Making green sexy
Incentives, education makes energy efficiency accessible

SideStory: Taking the first green steps

Local energy auditor Jim Keuski aims an infrared imaging tool at a door to determine where insulation leaks occur. Keuski says most homes he inspects have a leakage equivalent of a 4-foot-by-4-foot opening in their home./Photo by Stephen Eginoire

by Anna Thomas

It’s refreshing to hear Tim Keuski, a certified energy auditor, speak about his job. He uses terms like “fun” and “cool” to describe things like spray-foam insulation and combustion analyzers.You can just picture him outside his house in his pajamas at night, taking a bead on his own home with an infrared camera, taking notes on just where all his heat is going.

Keuski’s profession, it could be argued, is a direct result of a sagging economy. The unemployment rate nationally is still hovering just under 10 percent, with a figure closer to 25 percent in the construction sector. Nearly 1.6 million people in construction trades have lost their jobs in just more than two years.

With figures like these, saving money on utilities has started to seem less ho-hum and more, well, in the words of our esteemed President, “sexy.”

In a visit to a Virginia Home Depot in December, President Obama cited retro-fitting existing homes to more energy efficient standards as “one of the fastest, easiest and cheapest things we can do to put Americans back to work while saving money and reducing harmful emissions,” adding that “insulation is sexy stuff.”

While it’s probably not a copy of Fine Homebuilding that’s tucked into the bottom drawer of the Oval Office bathroom, the President’s zeal reflects that of a citizenry so battered by bills that it’s never been so receptive to energy conservation.

Enter “Homestar,” the President’s flagship bill for energy efficiency retrofitting. In his State of the Union address in January, the President first introduced the concept of giving rebates to Americans who make their homes more energy efficient. Homestar, or “Cash for Caulkers,” would do just that, to the tune of $3,000 for upgrades such as insulation, duct sealing, windows and doors.

If the program is implemented, the Obama administration predicts the creation of tens of thousands of so-called “green collar” jobs, with a 20-40 percent reduction in energy use. Recipients of the rebates would expect to see a savings of up to $500 per year in energy costs, or 25 percent of their energy bills.

“The jobs of tomorrow will be in the clean energy sector,” said Obama last Friday, speaking to workers at Opower, a Virginia-based energy efficiency software company.

Jobs of tomorrow – jobs like Keuski’s. Homestar would incorporate energy audits into its program as the means to quantify the energy improvements necessary on individual homes.

So what does an energy auditor actually do?

“We’re crawling around in dirt,” Keuski says irreverently. He refers to the decidedly not-so-sexy task of inspecting a crawlspace, the low, narrow space between the ground and the underside of a structure that gives access to wiring or plumbing.

What Keuski sees on his hands and knees in many Durango homes is arresting. In a region with an average low temperature in winter of 13 degrees, a lot of the homes that he inspects have absolutely no insulation in the crawlspace, attic or ducts.

Energy auditors use several diagnostic tools to determine, among other things, how “leaky” a home is. A blower door test is one such tool. A sheet is placed in the front door, and a fan creates negative pressure inside the house. The auditor then walks through the house with an infrared camera to see where cold air is coming in from the outside.

“Leaky” areas show up on the screen like angry purple bruises.

“Insulation is really cheap to do,” Keuski says, calling it “a priority.” He estimates that adding closed-cell spray foam insulation to a typical Durango basement might cost around $2,000.

An investment, to be sure, but one that the EPA estimates would save the average American homeowner 20 percent on heating and cooling costs. The Colorado Governor’s Energy Office (GEO) reports that the typical Colorado home spends $1,000 per year on natural gas. You do the math.

Speaking of the GEO, for the first time, the State of Colorado will begin implementing a rebate program, a la Homestar, at the end of this month. The GEO anticipates offering rebates for the purchase of Energy Star appliances, enacting energy efficiency measures such as energy audits and insulation, and for the big daddies like solar photovoltaic panels and small wind systems.

In addition to the to-be-announced state rebates, a myriad of tax incentives, consumer

When asked for the best way to inform a homeowner about energy efficiency improvements and the incentives out there that promote them, Keuski says, “Education, education, education.”

Greg Mantell-Hecathorn agrees. A green builder, he is also president of the Homebuilders Association of Southwest Colorado, a nonprofit organization that promotes education on green building. Last year, he started the Sustainable Building Education Program, a series of brown bag lunches, seminars and technical trainings aimed at educating homeowners, builders, architects and real estate agents about energy-efficient green building.

“Durango is a progressive town, but it’s not progressive in green building standards,” says Mantell-Hecathorn. “The more people you get involved, the more commonplace and affordable.”

He cites Telluride as an example. There city planners recently adopted an ordinance requiring all new residential construction, additions and remodels to comply with green building regulations. “Code changes force green builders and Realtors to learn about green building,” he asserts.

Mantell-Hecathorn recently bought a historic residence downtown, which he plans to use as a case study for retrofitting an existing house to energy efficiency standards while preserving its historical integrity. The 1920s structure was built to code for its time, but today is sorely lacking in energy efficiency. When it’s finished, it will be open to the public as an educational tool to promote knowledge of green building.

One oft-overlooked but integral feature of green built homes is increased health and comfort over that of their traditionally built predecessors. Keuski cites his own, non-green, home as an example, in which the furnace is located in the garage.

“What else is usually in the garage?” he asks. “Chemicals, paints, cleaners – they do leak.” The furnace draws all that off-gassed air into the rest of the home, creating what could legitimately be called a toxic environment.

An energy efficient green home is built to prevent air leakage, but it also incorporates measures like the use of nontoxic adhesives, finishes and paints, as well as use of direct-vent appliances.

“If you’re creating an airtight enclosure, you want everything within that enclosure to be healthy,” Mantell-Hecathorn says.

Which is why, he urges, education is so important, both for homeowners and builders looking to catch the green-building wave. “You have to look at the house as a system,” he says. “You can’t just cherry-pick the features you want.”

There is so much information on energy efficiency out there that it can be daunting. Luckily, the local nonprofit Four Corners Office for Resource Efficiency, has already done the legwork. The 4 CORE website is a virtual encyclopedia of energy efficiency. In addition, the organization has taken over Mantell-Hecothorn’s post as program manager for the Sustainable Building Education Program.

A little time spent on the internet or an hour at a brown bag lunch might save a homeowner a ton of money.

To paraphrase our increasingly quotable President, if it were $20 bills floating out through the window instead of hot air, you wouldn’t just tell yourself you’ll just put on another sweater. •

For more work by Anna Thomas, visit www.annathomas.net