Tech by PC

I’ve written about the Atom processor and what it could do to save power if used in enterprise. Here are some things that I’ve done to save energy at home.

1. Replaced all my lights with CFL (Compact FLourescent) bulbs.
2. Replaced windows with triple pane vinyl.
3. Fixed the draft under the front door with a draft guard like you’ve probably seen on TV.
4. Replaced a 50+ year old boiler (in progress).

Reports on some of these are going to be subjective since I was not thinking at the time that I would be reporting on them, but I thought I would post this as an encouragement to some who may be thinking about undertaking a project like this.

CFL Bulbs

This was by far the easiest change I made. The hardest part about it was changing some bulbs in hard to reach areas such as above the stairs in the hallway where I needed to get on a ladder in a very awkward part. The best part about that though is that I won’t have to get in that awkward position for many years since the CFLs last much longer. I have a total of 31 bulbs in my house. If I had to guess I would say that the average pre-CFL average wattage was around 60 watts. Since replacing the incandesent bulbs I’ve had to replace only 2 CFL bulbs that burned out. One was in the bathroom, which makes sense considering that light goes on and off fairly regularly, and the other was in a ceiling fan. The two other bulbs in the same fixture have not had a problem, so I considered that one a defective bulb.

Since many of the fixtures in my old house are quite restrictive on wattage this also had the side effect of improving lighting. For example, my enclosed porch had only one max 100 watt bulb fixture on it. It wasn’t enough to really brighten the area. I replaced it with a 200 watt equivalent CFL running at around 40 watts. The advantages of CFLs are pretty widely known, but at the time people were complaining about mercury and fire hazards. Mercury is only a problem if the bulb is broken. Recycling the bulb recovers the mercury, and newer CFLs have lower levels of mercury in them. The fire hazard may still be a problem, but I buy my bulbs from reputable manufacturers and have never encountered seeing the base melt or any other things that can be found reported on these.

Triple Pane Windows

The difference in cost between double pane and triple pane was around $20 per window. I have 13 windows that were replaced and to me that difference in cost was insignificant compared to the cost of the rest of the project. My old windows had multiple problems. They were wooden and near original with the house. They had drafts, some were difficult to open or shut, some leaked when it rained, and sunlight coming in on a hot day was very hot. The triple pane window solved all of these problems. While it will probably take a decade to recover my replacement costs in energy savings, there is something to be said for the comfort level and resale value. The windows I purchased were custom fit Gorell. The benefits listed on their page are all obvious to us. Noise from the highway is also reduced significantly, and when trains go by the windows no longer rattle.

I received a tax credit the year that I replaced the windows. The credit isn’t enough to pay for the windows. It’s just a little incentive that the government gives us to do green things. It probably paid for my CFLs.

Door Drafts

Fixing the draft under the front door with the Twin Draft Guard Brown was by far the cheapest thing I did. The draft used to be so bad that at times it felt like a breeze. Don’t waste your money ordering it on the TV. Amazon has it for $10 with free shipping.

Boiler Replacement

This project is still underway. I currently have a Janitrol Gas Boiler that was purchased around 1950. I suspect that the efficiency rating is probably 60% if not lower. The American Council for an Energy Efficient-Economy has a great resource on this subject.This information would be good no matter what your current system is. Before you make a purchase make sure the new system is listed on this page and it meets the specifications you want. I will have to report back on my gas bill after the new boiler gets installed. I am replacing my gas water heater with the single system as well, so I expect to get some improvement year round.

Keep in mind that with any project this big the right thing to do is to get a professional to install it. I’m willing to do many different things in my house, but dealing with natural gas lines and appliances that use gas is not one of those things.

Project For the Future

Insulation under the floor in the kitchen. The kitchen is the coldest room in the house, and it probably is because they didn’t bother to put insulation under the floor to protect it from the cold in the crawl space. This is something I’m sure I can do myself.

What can you do? Please, if you took the time to read this think about what you can personally do to become more energy efficient. I know that I still waste electricity with some things, but I am improving. Even in places like at work where saving electricity does not directly benefit me it is still important to be aware of what you can do. Simple things like turning out lights when you leave a room for more than a minute can add up. Putting your computer in a power save mode. Unplugging wall warts when you aren’t charging your phone or using whatever device they connect to. See my past article on vampires for more information.

This entry was posted on Sunday, December 14th, 2008 at 8:34 pm and is filed under Other Tech, Soapbox. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.