Caulk & Seal

If you can squeeze toothpaste from a tube, you can just as easily caulk and seal your house against energy-sapping leaks and cracks.  This task can get a be a little messy and sticky until you figure out the nuances of using caulk and expanding foam, but it is a great complement to other ideas like having your ducts sealed or sealing your outlets and switches.

Exterior

Take a walk around the outside of your house and look for gaps in the siding.  If your house is on a foundation, get low and inspect where the walls meet the slab, and inspect particularly where two materials meet to make a seam.  Fill small holes and cracks with a caulk formulated for concrete and/or mortar repairs.  Use a caulking gun to apply a liberal amount of caulk into the gap, and then follow behind with your finger or a rag to smooth out the material and push the excess into any remaining gaps.

If you find gaps too large to fill with caulk, you can use a can of expanding foam. Spray-on expanding foam comes out of the can as a wet, sticky "goo," so take care to ensure that you don't get it on yourself.  Follow the instructions on the can which indicate that you should fill the gap to less-than-50% full.

The expanding foam will expand.  You might be surprised how much it will grow!

Both of these products are difficult to save--that is, once opened, they tend to dry out quickly...especially the expanding foam (the instructions even indicate to expect only one use per can.)  So, plan on using up all the material, or coordinate with a friend or neighbor to share the cost and use of each.  This way, two households will gain the "green" benefits and less ends up in the landfill.

Expanding foam in a large gap where the siding meets the foundation.  This stuff really expands!

Concrete/mortar repair caulk at the seam between the wall and concrete foundation on the front porch.

Interior

Sealed-up kitchen drain pipe.

Much like the caulking for the exterior, a tube of caulk on the interior can close up many of the small cracks and leaks that lets our heated and cooled air escape into the interior of our walls and then into the attic.

Checking behind my stove, I discovered that the electrical outlet for the stove was surrounded by gaps on all four sides.  Similarly, the water supply lines and drain pipes that come out of the wall underneath my sinks all had wide gaps that was letting conditioned air seep straight out.

Bonus!

As much as this does to keep your heated and cooled air inside the house, it also serves to keep insects and rodents out.

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Happy Greening!
Andy

Porch Light Timer

Porch light with CFL

Front porch lights are convenient. What better to light the way for evening-time visitors, or for yourself upon returning home after the sun has set?  And the big one--front porch lights are great for security!  Having a light on says "Hey, I'm home!  Don't come creeping around this house!"

Unfortunately, I have lost count of the number of times I have walked out the front door in the morning, only to be greeted by the glow of the porch light I forgot to turn off the night before--and feel the cringe of wasted energy.

Growing up, I seem to remember that--on occasion--we would leave a light on when we left the house and weren't expecting to be back until after nightfall.  Or worse--when we left for for vacation, just to ensure a bulb would be glowing at night. At best, we may have dug a cruddy old mechanical timer out of the Christmas lights box.  The timer really is a good idea, though--the lights are on long enough to provide that hey-i'm-at-home message, without burning the bulbs longer than needed, preventing electricity waste.

The faithful timer-switch

So...why not employ the timer tactic year-round?  Enjoy the convenience and security of a front-porch light without the energy consumption of accidental overuse.  And bonus:  When you go to leave for vacation, your security lighting scheme is already in place!

Good news--programmable timers have come a long way since that old mechanical marvel we used for the Christmas lights.  I replaced my porch light switch with a programmable timer model.  The new switch is a direct replacement for the original paddle switch, and requires only a basic knowledge of home electrical work to accomplish (turn off the circuit breaker first!)

When you're programming the timer, consider using "unusual" start and end times.  Rather than turning on at 7:30PM and off again at 10:00PM, have the switch turn on--for example--7:23PM and off again at 10:08PM.  Using times that don't fall on the hour or half-hour will seem more organic to an observer.

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Happy Greening,
Andy

Full Loads

Dishwashers and Clothes Washers.  Two modern conveniences that many people have come to rely on.  Both machines use water and electricity to save us time and effort to clean things that we use every day.

Newer clothes washers use intelligent technology to weigh the load and make the most efficient use of water.  Dishwashers are available in more efficient designs, as well--even earning the highest possible Energy Star ratings.

Nonetheless, we may be able to apply human intelligence and human efficiency to save even more.  It goes without saying that we can save water and electricity--first and foremost--by running fewer loads per week, and making sure that each of those is a full load.

Why might we run anything less than a full load?  As I look through my drawers and cabinets, I realize that I head to the clothes washing machine when I get low on underwear.  And I fire up the dishwasher when I run out of silverware.  It would seem that I have plenty of shirts, bowls, pants, and plates...but I can't use any of them without silverware and underwear.

The solution?  More underwear and silverware!  Underwear can be relatively cheap.  Silverware can be too, depending on your preferences. The cost of this one, therefore, will vary from person-to-person.  However, the cost of additional silverware and underwear is fixed, and can lead to a savings of hundreds of gallons of water per year, and electricity as well.  Now that I have more of each, I don't run out of spoons before bowls, or underwear before socks.  Fewer loads.  Full loads.

Yep--I'm a briefs man.

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Happy Greening,
Andy