I found a new product online that does not have a huge upfront cost and a ROI of less than a year. Check out the products that the Larson Fan Company offer. They save the most when central air is being used.

What would you put on the labor charges? Doesn’t this package make good sense for older homes?

Many electric companies across the nation have performed studies showing that it is 30% cheaper to invest in energy conservation (weatherization) on existing housing stock than to invest in new generating capacity and running new wire out to new construction.

To that end we are interested in many inner-city (and rural) revitalization efforts going on in many metropolitan downtown areas providing low-interest loans to home owners for energy efficiency remodeling. 1st step is to perform an energy audit on every home and establish a database of what housing stock needs a concentrated effort to increase the regional energy efficiency.

1. $1,000- Weatherization- tightening up the building envelope. Do a blower door test and use a smoke pen on most of the houses and you’d see that they leak like a sieve.
2. $8,000- Ductless Mini-Splits- replacing the old 10 SEER HVAC with modern 23 SEER mini-spit heat pumps and get rid of the leaky old duct work. HVAC accounts for 50% of a home’s energy use. Forced air attic ducts down here in hot-humid climate zone 2 is really kinda stupid.
3. $1,000- Blown in attic insulation- adding insulation in the old low-pitch roofs keeps the attic heat off the interior ceiling and saves a huge source of radiant heat into the interior of the home. Remove all the old ceiling air registers and sheet rock the holes.
4. $5,000- Insulated Roof Deck- tear off the old shingles, lay down insulated decking, and put down a new reflective shingle. Keep the sun’s heat from entering the attic in the 1st place.
5. $1,500- Heat Pump Water Heaters- replacing the old electric water heaters with heat pump water heaters will save over 30% energy consumption. Take the heat out of the house air and put it into the tank, then blow cold/dry air back in the house.
6. $500- LED lighting- Incandescent bulbs are just little heaters that give of light and may last one year. Switch to LEDs and never change another bulb.
7. $2,000- Atmospheric Water Generators- These are basically 10-gallon per day dehumidifyers that go in the kitchen. They remove the humidity, filter the water and then save it for drinking, cooking, coffee and baby bottles. The new ones made in Florida do double duty as 1-ton air conditioners. They also filter the air.

Spend $20,000 per home and conserve 80% of the energy use. This make renewable energy generation a viable alternative.

A 10-year low interest loan in an old neighborhood that was an eyesore for the city will result in prettier legacy neighborhoods, higher property values, shorter commutes, less freeway congestion (and maintenance), lots of “green” remodeling jobs, and a new place for the next generation of worker bees to raise families and put the kids in the old public schools.

The utility companies get good press and can shut down old coal-fired power plants, hold off from investing billions in new gas-fired turbines or new nuclear reactors (and their cooling ponds) and then having to raise utility rates to fund them.