Join Us and Take the Net 50 Energy Challenge

Daniel Bossenbroek — Tue, 01 Sep 2009 04:19:26 +0000

You may have heard about net zero energy homes that are being designed and built today. They are houses give back to “the grid” as much as they take out. “That’s great” you say, “but what about my 60 year old house?” For many houses, it would take tens of thousands if not a hundred thousand dollars in order to reduce its net energy consumption to zero. Instead, we propose a more easily attainable goal: the Net 50 Energy Challenge. The Net 50 Energy Challenge is a goal to reduce your home energy and water use by 50%. The goal also is to be able to pay for the water and energy saving products and renovations with the savings from your utility bills over a period of five to seven years. That works out to be a 14% to 20% return on your investment, and at the same time, it will increase the value and salability of your house tremendously.

I’ve decided to turn the clock back to 2007 for the official start of our Net 50 Energy Challenge since that is when we began to

implement energy saving strategies on our house. So here is the scoop: our family of four moved to a 2200 square foot, two story brick and aluminum sided house with a partial basement and no garage in the winter of 2005. In 2007 we used 14,227 KW of electricity, 1,145 CCF of natural gas and 106 CCF of water. Through the end of July this year we have used 65.6% as much electricity, 77.3% as much natural gas, and 89.1% as much water as we did through July of 2007. So already we are averaging about a 26% reduction in utility costs.

To date, these are the water and energy saving products we have used:

Installed radiant barrier/insulation in the attic: $400.
Added R-19 insulation to a portion of the attic: $100.
Replaced almost all light bulbs with CFL’s (the rest we don’t use much and we’ll replace when they burn out): $56.
Weather stripping and door sweeps installed on all exterior doors and screen/storm doors: $25.
The entire front yard (except for the tree lawn) has been changed into a garden of drought tolerant plants: $400. (I’m only counting 50% of this since it is one of our hobbies as well.)
Use clear plastic film window insulation on all windows throughout the winter, and on east and wet windows throughout the year: $24.
Insulated some ductwork and sealed all ducts in basement: $35.
Employ most of the Green Free Fifteen, I haven’t been able to break my night owl tendencies: $0 – The operative word is FREE.
Installed a low flow showerhead: $20.
Upgraded our computer, Windows Vista, with a flat screen monitor: $0 – Needed to upgrade anyway.
Built a trellis for a wisteria vine that acts as a sun shade through the summer: $0 – Used branches from a tree that fell in our back yard.
And numerous water saving activities: $0 – again changes in habits that don’t cost anything.

This results in a grand total investment of $1,060.

The Goal: To reduce our annual consumption to 7,113 KW of grid fed electricity, 577 CCF of natural gas and 53 CCF of potable water.

The Cost: Our total utility cost for 2007 was $3,278. So, once we cut our utility bills in half, we will save $1,640 a year, at 2007 utility rates. Therefore if we invest $8,200 in energy and water saving products and strategies, we will recover our investment in five years, and if we invest $11,480 it will take seven years. However, since our utility rates have gone up about 15% over the past two years our savings will continue to grow and grow.

Next Step: To walk you through an energy audit of my house, hoping that you will follow along and do a similar energy audit on your house.

Dan Bossenbroek

Just Green Homes » Net Zero Energy Homes

Join Us and Take the Net 50 Energy Challenge