appliances will pay for themselves before you even notice the money is gone. 

How to decide which appliances to switch out? Schedule a completely free 60-minute home check-up energy audit with Alban Inspections, and our accredited inspectors will determine where the most energy is being lost in your home. In addition to providing you with a list of potential improvements, the inspector will install small energy-efficient devices, such as low-flow showerheads, low-flow aerators and energy-efficient light bulbs, for no additional charge. 

Have you ever looked at your energy bill and wished you could piece out exactly which appliances were causing the numbers to jump? According to the Alliance to Save Energy, the average American household spends about $2,160 per year on energy, but this figure could be reduced by 30% by using ENERGY STAR certified appliances. But which appliances should be the first to get switched out? Here are the top four energy-hogging appliances in your home:

• The heating and cooling system. HVAC (Heating, Ventilation and Air Conditioning) systems are responsible for about 47% of the average American household's energy expenses, so they are the obvious place to start when looking to save money. Make sure your home is well-insulated, have your HVAC system inspected regularly by accredited home inspectors, and consider switching to an ENERGY STAR certified system.
• The water heater. As 14 percent of the average home's energy use, water heaters are prone to energy-wasting, especially if you have them set too high — 120 degrees Fahrenheit or lower is best. An energy-efficient water heater can cut water use by half.
• Electric lighting. There is really something to the idea that turning lights off when you leave a room saves energy — lighting fixtures are responsible for 12 percent of your energy expenditures, and can be made more efficient by switching out incandescent bulbs in favor of compact fluorescents or LEDs.
• The washer and dryer: Constituting 6 percent of the average home's energy costs, these appliances hog way more than their fair share of costs. You can save over $30 per year simply by washing your clothes in cold water.

To prepare your home for the winter, schedule an energy audit with Alban Inspections today. We will make recommendations for updating your home to be as energy-efficient as possible, saving you money in the long run. 

By now, most of us are aware that incandescent lightbulbs are a thing of the past. Short-lived and energy-wasting, incandescents eat up far more than their fair share of a household's power and needlessly inflate energy bills for those who use them (studies estimate that 25% of the average home's energy cost comes from electric lighting). However, some consumers are hesitant to make the switch to more energy efficient forms of lighting. LED (Light Emitting Diode) bulbs are one of these forms, and if this list of benefits doesn't convince you to switch your lighting strategy, nothing will:

• LED bulbs last longer. Ten times longer than compact fluorescent (CFL) bulbs, to be exact, and many, many times longer than incandescents. 
• They provide significant energy savings. Although LED bulbs can be more expensive than CFLs and incandescent bulbs up front, this cost difference is easily made up and exceeded in energy savings over the life of the bulb.
• They are durable. LED bulbs are more solidly made than CFLs and incandescents, and can be transported easily since they don't contain a filament that is vulnerable to breaking due to jostling around during a move.
• They stay cool. Even after a long period of use, LED bulbs stay much cooler than other bulbs. This prevents the release of extra heat into a room, keeping air conditioning costs down during the summer months.
• They come in many colors. Although the most popular color for LED bulbs is white, red and green LED lighting are popular with pilots and the military for their night vision effects, and blue LED lighting is particularly easy on the eyes for reading and other detailed tasks.

To schedule an energy audit and find out how your home's energy use could be reduced by installing LED bulbs, contact Alban Inspections today.

Attic insulation is crucial in winter – the attic is one of the locations where the greatest amount of energy is wasted in the form of heat loss. If you have a drafty attic but aren't sure how to go about fixing it, this is your opportunity to get advice from the experts in energy conservation: ENERGY STAR is hosting an online event called "Rule Your Attic", ongoing until Nov. 28. If you post a picture or video of yourself measuring the insulation level in your attic and tag it with #RuleYourAttic or @ENERGY STAR, you will receive an expert response on how to improve your insulation, personalized for the particular situation in your home.

If you're not sure whether your attic insulation needs improvement, consider these factors: Do ice dams (large, thick accumulations of ice that cover the edges of the roof and gutters) tend to form on your roof in winter? Have your heating or cooling bills been unusually high? Are there some rooms in your home that are draftier than others or, when you touch the walls or ceiling, are they noticeably hot or cold? Improving your attic insulation level can help mitigate all of these problems. 

Attic insulation can sometimes be completed by the homeowner, but in more difficult cases, it can be wiser to hire a professional. If your attic has limited access, moisture problems including rotting wood, or knob and tube wiring installed before the 1930s, installing insulation can be dangerous and is best left to someone with more experience.

If you're wondering whether your attic could be losing energy and costing you money, schedule an energy audit with Alban. We will pinpoint the locations where energy is being lost and make suggestions for improvements, which could be eligible for rebates from one of our sponsored programs (Potomac Edison, the Pepco Home Energy Savings Program, or BGE Smart Energy Savers). 

According to a recent study by the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), if you're going to have new HVAC (heating, ventilating and air conditioning) equipment installed in your home, it's critical to have it done by a licensed professional. Without proper installation, the study found, energy-efficient heating and cooling systems do not actually save energy for the consumer, with improperly installed units using about 30% more energy than those installed according to quality standards. This means that the energy efficiency ratings for the improperly installed appliances are rendered inaccurate, leading to unexpectedly high energy use and cost for homeowners.

The study team tested the performance of a heat pump with several types of common installation problems in a climate-controlled lab, then replicated the experiment with simulations of how the pump would perform in an actual house. Of the many errors that can occur in installation, the one that was found to cause the greatest eventual energy loss was leaky ductwork, followed by refrigerant undercharge, indoor airflow problems, and mismatch of equipment size with ductwork size. When more than one error is present in the same system, their effects combine and cause even greater amounts of energy to be lost. 

This study was the first in the US to quantify the problems caused by improper installation of HVAC systems, but here at Alban Inspections, we've always known that in order to function properly, home equipment must be installed and maintained by trained professionals. If you suspect your home may be losing energy due to installation errors, contact Alban for a home energy audit to determine what the problem might be, and to discuss the energy efficiency savings programs we have available to help you save money while decreasing your home's energy consumption.

Some bad news for residents of Maryland, Virginia and West Virginia has come to light recently: A WalletHub study found that all three states fell in the bottom half of US states in energy efficiency and energy expensiveness. Maryland performed slightly better than the other two, at #25 in the country for energy efficiency, but still fell in the top of the ranking for energy expensiveness, while West Virginia and Virginia came in at #42 and #43 respectively for energy efficiency and performed no better in the energy expensiveness category.

The data was organized into three categories: average home energy use, average car energy use, and the expense of a typical energy plan in each state. Residential energy consumption was calculated by dividing the total energy use by the number of annual degree days, which are a measure of how much a room must be heated or cooled to reach an average temperature of 65 degrees each day. Car-related energy consumption was calculated by dividing miles driven by gallons of gas consumed. 

Energy efficiency is important for consumers not only because of the environmental impact of poor energy conservation, but also because of the financial losses associated with powering inefficient homes and vehicles. According to WalletHub, the average yearly household expenditure on energy bills is over $2,200, not to mention the heavy costs of keeping the tank of a low-MPG car full. Essentially, low energy efficiency is a lose-lose scenario for both humans and the environment. 

The bright side of this news is that in Virginia and West Virginia, the only way to go from here is up. For help with assessing your home's energy efficiency or to schedule an energy audit, which is an easy way to save money this winter, contact Alban Inspections today. 

As the threats posed by global warming and the associated extreme weather patterns become more urgent by the day, home designers are racing to find ways of building houses that can stand up to natural disasters. UK design firm Baca Architects' answer to this challenge presents an interesting reversal of the usual paradigm of "resistance": Their new design for an "amphibious house" on the River Thames will lift off its foundations and float in case of a flood.

Richard Coutts, co-founder of the firm, emphasized this more passive strategy in an interview with Dezeen Magazine: "Rather than building flood defences, [The LifE Project] considers a different approach, to acknowledge man cannot beat nature and to actually make space for water."

The house, which is currently in construction on a flood-prone island near Marlow in Buckinghamshire, is designed to work essentially the same way as a boat in a dock. The home is made from extra-lightweight materials, and its "dock" is a sort of case made of steel and mesh that allows water to enter. Since the house weighs less than the equivalent volume of water, physics dictates that during a flood, when water flows into the dock, it will raise the house up along guiding stilts that keep the structure in place. This acquiescence to the power of water ensures that all the possessions and living space in the home are kept safely above flood level and out of harm's way. 

The design also makes use of the garden for what Coutts calls an "intuitive landscape" — when two of the terraces fill with water, it is a sign to the residents that the house will begin rising soon. All of these strategies draw from the relatively new school of "aquatecture", which does not try to protect the home from water but rather uses water to enhance both its form and function. This combination of scientific savvy with heightened awareness of the power of nature may be the next step in moving beyond merely energy efficient homes and toward homes that are fully integrated with their natural surroundings.

Green building agencies constantly struggle with the issue of how to integrate traditional home designs into the natural environment without polluting or exhausting the local ecosystem. According to Brooklyn designer Mitchell Joachim, these traditional designs may be the root of the problem. His newest home design, the Fab Tree Hab, provides a plan for a home that is literally grown, not built: its main supports are the branches and trunks of living trees, woven through scaffolding to create a pod-shaped living space that fits in perfectly with its natural surroundings.

The design incorporates living plants as both structure and insulation: While the tree trunks provide load-bearing support, a sort of skin of woven vines encircles the walls, protecting them and allowing plants to grow from soil applied to the exterior. Water is collected on the roof to be used by the inhabitants, then redistributed through a gray-water irrigation system to sustain the plants that make up the home. Even the insulation and interior walls are made from natural materials — a clay and straw composite topped off with plain smooth clay on the inside. 

This idea may seem fantastical, but Joachim insists that the technology is available and workable, though its practical implementation is made more difficult by antiquated bank and insurance policies that are unwilling to cover this type of home. And besides, he adds, why should the fact that an idea is unusual mean that we take it less seriously? "It looks like something out of a J.R. Tolkien book, or Lord of the Rings and we know that," says Joachim, but "[a]t least, as far as I'm concerned, there's nothing wrong with elves."

For more information on home energy efficiency or to schedule a home inspection, contact Alban today.