Cover Story	Taming the Thermostat by Bridget Kelly

There is always the pot-bellied stove.

(photo: Rose Mattrey)

Ruth West has lived in the same house on the Lower West Side for close to 20 years now. Over the years, she and her husband made continuous improvements to the energy efficiency of the house, including installing triple-pane windows. “The interesting thing,” she says wryly, “is that at no time has our heating bill ever gone down. The price of gas is rising much more rapidly than we can keep up with. It’s hard to feel like you make any progress.”

West is not the only one with worries. Fuel prices have become a bit of a national obsession, and no wonder: forecasts say heating costs are set to increase by nearly 50 percent on average across the country. That’s about a 117 percent increase in the last four years!

In the past week, both the Buffalo News and the New York Times, among other media, ran stories on how people are going to cope with the high cost of the coming heating season, discussing everything from new, alternative fuels to wood-burning stoves. Artvoice asked a representative of National Fuel whether it was going to be as bad as everyone is predicting. The price of natural gas, he said, has gone up “31 percent in four weeks. Supplies are not meeting demand.” He explained that it is normal for prices to go up in a regular bell curve over the course of the heating season in the Northeast and Midwest, but this past spring, prices did not go down as usual: they were as high in June as in January. “We’re starting out high,” he admitted, and there’s no relief in sight.

The solution is, of course, to use less energy. And while that sounds simplistic, a number of Western New Yorkers are already living the low-impact eco-friendly low-consumption life. And, for the rest of us there are a large number of very simple and relatively cheap measures we can take to reduce our heating costs this winter. Even renters can take steps to minimize the bite of high energy prices.

Walter Simpson, who heads the UB Green program at the University at Buffalo, not only preaches the gospel of reduced consumption, but also lives the lifestyle. “Most people easily can reduce their home energy use by 50 percent or more, and they should do it not just to save money but because conserving energy is just about the best thing anyone can do to protect the environment,” he says. “Whenever we use energy, there are unintended but very real environmental impacts.” Several years ago he remodeled his Amherst house, adding insulation and an active solar water heating system. Now his house is largely heated by the solar heat collected by his wall of south-facing windows. Combined with compact fluorescent light bulbs, a high-efficiency furnace, and a whole family committed to energy-saving habits, he has little reason to dread the high cost of energy. “My heating costs for January 2005 were less than $100,” he says.

Jeff Brennan, who studied under Simpson at UB and helped him remodel his house, is a “building scientist”—someone who diagnoses and fixes problems in built spaces. He is on a personal crusade to improve Buffalo’s energy efficiency. “One of the things that the poor of this city really need help with is the cost of heating the old, often run-down, rarely energy-efficient housing,” he says. “Whether you are a renter or an owner occupant, too much of your income gets eaten up unnecessarily by wasteful housing. When all the houses in Buffalo are cheaper to heat, getting out of poverty will be easier, too.”

Simpson agrees, saying that paying for energy is “a siphon of dollars out of the region.”

Brennan’s remodeling company, Apollo Construction(www.apolloconstructionco.net), offers an “energy audit” service where they test a structure to determine where energy loss occurs. This testing, which, for example, includes a blower door test to measure leakage and air flow, evaluates the entire building and takes into account each house’s individual features and flaws.

While many contractors will do short-sighted jobs focusing on only one problem and possibly creating others in the process, Brennan uses a “whole house” approach: “I tend to look for comprehensive solutions that solve multiple problems instead of band-aid fixes that may or may not help with one problem but cause others.”

For example, his pet peeve is when people solve the problem of roof leaks caused by ice dams by installing electric heater cables to the roof surface. “It usually doesn’t work all that well and occasionally makes it worse,” he says. The cables don’t address the cause of the ice dam: a roof that allows heat to escape so that snow melts, becomes ice and evenatually builds up. Worse, this uses still more energy to “fix” a problem that could have been more effectively resolved by improving the roof’s insulation to stop the energy leak in the first place.

RENOVATING FOR EFFICIENCY

When renovating a home, the first and most important thing for an energy-conscious homeowner to do is to upgrade insulation. Brennan says that the vast majority of a home’s problems, from drafts to overly dry air, can be solved through upgrading the insulation: “Most drafts are caused by hot air leaving the top of the house. Drafts on the first floor can be stopped simply by insulating the second floor.”

Upgrading the insulation is the highest-yield fix for a problem home, in that the expenditure yields the largest savings. West is cheerful about that, if grimly so: her house was damaged in a fire last winter, and so the repairs have all been done with modern, efficient insulation.

Numerous types of insulation exist now, many of them far more effective than the gap-prone fiberglass batts many homeowners may have installed themselves. Insulation is measured in “R-values” with a higher number meaning a greater insulating value. The R-value of attics and roofs should be greater than that of the walls. A house that meets local building codes may have R-11 insulation in the exterior walls and R-19 in the ceiling, but a modern, energy-efficient house would aim for numbers closer to R-30 in the walls and R-70 in the ceiling. The second and third most important considerations for a homeowner are furnaces and electrical appliances: look for the Energy Star ratings on appliances, and replace your incandescent light bulbs with compact fluorescents.

Another very important but often quite simple issue is making sure the heat reaches its intended destination. Leaky or poorly-insulated ducts are a tremendous drain of energy; heated air does little good if it escapes en route to where you need it. A number of contractors offer services where they test ducts and pipes for leaks and then insulate or repair them, but even taking a roll of duct tape yourself and patching up any visible cracks or gaps yourself can help. And don’t forget to check your furnace’s air filter. A replacement is cheap and easy to install, even for renters, and can improve the furnace’s operating efficiency tremendously.

Owners of older or historic homes should take care not to be too overzealous when renovating their homes. Kenneth Markunas of the NY State Department of Historic Preservation says there’s often no good reason to replace old windows. Sometimes new windows may actually hurt your home’s value. Markunas gave the example of a stately old Victorian in his neighborhood. It had the beautiful arch-topped windows common in the era. The owners, frustrated by drafts, had replaced them with modern windows, simply blocking off the arches at the top so prefabricated rectangular vinyl windows would fit. “You don’t have to be a historian to see the difference,” Markunas says sadly. “They basically removed 25 percent of the value of their house just by doing that window installation, and they paid someone to do it!”

Plus, new windows aren’t necessarily that much more efficient. Too many homeowners fall prey to sales pitches from contractors with dollar signs in their eyes, and fail to realize this simple fact. “A pane of glass has an insulating value of R-1,” Markunas explains. What about more modern, double-glazed windows? “R-2,” he says. “Triple-glazed is R-3.”

It is cheaper and better for the house’s integrity simply to repair your old windows, and you will see every bit as much of a benefit from adding a reasonably-priced storm window as you would from installing a brand-new triple-glazed window. Re-caulk the originals to fix leaks, repair damage to the sash and frame, and they may last you another 100 years. New replacement windows are on the whole far less durable than the original wooden ones, and are “almost guaranteed” to need replacement again within two decades.

Surprisingly enough, Brennan, a contractor himself, joins Markunas in his condemnation of contractors who let the desire to make sales overrule what’s really best for the building: “I am protective of my city’s architecture,” he says. Encouraging repairs instead of replacement is “not good for my bottom line, but it’s good for my conscience,” he says. If the original windows are in reparable condition, he says he will do so.

Many homeowners have saved 20 to 50 percent on their energy costs by following Brennan’s remodeling recommendations. In fact, it is usually possible to work out a payment plan that, with the reduced electric and gas bills, means little to no change in the homeowner’s monthly budget. The sooner you make the investment, the more you’ll save on the energy bills: “The math works in your favor as long as you aren’t paying 21 percent on your credit card to buy it all.”

RELIEF FOR RENTERS

But what of those who rent? Erin Cala, the Environmental Educator at UB Green, is herself a renter, and cannot remodel her apartment the way Simpson did his house. “What can I do?” she asked, shrugging. “Fill a sock with beans and stick it under my door.” But many of Brennan’s suggestions are perfectly practical for renters. Compact fluorescent light bulbs are available at most hardware stores, as are a wide selection of plastic wrappings for drafty windows. Some newer plastic wraps can even be applied on the outside of the window, saving your windowsills and avoiding that unpleasant crinkling sound during wind gusts.

There are many small improvements that anyone can make, and they really do add up. Cala’s sock full of beans suggestion really works: stopping drafts, big or small, means less wasted heat. Be sure to feel around for cold spots not just around windows and doors, but also electrical outlets and plumbing.

If you have ceiling fans, try reversing them to push warm air down from the ceiling to where you can feel and appreciate it (there is usually a switch on the motor housing). Make sure nothing obscures your heat vents, so that the warmed air doesn’t get trapped in the couch upholstery. And only heat the rooms you’re using; attics in particular should be tightly sealed off, but even spare bedrooms or offices that go unused most of the time can be closed off and their heat vents shut.

If you have multiple thermostats, only heat the living room during the days and the bedrooms at night. Get into the nighttime habit of adjusting thermostats and closing all your drapes before you go to bed. Don’t forget to open the drapes again in the morning to take advantage of the sun’s heat—even on a relatively cloudy day, the passive solar gain can bump the temperature up a few degrees in rooms with windows that get sun.

You should also set back your thermostat: it’s a myth that keeping it at a constant temperature is more efficient. Every degree the thermostat is lowered gives a three percent reduction in your bill—resetting your thermostat from 70 degrees to 65 degrees yields a big 15 percent savings. A programmable thermostat is the most reliable weapon in West’s arsenal: “I can drop it right down to 57 at night, and have it come up before I get up in the morning.” Most importantly, the programmable thermostat’s fixed setting “keeps people from monkeying with it,” West says with a laugh. “I say ‘Don’t touch it! It’s at the right temperature.’”

Or, use a small space heater if you absolutely need to warm a room (like the bathroom at bathtime), rather than heating the whole house. And maybe it’s a little dorky, but you should try putting on bit more clothing before you reach for the thermostat. The old adage goes, “If your feet are cold, put on a hat.” West agrees. “You lose more body heat off the top of your head than anywhere else, even your fingers.”

There are other little, common-sense things both renters and homeowners can do, including not using appliances more than necessary. For example, don’t stand in front of the fridge with the door open—think about what you’re going to get out first. Don’t leave the hot water running while you’re getting ready to get in the shower, because you’re not only wasting the water but also the money you just paid to heat it in the first place.

A lot of these tips may seem trivial and picky, but keep reminding yourself what it will cost if you don’t follow an energy-saving routine. Once you are in the habit, they aren’t too difficult, and they can add up to hundreds of dollars in savings over the course of the season. See www.energyguide.com for several different calculators that can show you in real numbers how much you’ll save by taking several of the steps described above.

HELP FROM ABOVE

There are federal programs funded through Social Services to provide aid to those least able to afford the high cost of energy. The Home Energy Assistance Plan (HEAP) can give a month or two of relief to low-income customers. But for those who do not meet the income requirements, a better bet may be looking into National Fuel’s budget plan that smoothes out your payments over the course of the year. You pay more in the summer than you actually owe, but it can keep the pain of winter months down by spreading it out. West is more than familiar with the budget plan; she has been on it all year, and her bill is $300 a month. She says she “can’t imagine what it would be otherwise” in the winter. National Fuel is “already getting a lot of calls on that,” their representative said. “People have been looking at the headlines.”

The New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA) is now offering government assistance to homeowners who remodel their homes to be more energy-efficient (see www.GetEnergySmart.org). Legislation is currently pending in the New York State Assembly to secure NYSERDA financing for energy performance contracts at local governments and schools. Even the federal government is encouraging energy efficiency: the newly-passed energy bill includes, among all the concessions to fuel companies, a 30 percent tax credit available to homeowners who install solar in their homes. This is the first federal incentive toward home solar energy since 1985.

But it isn’t all about the money. “Burning fossil fuels—whether in your furnace, car or at the power plant—also produces carbon dioxide emissions which directly contribute to global warming and climate change,” cautions Simpson. “Fierce storms like Katrina, fueled by warmer-than-normal ocean waters, should tell us that we can no longer be complacent about such things.”

As for Brennan, much of his energy-saving passion stems from his experience as a veteran of the first Gulf War. “I saw a lot of death and destruction in 1991 at age 18 over oil resources we are desperate for access or control over. War is the biggest waste of human life, resources and ecology we will ever know and we keep doing it. I feel if we were half as efficient as is currently technologically possible, these wars over resources would be much less likely, not to mention the terrorism that appears to be driven by the public policy choices the US has made in large part due to our huge thirst for oil and other fossil fuels.”

Obviously, there’s more than your wallet at stake here, but even that alone is a higher price than some can afford. West is cynical about gas prices. “If everybody turns down their thermostats, do they end up paying less that year?” she asks. She feels that the gas companies will simply raise prices further to guarantee their income, with an attitude that says “Let’s hitch a ride on this energy crisis.” She wants to get additional insulation installed in her walls before Christmas, but isn’t hopeful that there’ll be much left over in the household budget for gifts.

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