phased deep energy retrofit timeline

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

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I finally put together a graphical timeline of our home energy retrofit plans, or an energy descent action plan for the home, if you will. It is often most cost-effective to make an older home more efficient in phases, as equipment fails or money is scrounged for projects. However, order matters. For example, if replacing heating or cooling equipment, it is best to wait until after adding insulation to the enclosure so that smaller equipment, which costs less and typically runs more efficiently, can be installed. All these dependencies make it helpful to have a plan so you know what all you have to get done before your boiler fails and what you're going to do when it does.

Here is our plan (created using XMind):

(click to embiggen)

Some highlights:

1. Radon mitigation - Radon is the biggest health risk in homes, so this is an important health and safety consideration from Day 1. Our home inspection included a radon test which came back just over the recommended action level of 4 pCi/L. We had the seller pay for radon mitigation, which included sealing the crawlspace floor with a polyethylene vapor retarder and a fan that constantly draws from below the membrane. Sealing the crawlspace is Step 1 in converting it to a conditioned crawlspace, which perform better than vented crawlspaces in terms of "safety, health, comfort, durability and energy consumption."
2. Because of the incentives we got, we were required to make certain improvements within 90 days of closing. The improvements included air sealing, wall insulation, and attic insulation. Getting the attic insulated with 15+ inches of cellulose meant that we had to finish up any attic work before it became virtually inaccessible. So, replacing the whole-house fan and bath exhaust fan, as well as ducting the bath and kitchen exhausts to the outside, became a high priority.
3. Our asphalt roof is 15–20 years old, which is close to the end of it's expected lifetime. When it is time to replace, we hope to make it PV-ready with a metal roof. Our roof is currently eave-less, so we plan to extend the eaves in order to accommodate an extra 2–4 inches of insulated sheathing in the future (whenever we decide to replace the old steel siding).

I'll be continuing to write about these topics and our progress along the timeline in the coming weeks.

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a slow and steady deep energy retrofit

phased DER: energy audit

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

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In order to take advantage of incentives like the Colorado ENERGY STAR Mortgage, we needed to have an energy audit done as part of the closing process, in order to identify the highest priority improvements. This was really fun for me since I've done quite a few energy audits in my day and we had a great auditor. I even guessed the blower door result within 50 cfm! Our utility, Xcel Energy currently has a $200 rebate (about half the cost) for energy audits.  Energy audits vary in their composition, but usually include an inspection of insulation levels, heating/cooling system efficiency, utility bill analysis, and often a blower door test and thermal imaging. The photo above shows the red canvas blower door, which pressurizes or depressurizes a building in order to measure it's air tightness.
 
A thermal imaging camera (or infrared camera) can be a useful tool for identifying leakage locations or spots with missing insulation. In the image below, you can see that the ceiling joists are colder than the surrounding ceiling, suggesting that there is insulation on the attic floor, but that it isn't deep enough to cover the joists.


There wasn't anything too surprising in the audit report. The prioritized list of improvements is shown below. Topping the list is air leakage sealing, adding more attic insulation, and crawlspace wall insulation, so these will be our priorities in the coming months.

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a slow and steady deep energy retrofit

phased DER: financial incentives

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

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Colorado has some great incentives for making energy efficiency improvements to your home. First of all, we decided to do the Colorado ENERGY STAR Mortgage program, which is paying for almost half of our wall insulation, attic insulation, and air sealing work (~$1,500 value). On top of that, we're expecting to receive $1,310 in rebates through the Home Performance with ENERGY STAR program via our electric and gas utility (list of rebates pictured above).

Both of the programs require the work to be done by a certified contractor, so those three measures (wall insulation, attic insulation, and air sealing) won't be DIY projects. There will be plenty of other projects for us to do though! The Colorado ENERGY STAR Mortgage requires the work be done within 90 days, so that gives us motivation to get things done sooner rather than later.

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a slow and steady deep energy retrofit

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