Illustration by David Clark
Imagine your house is not just the place you sleep, eat and store your stuff, but more like a part of your family, with its own unique needs. Ignore those needs, and both you and your home suffer the consequences. Pay closer attention to its behaviors, and you can find ways to enjoy a more pleasant—and efficient—living environment.
“People have a sense of whether their home is functioning well or not,” says Mike Smith, efficiency expert with The Electric Cooperatives of South Carolina. By choosing the right energy-efficient updates for your home, he says, “you’ll save money, you’ll be more comfortable and you’ll be healthier.”
Need some ideas to get started? Here are seven smart ways to invest in a comfortable and energy-efficient house.
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Get a professional home energy audit
Cost: About $250–$650.
Benefit: Making recommended improvements can cut energy use by 10 to 40 percent.
DIY potential: None; hire a certified professional.
The first step—and the best investment—in any home improvement project is a professional energy audit.
“What an auditor can do is give you direction for what it would take to fix your home—a list of recommendations, prioritized,” Smith says. “If you do them, you’ll save energy.”
A whole-house energy audit will take a few hours and measure household energy use, how the heating and air system is functioning and whether there’s adequate insulation. Using diagnostic tools like a blower door and a thermal imaging camera, an auditor tests for leaks in ductwork and around windows and doors, plus other problems with the home’s “envelope”—essentially, the parts of the house that separate its insulated, air-conditioned interior from unconditioned spaces like attics and crawl spaces.
According to the Building Performance Institute, a nationwide nonprofit that certifies residential energy auditors, the report you get back—up to 20 pages of details—can include estimates of what return you might expect on any investments in efficiency upgrades.
“It’s worth paying an expert to get the right direction, because you could spend thousands of dollars chasing symptoms and not get any return,” Smith says.
Need help finding a professional? Ask your electric cooperative for recommended energy auditors, or visit the Building Performance Institute website for homeowners (bpihomeowner.org).
Seal your house
Cost: Ranges from a few dollars for weather stripping and caulk to thousands of dollars for whole-house weatherization.
Benefit: Annual energy savings of 10 to 20 percent, according to the U.S. Department of Energy.
DIY potential: Homeowners can do simple tasks; professionals should handle large-scale items like ductwork improvements.
You’re paying to heat and cool your home. You can minimize costs and maximize comfort by keeping that conditioned air indoors, where you want it.
“Make sure your house is well-insulated and well-sealed,” says Alan Shedd, director of energy solutions for Touchstone Energy Cooperatives. “Don’t go install a fancy heating system or pile on a bunch of insulation in a house that’s Swiss cheese.”
Most houses leak 10 percent or more of their conditioned air into attics and crawl spaces. “That’s very, very common—the older the home, the more leakages you’re going to have,” says Rea Bolin, a certified energy auditor with B&B Heating and Cooling in North.
A handy do-it-yourselfer can tackle simple sealing tasks. Feel for drafts or look for cracks and gaps around windows and doors; electrical outlets and light fixtures; where pipes and wires penetrate walls, floors or ceilings; fireplaces; and where ceilings meet walls. Basic DIY materials like weather-stripping tape, tubes of caulk and spray foam are available at home improvement stores.
If you invest in a professional home energy audit, you will know exactly where air is leaking and what repairs are needed. For fixes outside your skill set—adding insulation or repairing leaky ductwork, for example—ask your co-op for a list of certified contractors or visit BPI’s website.
Replace your HVAC system
Cost: Ranges from a few thousand dollars for a single-zone, mini-split system, or tens of thousands to install a geothermal system.
Benefit: Upgrading to Energy Star-certified heating and cooling equipment can deliver annual energy-bill savings of 10 to 30 percent, according to the Department of Energy; geothermal systems can cut energy use for heating and cooling by 25 to 50 percent.
DIY potential: You’ll need a trained professional who can properly size and install a system for your needs.
Heating and cooling account for about half of typical household energy costs. You can minimize those expenses by properly maintaining your existing HVAC systems and by upgrading to more efficient options when your current unit ages out.
Expect an HVAC system to last, on average, about 10 to 12 years. “Any time after 12 years, it’s a gift,” Smith says. “If you have a 30-year-old system, it’s time! It’s not being very efficient if it’s 30 years old.”
Air-source heat pumps are popular in South Carolina for efficient, year-round heating and cooling provided by a single unit. The newest variation—highly efficient ductless systems known as mini-split heat pumps—can be placed where needed in a home. Multi-zone mini-splits allow placement of units around the house, so different rooms can be set to their own comfort levels, says Rick Nortz, manager of utility and efficiency programs for Mitsubishi Electric Cooling and Heating.
“That room becomes its own home, with its own thermostat,” he says. And because there are no ducts, there’s no energy lost through leaky ductwork.
Ground-source (geothermal) heat pumps are the most efficient, albeit more expensive, heating and cooling option. Drawing heat from stable ground temperatures rather than fluctuating air temperatures, geothermal heat pumps use about 25 to 50 percent less electricity than conventional HVAC systems. Geothermal is “the gold standard” for peak efficiency in heating and cooling, Shedd says, if your property can accommodate an extensive vertical or horizontal underground-loop system.
Modernize or unplug appliances
Cost: Hundreds of dollars to modernize major appliances; zero dollars for unplugging energy hogs that are not in use.
Benefit: Save anywhere from a few dollars up to hundreds of dollars a year.
DIY potential: You’ll need a professional to install some appliances, but you can unplug small appliances around the house in minutes.
Among your appliances, the two biggest energy users are water heaters and refrigerators, which are nearly always on duty. After that, you might be surprised by another energy hog: consumer electronics.
“The fastest-growing user of electricity in your house is all the things you plug in,” Shedd says.
Think about all the electronic devices plugged into your outlets—many with lights that glow even when the device is not being used—drawing small-but-steady “vampire loads” of energy and adding to your power bill, such as the coffee maker, toaster, phone charger, computer charger, printer, TV, cable box, DVD player and video game console. A quick walk through the house, unplugging as you go, can save you a few bucks a year on items that only need power when you’re using them.
Water heaters, which keep hot water at the ready for kitchens and bathrooms, are the major household energy users after heating and air systems. Saving money here depends on finding the right unit for your home and climate. New efficiency standards instituted for residential water heaters in 2015 ended the use of large-capacity electric-resistance units (over 55 gallons) in homes. An exception was made for grid-enabled water heaters, Shedd says, so that homeowners could buy larger heaters to participate in utility load-control programs. To see if such a program is available in your area, check with your electric cooperative.
Other upgrade options include heat-pump water heaters, which are highly efficient but work best in conditioned spaces. They tend to be physically larger, so they may not fit in your existing water heater’s space. Another option to replace a high-capacity water heater is to buy two smaller water heaters, perhaps even installing them closer to where they are needed, he says. The most important consideration is to plan ahead.
“Most times, when a water heater fails, it’s an emergency,” Shedd says. “Nobody wants to be without hot water, so they put in whatever is on the truck. If you want to upgrade to something more efficient, decide ahead of time.”
Refrigerators are dramatically more efficient than they were two decades ago, Shedd says. More than a third of American refrigerators in use are over 10 years old, according to the EPA’s Energy Star program. Newer models—especially those with the Energy Star label—use less energy and add less to your household power bill.
The Energy Star website (energystar.gov) has a savings calculator that will estimate how much money you can save by upgrading. In South Carolina, installing an Energy Star-certified fridge to replace that freezer-on-top model you’ve had for 18 years can save you nearly $127 a year. By the way, that old fridge is still costing you money if you park it in the garage and plug it in there. Recycle it to reduce energy use.
Televisions, washing machines and dishwashers are all more efficient these days. Age can be your gauge; for appliances more than 10 years old, newer models will use less energy.
“The Department of Energy’s new appliance standards for energy have impacted most of the stuff you buy,” says Brian Sloboda, program manager for the National Rural Electric Cooperative Association. “It’s really tough to buy something that’s not energy efficient these days.”
Boost your attic insulation
Cost: S.C. averages range from about $700 to $2,500, depending on home location, attic size and type of insulation.
Benefit: Reduce your energy bills by keeping heated and cooled air in your living space.
DIY potential: This is a job for professionals, who have the equipment and skills to install insulation properly to meet efficiency standards.
Most homes have insulation. But maybe not enough.
It’s all about the R-value. That’s the number assigned to insulating materials based on how well they resist the transfer of heat. Higher numbers mean more resistance to heat flow and more effective insulation. When it comes to attics, the recommended R-values range from 30 in warmer climates to 60 in colder regions. For South Carolina, R-30 is the minimum required by the state building code, but R-38 will deliver a boost in energy efficiency for a modest investment.
Older homes usually lack enough attic insulation for peak efficiency, because “energy efficiency standards keep going up,” Shedd says. “Thirty years ago, R-19 was standard practice.”
Bringing your attic’s insulation in line with the recommended R-value for your location starts with the insulating materials. The R-value, marked on insulation packaging, depends on the type of insulation—for example, fiberglass or cellulose, batts or loose fill—as well as the thickness and density of the materials. For maximum effectiveness, it must be installed correctly and to the proper depth.
While you’re at it, don’t forget to cover and seal your attic access door. Upgrade kits, made of polystyrene with R-values between R-20 and R-38, can be purchased at your local hardware store and installed in a few hours.
Switch to efficient light bulbs
Cost: A few dollars per bulb.
Benefit: Save about $50 per year by replacing 15 traditional incandescent bulbs with more efficient energy-saving lightbulbs.
DIY potential: You can handle this.
You’re going to change your lightbulbs sooner or later. When you do, why not invest in bulbs that will save energy and create the lighting environment you want in your home?
Since the adoption of new U.S. lighting standards in 2012, manufacturers have replaced traditional incandescent bulbs with efficient options that use 25 to 80 percent less energy. Halogen bulbs look pretty much like the old-style incandescents; they’re usually the cheapest options, they’re available in different shapes and colors, and they work with dimmer switches. But they’re also the least energy efficient, and they won’t last as long as CFLs (compact fluorescent bulbs) and LEDs (light-emitting diode bulbs).
LEDs are the most efficient option. They can last 15 to 20 years, and their prices have been dropping, making them more affordable. They also work well with many newer dimmer switches.
When you’re shopping, pay attention to lumens—the brightness of the bulb—rather than watts, which indicate how much energy it uses. Packaging often refers to the wattage a new bulb can replace—for example, an energy-saving 800-lumen bulb can replace a 60-watt bulb. Look at the lighting-facts label for details about the bulb’s lumens, estimated yearly energy cost and lifespan, and the lighting color. Energy Star-certified bulbs can deliver the brightness you want while using 70 to 90 percent less energy.
Install smart thermostats
Cost: Products range from about $135 to $250.
Benefit: Manufacturers estimate annual savings of 9 to 23 percent on heating and cooling costs; your savings may vary.
DIY potential: Video and written instructions can guide you through installation and Wi-Fi set-up.
Early versions of programmable thermostats were hailed as tools that would help homeowners save energy and money and increase home comfort, all by tailoring daily settings to daytime, nighttime, weekend and vacation schedules. And they did—but only for those who bothered to manually program them.
“Those first ones were maybe an engineer’s dream, but everybody else was like, ‘It’s confusing, I don’t understand how to use it, I have to adjust it ...,’ ” Smith says. “We don’t want to interact with our thermostats any more than we have to.”
Enter the newer smart thermostats. They connect to the internet, can be controlled from an app on a mobile device, and, best of all, are designed to learn your home’s habits. Some newer models include sensors to detect when people are in the house; others offer multiple sensors to tailor temperatures to different rooms. And some feature Amazon’s Alexa voice-activated virtual assistant, which can control an array of smart-home devices in addition to the thermostat. Even your security system can interface with your thermostat.
“The latest smart thermostats offer greater convenience and the ability to capture information,” Smith says. “Homeowners have access to the data they need to manage their energy use for maximum comfort and savings.”