Homeowners can cut energy bills by making their houses more energy-efficient

By CATHY JETT

Date published: 8/1/2004

OMEOWNERS can practically hear the meters ticking as their air conditioners fight this summer's sweltering heat.

But that doesn't mean there aren't some things they can do to ward off high energy bills now--and once winter sweeps in.

Just ask Howard "Shag" Herndon of Fredericksburg, who conducts residential energy audits as regional manager of Comfort Home Corp. of Virginia.

"The most common problem is air infiltration," he said, "where unconditioned air meets conditioned air."

Herndon, who uses smoke pencils to detect leaks and infrared scans to check insulation, said poorly insulated "bonus rooms" over garages top his hit list of energy wasters.

"Builders don't always sheathe the back side of the drywall in insulation, so hot attic air infiltrates the room," he said. "There's only one piece of drywall keeping the hot air out."

Herndon's solution is to install energy-efficient foam board with an aluminum-foil backing behind the drywall. A recent job cost about $300.

"It pays for itself in one season," he said.

Homeowners typically spend about $1,400 a year to heat and cool the house, turn lights on and off, and operate appliances, said Ronnie Kweller, spokeswoman for the nonprofit Alliance to Save Energy.

But they can cut those expenses by as much as $400 by switching to more energy-efficient products and taking a variety of other energy-saving steps, she said.

Those can be as simple as replacing a 15- to 20-year-old refrigerator with a new Energy Star model, which uses about a fourth as much electricity as an older appliance, or putting compact florescent bulbs in at least the four most commonly used light fixtures in the house, she said.

"Compact fluorescents cost more up front, but you really make it up because they use somewhere between 20 and 25 percent of the energy required for an incandescent and they last 10 times longer," Kweller said. "Plus, they don't burn as hot, so they don't heat up the place during the summer and your air conditioner has to work less hard."

A good place for homeowners to start in determining how their energy usage stacks up is to log on to the Home Energy Saver at homeenergysaver.lbl.gov.

Date published: 8/1/2004