Green is Green

Ghost-written article for Phil Winters, EnWise Power Solutions Inc.
Published in Healthy Living magazine, Canada, September 2007.

It’s human nature to look for the quick fix. However, along with personal fitness regimes and healthy eating, the environment is one of those things that require an ongoing commitment. Hitting the gym seems hard at first but eventually pays off with that toned body. Equally, it might seem like environmentally-friendly home improvements are expensive but in reality, being green puts green in your pocket. Depending on the home improvement in question, it might pay for itself within a matter of weeks by reducing your energy bills by an equivalent amount. So, here are a few tips on how readers can commit long-term to the environment when it comes to preparing the home for the winter.

When you’ve been half-frozen on the way home it’s nice to be able to kick off the boots, drop the scarf, mittens and hat in the doorway, and stroll into a warm cosy house. However, did you know that 54 per cent of the energy consumed in the home stems from basic heating and cooling? That’s more than lighting, cooking, and all other appliances combined. So, if you and your family can reduce your energy use by the equivalent of turning down your thermostat by just two degrees, within one year you’ll have prevented 2,000 pounds of carbon dioxide from being pumped into the atmosphere. Installing programmable thermostats can help achieve this, preventing your home from using energy when no-one’s there anyway.

Think about the source of heat in the home too. If your furnace isn’t Energy Star rated, then you could be using 93 per cent more energy to heat your home than necessary. At today’s rate that’s almost $500 you could be spending on Christmas presents instead or, if you prefer, a gym membership for the following year to deal with the inevitable excesses of the festive season.

Simply weather stripping, caulking, and insulating other parts of your home properly can reduce heating bills by up to 25 per cent. Add exterior or interior storm doors and you can double that percentage. The other leaky culprits to check on are skylights, the attic, and anywhere that the home’s exterior is penetrated, such as the dryer exhaust, water pipes, and electrical and cable connections. Another 20 per cent can be saved just by sealing and insulating these.

Another great place to seek savings is that old inefficient rental water tank in your basement. Even when nobody is home, it is constantly firing up and re-heating your water, costing you money and contributing to air pollution. Replacing it with a hot-water-on-demand ‘tankless’ water heater will reduce energy use by 50 per cent and save an average of $240 per year (and take up much less space).

Also, by replacing your light bulbs with compact fluorescent lights (CFLs) you can make your lighting 75 per cent more efficient. The average home has 27 lights so specifically:

• Each 60 watt light replaced by an equivalent CFL would amount to $13.14 per year in savings;
• Each 75 watt light replaced by an equivalent CFL would amount to $16.06 per year in savings;
• Each 100 watt light bulb replaced by an equivalent CFL would amount to $20.73 per year in savings.

Note too, that if everyone in Canada switched just one bulb in their home to a CFL, Canada would save over $73 million in energy costs that year alone.

Fridges might seem an odd thing to focus on when considering the winter, but it’s not called the festive season for nothing. You might be tempted to keep your old fridge and just move it to the basement, garage, or games room. But if that fridge was built before 1997 then replacing it with an Energy Star model will save you a minimum of $120 within a year.

These changes might all seem expensive, but if you’re keen to be green then now is the time to commit, with government rebates of up to $10,000 available to homeowners who need help financing those changes for the better. Regardless, many of the home improvements that make your living healthier tend to pay for themselves over time in decreased utility bills, and in fact can make you money right away – and, it’s rare that something healthy in life leads to a healthy bank balance too, even for Christmas.