May 25/2009

 This weeks article is going to be about energy consumption in the home. I have watched many home improvement programs in the fight to bring my home energy costs down. To this point it has been a loosing battle, I decided to phone my Hydro Electric Company to see if they could give me pointers. I was advised to have a Energy Efficiency Evaluation Report done, which turns out is a free service supplied by the electricity supplier where I live. Before the Certified Energy Advisor showed up to my home I had some ideas in my head of what my problem in my home might be, to my surprise I was thinking in the totally wrong direction. This was due to the television programs I watch on making your home more energy efficient, they constantly push the idea of installing new windows, claiming this is one of your main areas of energy loss. I soon find out from a person who is not influenced by anyone that this an incorrect misconception, that windows only amount to about 1% of a homes energy loss. His comment to me was that the television show have to comply with their advertisers, which now makes a lot of sense. I will explain it the way it was explained to me. In most homes today your windows are double paned, by purchasing new windows that are triple paned only adds another 1/8th inch of a solid pane of glass which has no insulation value.  Solids freeze right through or heat right through adding no insulation value at all. All you are getting is the little extra air space between the panes which does not amount to much. When it comes to energy savings, windows would take approximately 100 years to pay off because they only amount to 1% of energy loss. The two areas that amount to most of your energy loss are air leakage and lack of insulation. Air leakage is very cheap to fix in most cases, it is just a matter of finding where it is and that's where the professional comes in. The insulation is a little more expensive but may be cheaper than you think. Here is another area where watching tv programs my be the worst thing we can do as Do It Your Selfers. When he mentioned insulation, the first thing I asked was should I get the new expanding foam insulation that they show on tv? He said NOOOOOOOO, I guess that means I was fed more tv and retail propaganda, although he said it is a fine product it is no better than your regular pink insulation but the cost is what makes it not worth using. He stated the whole point is to make your home more energy efficient and be dollar wise about it. By using the expanding foam it would take too many years to pay it off in energy savings. This is what I found out about my home, and trust me I was shocked. I own a 2400 square foot home that I thought was a greatly insulated and air tight home. I have all energy efficient appliances but my energy costs were through the roof. The evaluation that I got on my home's EnerGuide Rating was a 48 out of 100. My first steps to increase this will be to seal up some of my air leakage that I was surprised even existed and then to insulate around my foundation of my home and place even more insulation in my attic space. These small steps will then bring my home from a 48 Energuide rating to a 66. I know this might not sound like a lot but in my home this equals a savings of well over $1000 a year probably closer to $2000 a year. My cost to have this work done is approx $3,449.28, in energy savings it will only take two years to pay for it self. But as we all know, every home will be different. Take the time to phone your Hydro Electric Company and ask them if they supply this service or if they can lead you in the direction of a good service like this. Just be sure that the people you deal with are not also contractors, you want a person who has nothing to sell other than proper information.

April.23/2009

At swap-online, our goal is to help people save money every year. Whether it be through trading your unused items for things you want or need, or through our tip of the week. Lately we have fallen behind on the tip of the week due to the fact that without a solid direction to follow, coming up with money saving tips has been a difficult task as we like to post "tried and tested" ways of saving money, not just reading about them and passing the information along to you. Lately our focus has been directed at going green and what the possibilities with it are, from what I can see it is not only a way to save the planet, it is a great way to save money as well. I am not talking about taking all your household cleaning products and throwing them out, then head to your local store and buy green cleaning products. That would just be crazy!! Not only that, you would be paying twice as much for the green
product. When I have seen green cleaning products in the store and viewed the price, the first thing that comes to my mind is some one is running the perfect scam and profiting greatly. Since I have already talked about cleaning products, I might as well start there. Your window, kitchen and bathroom cleaners can all be replaced with vinegar and water, a 50/50 mix. Yes it smells like vinegar til it dries, then the smell goes away. The beauty of this is it is cheap to make, the acid levels make a great cleaning product and it is not toxic for you to breath. If you are looking for that clean house smell that you get from your store bought cleaners use lemon juice instead or after cleaning, scent the house with essential oils. If it is an abrasive cleaner you are looking for, baking soda and water works great. These are all old time recipies that were used in the past and just coming back.
Why have we forgot about these methods? I would have to say that the companies that produce the cleaning products have sucked us into their world through all the tv commercials and other media ads. Every cleaning product you use has a homemade alternative online, Just search for HOMEMADE CLEANING PRODUCT RECIPIES. I don't know about you, but I also find that most of the products that are advertised do not stand up to their claims, so why pay them top dollar when you can make a comparable product for pennies. With a little research on your part you can start saving money today and stop flushing toxins down your drain. Cleaning products is just touching the surface of how you can go green and save money. Each week we will pick a new topic and explain it in more detail and if you have your own green tips please feel free to send them to us and we would be happy to post your tip. If you want more information about topics that we have covered, email us and we would be happy to answer your questions.

Topics that will be covered in the near future will be house hold cleaning, gardening and making your home more energy efficient. We will also be doing projects to satisfy the handy-person in you by building solar hot water systems and wind powered generators and keep you up to date on how they are working for us.

We look forward to sharing our ideas with you and hope to receive your feedback.