Category — Green

CALIFORNIA.gov has home energy savings tips at Flex Your Power to save the planet, and your pocket book.  Personally, I like saving money, and then saving the planet.  Somehow, I think the two are related.

Consumer’s Guide to Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy is the first place to look for home energy savings tips.  This site maintained by the fed makes me feel all warm and fuzzy about some types of federal spending.

HIGHER ENERGY COSTS will impact heating, appliance, and cooling costs for real estate owners. Natural gas and electrical bills will increase this summer. What can you do to reduce costs?

The general rule I follow is if the cost of energy improvements can be recovered in seven years or less, mainly less, then spend the money to reduce energy bills.

First, obtain an energy audit. In California these are available from certified energy auditors in every community.   The link also provides a guide for doing your own energy audit.

Second, your home should have at least R-21 insulation in the attic, and R-19 insulation in walls. This is the most cost effective improvement you can make. Most 40 year old homes need added attic insulation, and don’t have insulated walls.

Third, have dual pane window. Over half the homes in Santa Clara County have had these installed, but almost half of older homes have single pane windows causing significant loss of heat and cooling. This is also cost effective with savings in energy paying for this improvement in seven years or less for most owners. Don’t forget to put weather stripping around doors, and close fireplace vents.

Forth, install reflective insulation in the crawl space if you have a peripheral foundation if you have A/C. Cold air sinks, and escapes through crawl space vents. Brown outs occur during summer when energy use is at its highest. In Santa Clara County if your home has dual pane windows, attic and wall insulation, and crawl space insulation expect a 15-20 degree difference between outside and inside temperatures. In my home, without the A/C on, when the outside temperature is 99 degrees the inside temperature is 81. When the temperature reaches 100 degrees outside, I turn on the air conditioner. An air conditioner is the most expensive appliance to run. Air conditioning costs can be reduced by about 70% with proper insulation or eliminated altogether. Opening the windows late at night, and closing them early in the morning can save a fortune in electrical bills.

Fifth, A/C with a energy efficiency rating of 13 or more should be purchased. These use the new R410 refrigerant. Most conventional A/C units have an efficiency rating of about 7. The new A/C units are more expensive, but mine for example will pay for itself in about 4 years in energy savings.

For Green homeowners, build or have built insulated plywood “plugs” for every window that fits every window and fills the window space on hot days. This will reduce cooling costs on hot days by another 10%. The thermal calculations for my home revealed that I could maintain the inside at 83-85 degrees with outside temperatures at 108 degrees using window insulation plugs. The window insulation plugs are light and can be stored in the garage attic. This will be a good next project.

Fifth, buy an energy efficient refrigerator with separate freezer door. Clothes dryers are energy inefficient. If you’re Green, dry clothes on a line. If not, use low heat to dry clothes. Be certain to turn off heater pilot lights in the summer. Leaving them on wastes natural gas.

This is a fun game! I win! Most owners can do all of the above, and save money over 7 years or less, at the old energy costs.

Sixth, it is likely that home energy costs may go up in the coming year. It is now worth considering: taking out the water heater and installing new “on demand” kitchen and bathroom water heaters; installing solar roof water heaters, and roof solar electric panels.  Yipee!

Next, I’ll be going off the grid!

Go Green!

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FUEL PRICES WILL AFFECT home prices.  The US has been through this before in the early 1970s when fuel was not available, or very expensive.  Sustained high gas and fuel prices DO affect home values.  This is what you can expect:

The further people commute to central work locations the lower the price of the home.  Homes within a 20 to 25 minute drive to central work locations, like downtown central cities, or central industrial areas will expect to pay slightly less for a home.  Home prices are really impacted in areas where there is a 45 minute or longer commute time to central work locations.  Bedroom communities for example like Tracy and Gilroy Silicon Valley or El Cajon in the San Diego area, these bedroom communities will be impacted the most by high fuel prices.  During the 1970s fuel crisis home prices fell 10% where homebuyers expected a 45 minute drive to and from work.

Second, home prices very near central work areas will go up, again, as much as 10%.  It is nice to walk to work, ride a bike, or take public transit a short hop to work.  Urban cities like Boston, Salt Lake, and San Francisco will benefit, and people will move to central cities.  It is more energy efficient!  May urban areas like New York it is possible to give up a car completely!  Nice.

These price adjustments due to driving time will begin to occur almost immediately.

The bad part of this is bedroom communities have already been hit hard with declining prices with the mortgage crisis, and the fuel crisis will exacerbate the price declines.

Over the long term there will be additional impacts of energy costs on home prices.  Energy sources compete with each other.  Natural gas, for instance, can be converted to LNG to burn in cars and trucks.  It is cheaper than diesel fuel or gas and people will convert their cars and trucks to LNG as well as veg oil, palm oil, and other bio fuels.  Your home energy costs will go up too!  And food.

Home energy audits are just around the corner for home buyers and sellers.

Ha!  I’m going Green.  I’m already Green!  Here are some tips.

It is healthy to buy a bike and use it.  Bikes burn calories.  I need to burn calories, so I’m pedaling to work.  Walk when you can.  Buy a motor bike or Vespa for personal mid-distance transportation.  Right now my Ford gets 26 mpg.  Not bad, but not good either. The ultimate vehicle is a hybrid getting 50 mpg or better, or something like Volkswagon Rabbit Diesel… 50 miles per gallon then burn veg oil which you can get free!  I win!!!

Ha!  Win going Green!

I’ll keep you posted at Realestateblocks.com.  Subscribe today!

CHEAP SOLAR CELLS may be available soon as quantum dot nanotechnology becomes commercially available.  Solar chips are not much different than computer chips.  As the technology advances Moore’s Law should apply.  Solar cells will improve exponentially as prices for solar cells decrease.

If solar cells were installed on just all south facing roofs the US could supply all the power necessary to run our economy, with some power left over to sell to Mexico and Canada.

It is time to go Green.

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