🚀 go-pugleaf

On Jun 7, 12:03 pm, Don Homuth <dhomuthoneatcomcast.net> wrote:
> On Thu, 07 Jun 2007 11:40:28 -0700, Steven
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> <thisjukeboxplays33...@yahoo.com> wrote:
> >On Jun 7, 9:04 am, Don Homuth <dhomuthoneatcomcast.net> wrote:
> >> On Thu, 07 Jun 2007 02:43:53 GMT, trijicon <d...@null.set> wrote:
> >> >Don Homuth wrote:
> >> >> On Wed, 6 Jun 2007 18:09:05 -0700, pjb...@webtv.net (Paul J. Berg)
> >> >> wrote:
>
> >> >>> ~
>
> >> >>> What is difference between a conservationist and a real estate
> >> >>> developer?
>
> >> >>> Answer: The conservationist built their house a year earlier.
>
> >> >> And lives in it.
>
> >> >And turned up the thermostat to 72.
>
> >> Nah -- the temperature just Stays at 72, by virtue of the
> >> super-insulation and passive solar heat gain, the attached greenhouse,
> >> etc.
>
> >> That's how my house stays at 72, even with the thermostats set at 67.
>
> >> In addition, there's the heat that comes from the other appliances --
> >> refrigerator, water heater, etc.
>
> >If that actually made a difference you wouldn't need all that Stuff.
>
> I need a refrigerator and a water heater.  Each is Star rated on the
> energy scale sufficiently to have received a State Rebate for their
> purchase and use.
>
> My local electric co-op and I monitored how that works for several
> months, just for the hell of it.  (Nice folks at Salem Electric.
> Heavily into Conservation programs for the members hereabouts.  Much
> better than PGE across the river.)  The heat given off by in-house
> appliances is actually relatively significant.  Put your hand behind
> your refrigerator or freezer sometime when it's running, for example.
>
> >Avocado Green Frigidaire (when they were still owned by GM) AND a ''78
> >Gibson
>
> Eventually they'll break down, but they sell well at garage sales --
> which is what we did with ours.
>
> >Two fullsized Sharp microwaves
>
> We bought a good one of those for some reheating purposes.  Beats hell
> out of using the stove -- so that works.  And if you have it vented
> inside, you don't lose the heat either.
>
> >fairly new average sized electric water heater
>
> Ours is fairly large, but Very well insulated with a Very high
> efficiency rating.  Even at that, though, it does result in some heat
> -- which keeps the laundry/utility room very comfortable even in the
> wintertime.
>
> >50+ year old house and I freeze my butt until I can absolutely AFFORD
> >not to.
>
> Mine is now about 60 years old.  One of the last lath & plaster homes
> built in the neighborhood close by.  
>
> Do whatcha gotta do there, in that case.  When I bought this place in
> 1993, the first round of remodeling involved some HD changes to
> insulation in walls, ceiling and under the floors, replacement of All
> the windows (which were at the time single-pane aluminum) with
> double-pane, argon-filled, vinyl-clad, Low E and for all I know
> kryptonite-powered.  The electric co-op underwrote half of all of
> that.
>
> Then did a Massive air infiltration examination -- which included the
> co-op folks bringing over a door-mounted fan and pressurizing the
> house to find where the heat leakages were.  That took some work but
> didn't cost much to repair hardly at all.  Caulking and
> weather-stripping mostly.
>
> Then replaced the previous dark brown roof with a white one, to reduce
> summertime cooling problems.  (Barely need an a/c unit any more, and
> then only a small one for the bedroom that vents into the attached
> greenhouse.)  Place cools down quite wonderfully at night, and then in
> the morning we close it up and it scarce heats up.  Even during 100+
> temperatures, the internal temperature runs 15-18 degrees cooler than
> outside.
>
> Then replaced all of the electric appliances with new ones, purchased
> specifically for their efficiency ratings, and naturally replaced all
> of the light bulbs with the high-efficiency ones.
>
> As a result, since this house is all-electric so I can track usage
> over the long term rather easily, the First time that the Overall
> electric bill for the place (and it's 2500 square ft or thereabouts)
> for heat, lights, cooking, computers, entertainment -- the entire
> shebang across the entire house -- went to over $1,000/year was two
> going on three years or so ago.  It remains at about $1300/year even
> now, after the recent rate increases.
>
> That's pretty damned good, by any measure.
>
> Two years ago, I rebuilt the attached greenhouse, to make it function
> more efficiently as a solar collector, along with just making it look
> a lot nicer.  Now of a sunny morning even during the winter, once the
> sun hits it the internal temp hits 75F or so within an hour, and
> opening a window or door into the main house takes advantage of that
> heat.   Along with the Large windows in the family room too.
>
> And since it's on the east, the heat comes at the right time --
> morning.  By afternoon when the sun can get Really hot in the
> summertime, it's pretty much in shadow.  And there are only two fairly
> small windows on the west wall of the house, so that's not a problem
> either.
>
> It was sorta fun -- re-doing the place to maximize energy efficiency.
> Anyone can do it, depending on finances naturally.  And some time
> available to either do the work (I did the air infiltration stuff) or
> hire it done (roof and windows ftmp).
>
> The cost of operation of my place is surprisingly modest -- probably
> less than half of what a similar place would be without the
> improvements.
>
> I'm quite pleased, overall.
>
> New construction would be easier to build these sorts of things into
> from the getgo, but I'm surprised at how seldom it gets done.
>
> (I understand that the investor-owned utilities aren't Nearly so
> interested in conservation as are the cooperatives.  That's mostly
> because Investors want you to use More of their product -- not less.
> Which is understandable.  But then, it's your money.)

I rent.