| Recycle This House - Week 4: Our House Scored What??? | | Print | |
| Written by Liz Toles |
| Thursday, 26 February 2009 14:32 |
|
Well, the much awaited Energy Audit report arrived in the mail on Monday and I was about as excited as a 3 year old at Christmas as I ripped into it. Silly, to be that excited, and I can't really explain why, but I was always the kid who was happy on report card day too. So I open it up to see a glaring 61 out of 100 staring back at me. I couldn't help but feel a tiny bit disappointed, and maybe even a bit embarrassed? I consider myself a prudent homeowner who performs regular maintenance and I really try to keep the homestead running like a well oiled machine. And here it is in black and white... proof that it leaks like a sieve and sucks non-renewable resources like they are going out of style! After I got over the initial shock and stopped beating myself up, I remembered why I was doing all this... to make it more energy efficient and to start living a little "greener". It might also be worthy to note that homes in the same age category as mine typically top out at a 79 out of 100.The good news is that if I follow the suggested retrofits to a tee, I have the opportunity to raise my homes energy efficiency to a 74 which will qualify me for up to $1400 in federal grants on top of the renovation tax credit of up to $1350. More good news: raising it's efficiency these 13 little points will also reduce its greenhouse gas emissions by 3.2 tonnes per year and reduce my energy consumption by up to 32%!! Ka ching!! So what 4 items made it to the top of the Home Energy Action Checklist? 1. Heating System - Replace your heating equipment with an ENERGY STAR® qualified gas furnace that has a 92.0% annual fuel utilization efficiency (AFUE) or better, equipped with a DC variable speed motor. $500 grant and 8.5 points 2. Air Sealing - Improve the air tightness of your house by 24% to achieve and air change rate per hour or 9.8 at a pressure of 50 Pa. $150 and 3.4 points 3. Attic / Roof Insulation - Increase the insulation value of your flat roof, which is evaluated at RSI 2.1 (R-11.9) to achieve a total minimum insulation value of RSI 5 (R-28) $600 grant and 2.3 points 4. Water Conservation - Replace 3 toilet(s) with low-flush or dual flush toilet(s) that meet(s) the minimum requirements. $150 grant I now have 18 months to complete the retrofits in order to qualify for the grants, I have a detailed plan to get me where I'm going and I am inspired.... what could stop me now? Hmmmm. Join me next week for Recycle This House: Week 5 - How Much is all This Going to Cost Me? If you want to see how I earn money to pay for all this "house recycling" visit me here: Lethbridge Real Estate. Click Here to View Articles Written by Liz
|