Home Energy Efficiency--Rocket Science or Not?

I attended the Maine Built Energy Forum earlier this week along with roughly 100 people from the home energy auditor community. The session was led by a couple of luminaries in the field--the home energy information and training guru Rick Karg, and one of Maine's leading auditor/contractors, Richard Burbank of Evergreen Home Performance. Joining them was Dale McCormick, Director of the Maine State Housing Authority, and an old friend.

Dale pointed out proudly that the low income weatherization programs she oversees had achieved a 22% energy use reduction, on average. At one point she blurted out to the crowd of professional auditors, "this is not rocket science." Needless to say, this comment didn't go over well. Many professionals stood up during the comment period, saying, "Actually...it is rocket science."

So is it rocket science or not? Here's just one story from the saga that is me and my troubled house.

Not long ago, we put an addition on our house. During the first winter, we had ice dams that caused leaks in the kitchen ceiling. Our builder, a great guy who had delivered the project on time and on budget, told us that there was only one solution. We had to extend the roof over the pricey cedar gutter in the area of the ice dams. We bit. We weren't tuned in to home energy at the time, and didn't know any better.

As a result of no gutter, that roof now dumps all of its water into a planting bed next to the foundation. It doesn't slope away particularly well, so we've had water problems in the basement. The location is right at the seam of the old foundation and new, and the crack leaks. To combat this problem, we laid a Delta-FL dimpled subfloor system so the moisture could move under the floor. This cost about $3000. Technically, this solution works, but because we don't have a really good integrated airflow system under the floor, we have to jury rig a shop vac (think wattage eater) to suck air beneath the floor underlayment when it's wet. Back outside, I have spent an inordinant amount of time with ugly tarps and crap during big storms. Good thing I don't put a price on the time I spend on house chores...

Now, after learning more about what's really going on, we're finding the ice dam problem isn't really because of gutter back up, after all. It's very likely the result of a compromised thermal barrier, poor insulation and the heat pouring into the ceiling cavity from 9 halogen can lights in the kitchen. Fixing that problem at the outset might have saved us all of the subsequent time consuming and expensive moisture management hassle.

Suddenly, the CREE LED retrofit can lights we sell, [link]which might seem expensive at $125 each, seem like a very good value. They would have been a vastly more cost effective way of tackling the problem. In fact, cool lighting might have eliminated the problem from occurring in the first place. And the fact that they give off beautiful light, are dimmable, and will last longer than me is just a bonus.

All of this was just another lesson on the complexities and interconnectedness of this ecosystem we call our house. Is it rocket science? Maybe not. But it's still pretty darn complex.