Journey to a Green Sanctuary ~ June 2023

From Joel Prudhomme, Green Team Member

In living into our 7th Principle, the mission of the Green Team is to guide ourselves, our congregation and our community into a deeper awareness, understanding, and commitment to preserve and protect the “interdependent web of all existence” of which we are part.

Insulating to Better "Green" Your Home  

We all know that electric power and natural gas production from fossil fuels are damaging to the environment and our bodies. So how can a typical homeowner reduce usage of these energy forms in their home? Certainly installing a rooftop solar system, heat pump or better windows can have the most positive impact, but the financial costs for these may be too much for average homeowners. How can you make your home “greener”? 

Doing insulation measures throughout your home will reduce your consumption of fossil fuel. Numerous reports state that most energy heat gain/loss in a typical home" "shell" is through the ceiling. Probably the most “greening” step you can take is to install additional insulation in your attic. Thirteen inches is the minimum recommendation. This is often done by spreading bags of safely treated cellulose fibers or rectangular fiberglass batts. This is not a job that most homeowners should do on their own, however. It is messy and can be potentially damaging to you or your ceiling moving around in your attic. Do typical search methods to find a competent construction laborer, or better yet, an insulation company. The insulation company will most likely blow-in the cellulose insulation with blower equipment.  
 
Windows are the second most energy-wasters in your home. Old metal windows are the worst. There are materials such as plexiglass or heat shrink plastic that can be screwed or taped inside or outside of your windows to provide insulation value. These can be a nuisance though because air ventilation is desired--especially during warm seasons. Replacing slatted blinds and sloppy curtains with close fitting shades reduces fossil fuel heating and cooling use and thus are "greening" tactics, too.  Fabric cellular or pleated shades don’t conduct heat or have the gaps of blinds and curtains that allow temperature transfers. If your budget is limited, make your north and west windows the priorities--north because of our cold winter winds, west because of our blazing summer sun. Storm doors offer insulation benefit, also, because they trap dead air between them and your exterior doors. Existing door openings often have problems so it is usually best to employ a competent contractor to install storm doors.  

Most of us have tank type hot water heaters. They work to keep water hot 24 hours per day. It is thus quite wasteful (and harmful to your tank's life) to keep the temperature setting more than 120 degrees. Run a hot water faucet into a cup for a couple of minutes and then use a thermometer to check your temperature. Water heaters usually have Hot, Vacation and A,B, & C settings on their control knob. Setting B is a good common choice. The best way to help "green" your tank heater is via more insulation with a fiberglass wrap around it and polyfoam pipe wrap on the water lines coming out the top of the tank. These items are readily available for $ 5- $25 at all hardware and home improvement box stores....and any homeowner can install these. (Warning: don't cover the top of a gas water heater nor the temp. dial or metal pop-up lever of the TPR valve high up on the side of the heater).   

If your home has a crawl space or basement you are losing heat in the winter from ground temperatures ( often 10 to 30 degrees down as far as 16 inches below soil top) conducting through your concrete foundation/walls. Your main living space floors are thus cold and your furnace /boiler is using extra fossil fuel energy. The inexpensive help is to drape fiberglass insulation batts or rigid insulation boards along the inside of the foundation or basement walls. Most astute homeowners can do this or by utilizing a young helper. If your main living area floors are cold due to the ducting method of heating in your home, consider stapling insulation batts/sheeting on the underside of your floor joists. This is not a fun job, either, so using an insulation company is worth considering. 

Surprisingly, unless you have a very old home, your exterior walls have reasonable insulation in them and are not typically the big energy gobblers of the rest of your home's "shell". However, if your exterior siding is old or damaged and needs major work that would be the time to make sure that injected foam or rigid insulation board is used in/on outside walls before doing your new siding, stucco, brick veneer etc. 
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Taking action on all of these insulation methods will save you much financially over a long term and make your home much "greener".