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Title: Home Heating and Cooling Strategies to Deal with High Priced Oil
Author: Paula Stone
Article:
Did you get your heating bill this month? Did it knock your
socks off?
A friend of mine said hers was nearly $500 dollars. Mine was
$200.
What's the difference between my house and hers?
Built during the first energy crisis in 1976, my 2100+ square
foot house is built on a small footprint...36' X 24". It's earth
sheltered, it faces south and gets good heat gain in winter and
shade in summer, it is heated by a propane heater on the ground
floor, supplemented by a wood stove for the coldest days. We can
cook on the wood stove if the power is off. There is air
conditioning provided free by the higher altitudes of our
mountain location and the plenum effect of our stacked three
floors.
Her house is in a city in a location where she gets little sun.
The basement is unusable, except as a media room. The windows
and insulation are poor even though her house is newer, bigger
and more expensive. She has a conventional gas heating system
and electrical cooling system that are both inefficient and
expensive to run.
I work from home and don't...and wouldn't commute. If disability
forces me to move to a house without stairs at some point, I
will go to an underground house.
Envision money leaking out of your bank account. That's what a
typical conventional house does. It's more than bad karma that
is sucking money out of our pockets to run our homes. It's bad
science that will cost us lots of money from now on and into the
foreseeable future.
Sound familiar? Most conventional houses in the US are power
hogs...really bad science. I hate bad science that costs ME
money!
So what can we do to save money? There are three viable
strategies.
1. Use less power and gas with more efficient systems including
heaters, appliances, thermostats, light bulbs, air conditioners,
hot water heaters, etc. 2. Increase insulation in a poorly
insulated structure. One of my neighbors has a cold kitchen in
winter and a hot one in summer. Why? Because the kitchen is
directly above her garage and the floor of the kitchen is not
insulated. She's been reluctant to pull down the sheet rock in
the garage and fix the problem, but this month's bill has
changed her mind. New sheet rock and insulation aren't that much
money and it's a one-time expense. Her heating and cooling bills
come EVERY month.
Insulation can make a difference. Even upholstering the walls
can help. Another strategy is to put cabinets or shelves with
doors all over the inside walls of the perimeter of your house.
Are your windows and doors in decent condition? Plastic can make
cheap storm windows. You can landscape to shade your house in
summer or build a porch or pergola to shade the windows. An
earth berm and evergreen windbreak can buffer your home from
winter winds or hot sun. These strategies are old science that
people used in every structure that was built before the advent
of cheap and readily available heating and cooling. If it's
going to cost more to heat and cool, maybe it's time to bring
back some of these ideas.
3. Build structures that are good science. Few builders bother
to do it. To do so they would have to learn something new!
Conventional structures in this country suck resources the way
frat houses suck liquor on the weekend.
Homes here are overly large, too fragile, and use poor quality
systems. Consumers can demand higher quality or learn what to
ask for.
Houses on small footprints are more energy efficient. Smaller
houses are MUCH cheaper to run, heat, cool, and buy. If floors
are stacked over each other, they can be heated and cooled more
efficiently through a plenum effect.
Earth sheltering is a good strategy. Under ground temperatures
stay around 55 degrees. Fully underground structures need small
amounts of heating and dehumidifying. Some may not need ANY
heating or cooling. Best of all they are storm and fire
resistant.
Radiant floor heat and earth heat pumps make heating and cooling
conventional structures more efficient and cheaper. Houses with
lower ceilings are easier to heat and cool. You can add solar
collectors to your house or yard, too. The idea of selling MY
excess power back to my local utility when I don't need it is
really exciting to me.
In cold climates consider an inglenook or small warm room like
the Scandinavians.
Being cheap isn't really fashionable, but some of us care less
about fashion than good science. Save some money to invest in
something else.
About the author:
Paula Stone is a former Realtor and Black Belt homebuyer and
seller. She works with her husband Ron in his mortgage business.
You can contact them as well as find great Free Mortgage and
Real Estate information for All States at their alabama mortgage
website at http://www.alabama-mortgage-specialists.com
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