Energy Depot

Home Energy Saver

Debunking Myths About Energy Efficiency and Energy Conservation Tips.

Summer is a great time to weatherize your home. The improvements you make will benefit you in both cold and hot weather. Many of the improvements will reduce your energy bills and most will improve the comfort of your home or apartment.

You have probably heard advice on how to weatherize your home. Sometimes the advice is confusing, or just plain wrong. The Ohio Department of Development's Office of Energy Efficiency (OEE) can give you the facts and help you avoid mistakes. Here, the OEE offers to expose a few commonly held myths about hot summer weather, energy efficiency and weatherizing homes in Ohio.

Most ceiling fan motors are very inefficient, converting 80 to 95 percent of the electricity used by the motor into heat. The blade design on most ceiling fans is also inefficient because flat blades are poor at converting the rotational energy into downward airflow. Inefficient motors and blades result in only 1 to 2 percent of the electricity that enters the motor being converted to downward airflow. The vast majority of ceiling fans includes lights, which are usually inefficient incandescent or halogen bulbs. The heat generated from the lights not only represents wasted energy use but also contradicts the design objective of ceiling fans, which is to cool the user.

All homes built today are energy efficient

It is better to buy an air conditioning system larger than you really need.

The energy and comfort problems caused by an oversized air conditioning system are greater than those caused by an oversized furnace. Whole house air conditioners actually work in two ways. First, they cool the air. Second, they dehumidify (remove moisture from) the air. If an air conditioner is oversized, it will have the capacity to quickly cool the air. This will satisfy the thermostat and the system will shut down before moisture can be removed. This will result in cool, clammy air. To remove the moisture, you would have to lower the thermostat and unnecessarily increase your energy usage (and energy bill).

Powered attic fans will reduce your air conditioning costs.

Under ideal circumstances, attic fans would increase the air exchange in your attic, reducing the attic temperature. Reduced attic temperature means less heat transfer from your attic to your living spaces. This would reduce your cooling costs. However, in most homes, attic fans do not work this way because unsealed air leakage paths connect the attic and living spaces. When the attic fan exhausts attic air, conditioned air is actually drawn from the home and out the attic. This loss of conditioned air will increase your air conditioning costs. To add to the problem, as air is drawn from the house, warm and humid air from outside is drawn into the living spaces. Your air conditioner will now have to work harder to cool the air and remove the moisture.

As a general rule, it is not cost-effective to replace working windows and doors. Ultimately, it comes down to the cost to install the measures versus the resulting energy savings. Windows and doors are expensive and have paybacks usually measured in decades. There are other improvements, including adding insulation, sealing air leakages, sealing duct leakages and replacing inefficient mechanical systems that may be more effective at reducing energy use. These measures can have paybacks of less than five years.

If energy improvements are added to an existing design, it may cost more to build an energy efficient home. If you approach the design with energy efficiency in mind, a systems approach will result in increased efficiency at no additional cost. The U.S. Department of Energy Building America program has proven this approach to be superior on many levels, including improved durability, safety, comfort and energy efficiency. By designing a better building shell, you can downsize the heating and cooling equipment. The increased shell costs will be offset by decreased costs for the mechanical systems. Lower monthly fuel bills will also offset any slightly increased mortgage cost resulting in lower total monthly bills.

Set your thermostat to the warmest setting comfortable. You can set it 5 – 10 degrees higher when you are not at home for an extended period of time. This will reduce your cooling bills.

Window air conditioners have been manufactured to be much more energy efficient than they used to be. If you have an old air conditioner, you are probably wasting a lot of energy each month, and unnecessarily increasing your energy bills. Consider shopping for a new one. Look for an Energy Star® labeled window air conditioner to be assured it is energy efficient.

You may be able to pay very little for a used window air conditioner, but those savings will be quickly erased by its large monthly energy use. Buying a new Energy Star® window air conditioner will save you so much on your electric bill that it is a better bargain than a used one.

Houses cannot be too tight, but they can be under-ventilated. A better approach is to install controlled ventilation. During hot weather, a leaky house will have a difficult time controlling humidity, which will cause comfort problems and increased energy use.

The sun does shine in Ohio. Photovoltaics (PV) can generate electricity at your home and offset the need to purchase electricity from your electricity provider. To provide hot water, solar water heating is a viable option to consider.

CFLs, especially if exposed to cooler temperatures, can take 60 seconds or longer to reach full output. With the newer electronic ballast, the slow start and flicker of some CFLs have been eliminated. However, CFLs may not be right for every application.

Myth #2

CFLs aren't as bright as incandescent bulbs.

CFLs produce more light per watt of energy consumed than incandescent bulbs. That's why they are described as energy efficient. When it comes to replacing an incandescent bulb with a CFL, light output is a key factor to compare. Choose by lumens, not by watts.

CFL packages show information about a bulb's ability to show the true colors of an object. The "Color Rendering Index" (CRI) is a scale of 0 to 100. The higher the CRI, the more natural the colors will look. A CRI Between 70 and 80 is acceptable for most home applications.

Myth #6

CFLs cost too much

Remember: No "one-size fits all". Read the package labels and look for ENERGY STAR® to be sure of efficiency.

Your local public power system cares about this community and its future.

To preserve our world and infrastructure for our children and grandchildren, we all need to do our part.

Below are some tips on energy conservation and the benefits of planting trees. We hope that you use this information to strengthen our community now and for generations yet to come.

Energy Conservation Tips:

Listen to your parents.

Turn off everything not in use: lights, TVs, computers, stereos and other electronics.

Keep your cool and lower your costs.

Ceiling and other fans provide cooling and better circulation so you can raise the thermostat and cut down on air AC costs on summer days.

(Tips from the Alliance to Save Energy)

Benefits of Tree Planting:

Occasions to Plant Trees:

Why not mark the following occasions with a gift that grows?

Birth of a child, grandchild, niece or nephew.

Move-in day at a new home.

Milestone birthdays or anniversaries.

Earth Day or Arbor Day.

In memory of a beloved family member, friend or pet.

In honor of a promotion or graduation.

To celebrate spring.

As a welcome gift to new neighbors.

For any reason, at any time!