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Button-Up Your Home for Energy Savings

Waterbury Center, Vermont - October 23, 2009

Measuring just how energy inefficient your home is starts with a noisy contraption called a blower door. It is a kind of fabric door with a large fan in the bottom and an electronic panel near the top. By equalizing the pressure outside the home and inside, then turning on the fan and blowing air out of the house, crews can use the electronic panel to measure how much air is coming back in through poorly sealed openings and poorly insulated walls.

"I think homeowners have very little understanding of how much energy is being wasted," says Paul Zabriskie, with the company EnergySmart Vermont.

Zabriskie wears many hats, including work with the statewide non-profit Button-Up Vermont. At Button-Up workshops Vermonters can learn how to save energy in their homes. Workshops teach simple do-it-yourself upgrades, like insulating attic hatches and replacing old thermostats with programmable ones. They are also an introduction to more extensive weatherization efforts.

"I just started by getting an energy audit just to see like what exactly could be done, what were my options," says homeowner Cassandra Lansky.

An energy audit combines the blower door measurements with a virtual model of the house to identify where the greatest savings can be found. An audit of Lansky's home found cold air leaking in through basement walls and warm air leaking out through the attic.

"Quite frankly it's relatively easy to identify major opportunities for savings in most homes," says Zabriskie.

Crews replaced the fiberglass insulation in Lansky's basement walls with packed cellulose that prevents air from getting through. They also blew fiberglass and cellulose into the attic.

Lansky and her husband also own an office in a hundred year old building in Montpelier. They had that weatherized two years ago and saw significant savings, and when they realized it was using more oil to heat their newer, smaller home than their larger, older office they knew it was time to get the house weatherized too.

"I mean it's only been a day or two since they even started it and I've already felt the difference," says Lansky.

She also expects to see a difference in her energy bill. Average upgrades like the work the Lansky's had done cost between 8,000 and 10,000 but the average return is 12 to 15 percent.

"So you invest 5,000 dollars you can save 700 dollars this year," says Zabriskie.

It is money in your pocket and more air staying in your home.

Bianca Slota - WCAX News