Wednesday, September 26, 2012

True Story: Healthy Rental Home

Duct before and after cleaning

My landlady is a saint. Or at least, she has me convinced she is.

As an employee of 4CORE I know the dangers of radon and dirty furnace ducts, and as the mother of a one-year-old, I want to minimize the risks of poor indoor air quality to my family.

So when I brought the scary results of two radon tests (one done in February, one in May) to my landlady and asked her what could be done, she didn't bat an eye. She called up a radon mitigation company and ordered the work on our basement to take place within a month.

Similarly a few months later, my husband noticed a nasty black residue inside our ducts and told our landlady. She ordered work from a company that specializes in duct cleaning, and had her home serviced, as well. Now both furnaces are working more quietly, efficiently, there is no burnt smell from dust settling in the system over the summer, and I'm betting our bills will be reduced, too.

Saint or Savvy?
Is our landlady really a saint, or is she savvy by maintaining the value of her rental investment? Is she protecting our family's health because she loves the way my daughter waves and smiles at her, or does she realize that:

Unhealthy Indoor Air Quality + Taking Action = Doing the Right Thing

I'm betting on a bit of both - the canned pears she gave us last week would indicate she is a caring person, but she also owns a large ranch, a home in Silverton, and three homes in Durango and maintains all of them with an eye for a bargain and frugal spending.

Rental Property Owners: Food for Thought
If you own rental property, the first thing that might cross your mind is "I don't want to know if it has radon or a dirty HVAC system, because then I'll have to fix it."

However, there is a movement afoot in our region to educate home buyers (you probably won't hang on to your rental forever), and home renters too, about the dangers of unsafe air quality.

Why not do the right thing now and maintain your rental investment by ensuring a safe, clean Heating, Ventilation, and Air Conditioning (HVAC) system, and gain peace of mind by testing your rental (and home!) for radon. A healthy and efficient home helps to ensure comfort for the occupant and the budget!

About the Author

Teresa Shishim is a Colorado native who is dedicated to improving where we live through collaboration. She earned her Bachelor of Science degree in Environmental Science at Western Washington University and has significant experience managing and coordinating projects and programs, including marketing campaigns, volunteer programs, and events. She gained this experience through a variety of positions, including serving as the Director of a non-profit river restoration group and as Marketing Manager for a start-up software company.

Teresa is the designated Community Energy Coordinator for Archuleta and San Juan Counties.

Monday, September 24, 2012

Standby Energy



At 4CORE our first path to improving our efficiency is through reduction of the resources that we use. Sometimes it can be water or gas.  But one of the most effective ways to reduce our carbon footprint is to reduce our use of standby power, or vampire watts. Many are not aware of the amount of energy that is lost just through charging our cellular phone and other devices that help us with our regular routine. Examples include coffee makers, fridge/freezers, CD  andDVD  players, and game consoles. These can equate to about 10% of your average electric bill. About 1% of the U.S. ‘s CO2 emissions were from stand-by power. That’s about 16000 pounds a year.

Wattage chart by Responsible Energy

The allotted items listed by Responsible Energy you can save an annual $65-100 and over 1,000 pounds of CO2 emissions per year. In the United Kingdom the average power bill  is $136 and a reduction of 10% sounds pretty good right? By utilizing current methods of standby energy containment we can reduce those bills! Some say that it takes an hour a day to make sure all standby items in the house are turned off but a lot of people don’t have an hour to dedicate to un-plugging all of our appliances- and most of us wouldn’t know how to tell if a product like a TV even consumes energy while idle. There are many solutions to this issue such as smart outlets, which will cut the power supply to product if it is fully charged, or just not being used (check out this review for smart outlet options). Also by using ENERGY STAR rated products you can pick the product that has the lowest standby consumptions.

Electric hot water heaters can be the largest culprit of standby energy due to the need to keep water warm. It is possible to reduce the number of times a day the heater kicks on. A timer that shuts off the water for the time you are not in the house is good way to save on gas or electric water heaters.

Many governments have implemented some voluntary and mandatory guidelines to reduce electronics that require standby power to one watt power consumption in stand-by mode. California was the first to establish a mandatory law for electronics with a standby mode to be a low wattage. An example is the creation of a law- selling of TV’s with a standby wattage of more than 3 watts is illegal. This significantly reduces CO2 emissions. In the U.S. we have an ENERGY STAR designation from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), which a surprising amount of people haven’t heard of. These items were designed by all you’re favorite companies like Sony and Samsung, but they are rated energy savers, and will be a better investment in the long run through energy saved on your bills. Find more ways to save at Energy.gov.

Follow this EPA link to find more tips and tricks on reducing standby energy use.

At 4CORE we have all our computers on power strips, and we turn off lights, printers, and copiers at night.
What do you do to reduce your plug load?

About the Author
Brian Catanese was born and raised in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. He has studied at Kent state University and Fort Lewis college and will receive a degree in environmental studies at the end this upcoming year. He is an avid mountain biker, skier, fisherman, and hiker. He chose this internship because 4CORE is improving our way of life through energy efficient practices.