Omaha By Design: Omaha, Only Better

by Ken Mayer

I’ve always considered myself something of an information worker. Not that I expect to win big on Jeopardy, more along the lines of using the stuff to make better decisions, both personally and professionally.

As we remodeled recently, I got to thinking about information that could help make the house more energy efficient. Some things didn’t require much intellectual effort. Replacing a furnace that was over 20 years old and about 70% efficient with one that’s 95% efficient was a no-brainer. Likewise with windows and doors.

Granted those improvements weren’t cheap, but breakeven on the projects, taking into account the energy savings, isn’t very far off, either. Makeover accomplished, I relaxed, Scotch in hand, admiring my efficiencies.

As I sipped a wee dram, a quote attributed to the great architect Mies van der Rohe came to me, “God dwells in the details.” This got me wondering if maybe there were little things about the house that I didn’t even know I didn’t know.

Time to get some information. I called OPPD’s Energy information Center and requested an energy audit.

At the agreed upon time, Jon Traudt, president of Health and Energy Company (www.healthandenergy.com), appeared on my doorstep, loaded down with gear. After a look around and some questions, he set up his big red blower door.

The blower door is just a big fan connected to a laptop computer in a frame that fits in the front door of the house. Turning on the fan creates negative pressure in the structure.

The rig cranks up, and I’m thinking this is going to be some big fun. It sure enough was. Traudt walked around with a little smoke puffer showing me where air was leaking. A bit around a cold air return, a little under the vanity in the bath, some up beside the hood over the stove, a tad through an electrical outlet, some out through the vent for the dryer and a smidge around the new windows.

Next the computer takes over and puts the blower through its paces measuring air loss. Turns out the house’s leakage measured 103 square inches. That’s like having a hole about a foot in diameter that’s always open letting air in and out. The software estimated that, at current rates, that’s $137 a year lost but warns that real world loss could be twice that much or more.

But that’s not the half of it. Traudt was bearing gifts as a part of the audit, and he hands over a shoe box full of caulk, expanding foam, even a radon test kit. Then he proceeds to patiently show me how to seal up the framing around a cold air return to prevent cold air from entering the heating system from the attic, where to caulk, and how to seal electrical outlets and switches.

Best three hours I’ve spent in some time. All this was documented in a nine-page printout with pictures showing simple solutions to the problems detected. In addition, he left me with a packet of government information about energy efficiencies.

I’ve implemented most of the audit’s findings at surprisingly low cost, and I continue to monitor energy use. I hope to quantify real world savings and will report on what I find. Out in Colorado, energy efficiency expert Amory Lovins has demonstrated just how efficient even a big house can be. Lovins was the recipient of a MacArthur Foundation “genius grant” and co-founded the Rocky Mountain Institute, an energy and environmental think tank that has consulted with Wal-Mart Stores, Ford Motor and now Omaha by Design. He lives in a dwelling of some 4,000 square feet that uses one-tenth the energy of a typical U.S. house of that size.

This isn’t about alternative energy sources or exotic solutions, it’s about efficiency. A McKinsey & Co. study concluded recently that the United States could cut its energy use 23% below the projected demand level in 2020 by boosting efficiency alone, saving $1.2 trillion in energy costs. To that end, a few cities, including Austin, Texas, have recently begun to require an energy audit before a house can be sold.

I‘m not sure that requiring an audit is a good idea, but having one done before you buy, just as you would a home inspection, seems like money well spent to me. Going forward however, getting information about real world energy efficiency at the single dwelling level still isn’t very easy.

OPPD is currently testing several different types of real time metering that have the potential to tell the homeowner how much electricity is being used at the moment and what it’s costing. It’s only being tried in 150 homes right now.

Seems to me that we don’t necessarily have to make dramatic lifestyle changes to reduce our energy use and carbon footprint, we just have to use the energy we have more efficiently.

The first step is to get information. Do an energy audit, follow the recommendations and let your utility companies know you would like to have real time data on your own energy use.