Time for a home energy review?
As part of the Solarize Southwest Portland project, I signed up for a home energy review sometime in the past, such that I really didn't remember that I'd done so and was a bit surprised when the folks at Energy Trust of Oregon called with a sudden opening, and asked if they could come over right away. I was home, so agreed, and then had to scramble to pick up all the dirty socks, etc.
Great service! You might think that an EnviroMom would have all this stuff down, right? Um, ha! I do have the thought cross my mind about low-flow shower heads just about every time I take a shower, but then by the time I've toweled off and gotten dressed, that thought is gone and won't return until the next shower. Same deal with CFLs. Oh yeah. I've heard the technology has improved. But I still curse some of the ones I have that seem to take 3 hours to fully warm up. Heck, I even had to revert back to one incandescent flood light in my kitchen because the long, dark winter and spring were killing me. Waiting for those CFLs to light up? I sometimes found myself curled up asleep on the kitchen floor, wondering why the coffee wasn't made yet. Sink faucet aerators? Truth be told, the thought never crossed my mind. In some ways, this can be blamed on denial. Our bathrooms had all been remodeled in that last 10 years. How bad could any of our stuff be? Well, apparently, bad enough. The great guy from Energy Trust replaced every shower head, every sink faucet aerator, and replaced 10 incandescent bulbs with LIghtwiz CFLs (and these ones are much better). Oh, and did I mention that it was all free? Score!
All told, here's what I learned:
Great service! You might think that an EnviroMom would have all this stuff down, right? Um, ha! I do have the thought cross my mind about low-flow shower heads just about every time I take a shower, but then by the time I've toweled off and gotten dressed, that thought is gone and won't return until the next shower. Same deal with CFLs. Oh yeah. I've heard the technology has improved. But I still curse some of the ones I have that seem to take 3 hours to fully warm up. Heck, I even had to revert back to one incandescent flood light in my kitchen because the long, dark winter and spring were killing me. Waiting for those CFLs to light up? I sometimes found myself curled up asleep on the kitchen floor, wondering why the coffee wasn't made yet. Sink faucet aerators? Truth be told, the thought never crossed my mind. In some ways, this can be blamed on denial. Our bathrooms had all been remodeled in that last 10 years. How bad could any of our stuff be? Well, apparently, bad enough. The great guy from Energy Trust replaced every shower head, every sink faucet aerator, and replaced 10 incandescent bulbs with LIghtwiz CFLs (and these ones are much better). Oh, and did I mention that it was all free? Score!
All told, here's what I learned:
- Some of the stuff I had in my brain about CFLs was old data. They can now be used in 'closed' light fixtures. Originally, that was not recommended. There are also now dimmable ones, which I'll check into.
- Not only will the shower heads and sink aerators save water, but they'll also save energy when running hot, as less water gets heated. Never thought about that.
- It behooves you to find out your fridge's birthday. I was told that 1993 and 2003 were big years for improved refrigerator efficiency. Turns out ours is from… 1992. Wah. While I don't think we'll go out and buy a new refrigerator in the next couple of days, it was helpful to learn that ours is likely fairly inefficient and that if we start saving for a new one, it'd be better to replace it sooner rather than later.
- They left me a form outlining 'opportunities' to save, which include things like having more insulation and sealing done.
- There was also a nice booklet explaining the cash incentives available for home energy improvements.
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