phased DER: introduction

a slow and steady deep energy retrofit
making your home super energy-efficient doesn’t have to be super expensive

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For me, one of the most exciting parts about buying a house is getting to make energy improvements to it. I'll be writing a series of posts documenting our process of making this 1950s house super energy-efficient, in the most cost-effective way possible (hopefully). It will be a phased retrofit, in that we'll do it in stages, as equipment fails or as we have time and money.

As an introduction, here is the house and some of its energy characteristics:

Built:	1950
Floor area:	989 ft2 (exterior dimensions)
Attic insulation:	~R-16 (~7” blown fiberglass added in 1995)
Wall insulation:	none
Crawlspace insulation:	none
Air tightness:	1649 cfm @ 50 Pa, 8.83 ACH50, 0.48 nACH (including crawlspace volume)
Windows:	double-pane clear, vinyl frame, sliders
Heating:	80% efficient natural gas boiler, baseboard radiators
Water Heating:	0.59 EF atmospheric combustion natural gas water heater
Cooling:	Whole-house fan

Some of the topics I'll be touching on in this series include:

• Overall Vision
• Financing/Rebates
• Energy Audit
• Utility bill analysis
• Air sealing
• Radon mitigation
• Wall insulation
• Ventilation/Bathroom Exhaust Fan
• Whole-House Fan
• Attic bypass sealing
• Attic insulation
• Crawlspace insulation plans
• Space and Water Heating System Plans
• Windows

I hope you follow along and maybe learn something along the way--I know I will!

Click to see all posts in this series:
a slow and steady deep energy retrofit

knowledge is power!

I'm pretty excited about this switchplate with built in temperature and humidity sensors that I bought for my parents' bathroom. They had been having a problem with moisture from showers staying around too long, so I had them buy a new exhaust fan that actually exhausts the CFM that it's supposed to. Although the relative humidity sensor doesn't automatically control the fan, knowing the relative humidity can help you decide if you should manually run the fan for longer. For example, if the RH is 40% or higher and it is cold outside, you will probably get condensation on the inside of the exterior wall[1].

The separate 3-way switch is also pretty cool: pushing it down makes the fan run for a preset amount of time, like 30 minutes, without requiring the bathroom light be on. Both the switch and the switchplate are available from EFI.