Triangle Sustainability Blog

Fall is in the air. Even in North Carolina, the change in seasons is noticeable with crisp winds, the earlier onset of dusk and chilly morning air. And while cooler weather means looking forward to trick-or-treating, Thanksgiving feasts and the Christmas holidays, it also means it’s time to think about all the cold air that can seep into your home, reducing your coziness factor and overall energy efficiency.

For the average homeowner, a few basic do-it-yourself projects can make a huge difference in terms of comfort and energy savings. One of the best top-to-bottom guides on getting your home’s envelope well sealed is called “Insulate and Weatherize” by Bruce Harley.

Harley does a fantastic job of stepping through some of the most important energy spaces in your home, such as the attic, basement, crawl space, kneewalls and windows, and he makes getting them sealed and insulated understandable for everyone.

Another nice guide to saving energy in your home is the Consumer Reports guide to reducing energy costs. Although this book has a broader scope than Harley’s, it doesn’t have as many great ideas or step you through the work as nicely.

If you’ve already done your best to seal your home and you’re ready to take the next step in pursuing energy efficiency – or if you’re not the do-it-yourself type of person – now is a great time to contact Triangle Sustainability for an energy audit.

An energy audit will help you find places that you missed in your insulating and sealing projects. But it will also provide you information on replacing appliances, solar and other renewable energy possibilities and how an energy management system can help you visualize, understand and reduce your energy usage. So wherever you’re at right now, start making the proper plans to make your home more energy efficient so you can save money and stay warm as the weather gets cooler.

Everyone wants energy audits. I hear it all the time – “I’m trying to go green and I want an audit of my house…” or business, school, etc. Don’t get me wrong, audits are a great way to start a journey into the green unknown. But they are just that – a start.

Think of an energy audit like taking a picture. It’s a snapshot of how your home or building is performing at the time the audit is conducted. The problem is, all the data contained in an audit is backwards looking. You can see what your energy usage was over the past month or year, but not what it is now or, even better, what it will be.

If you want to get serious about reducing your energy usage and environmental footprint, you need a real time energy management system. For homeowners, several good energy data collection systems are already on the market.

We’ve utilized The Energy Detective (TED), and found it to be great for monitoring a whole house’s energy usage or even a specific circuit, such as your washer and dryer. Another great one, called the Plogg, gives you access to plug-level data for a specific appliance and will even allow you to wirelessly shut off devices.

Installing and tying all these devices together into a comprehensive energy management system can be quite difficult. Triangle Sustainability can help you not only collect your data, but create reports on energy usage and costs.

We can also help you model your usage to determine what you’ll be using in the future based on variables like weather data and time of day. Best of all, we can collect this data right on your home computer or even send it to PDA for monitoring when you’re out of the house. This type of analytical information and control makes reducing your energy usage a lot easier and more understandable and enjoyable.