Two years later, the Boulder-based company has evolved into a one-stop shop: Staffers perform whole-house energy audits, create reports with efficiency solutions, schedule upgrades and verify maintenance through customized monitoring packages.

The home performance evaluations are generated through Recurve, an innovative software the company developed in January 2010 that provides feedback about energy use and potential financial savings through sustainable upgrades.

The Camera recently spoke with Doub:

Visit The Boulder Daily Camera Article to read full article.

1. Instant Savings predictions
2. Accurate Energy modeling
3. Rebates and programs available to offset upgrade costs
4. Comparison tools to provide various scenarios to fit any budget
5. Real time feedback about the current energy use of a home and the savings realized through energy efficient upgrades to water heaters, HVAC installs and insulation retrofits.

As 30% of all US electricity is consumed by homes, EcoSmart Homes is proud to  be a co-founder of the software and a major contributor to bringing Recurve to Xcel Energy in 2008. Recurve’s Adam Winter said “we [Recurve and Xcel] want to promote EcoSmart as the Recurve ‘SuperUser’ in Colorado – the leader everyone should look to.”

1. Air seal your attic and then add insulation; add ventilation to keep house cool in summer
2. Install vapor & air barriers and insulate crawl spaces and basements
3. Seal leaky ducts in the crawl space, basement, and attic
4. Improve air quality by installing efficient ventilation and heat recovery systems
5. Reduce excessive moisture and mold potential
6. Stop drafts through leaky windows and doors
7. Replace windows and doors for greater comfort and ease of operation, regulating solar gain, dust & allergen control, and increasing security
8. Recommend and install energy efficient options for water heater, furnace, or AC replacement, with air & water filtration as desired
9. Install a whole-house ventilation system
10. Recommend and install renewable energy systems for electricity and hot water

Even the smallest changes can begin to impact your energy bill. Energy rebates and tax credits can help reduce the overall cost for these investments in your home., these upgrades may even be less expensive than traditional remodeling efforts.

BOULDER, Colo. (October 21, 2011) – Xcel Energy’s home energy auditors got some new marching orders recently. Effective January 1, Xcel announced that it will require all contractors that perform home energy audits to use the new industry standard software called Recurve.

EcoSmart Homes, a Boulder based company that conducts energy audits and home performance upgrades, has been designated as a ‘SuperUser’ of the Recurve software and is poised to grow significantly. They are one of the co-developers of Recurve and helped introduce the software to Xcel Energy in 2008. Ecosmart has been using the software exclusively for home energy audits throughout Colorado for over two years and have a proven track record.

Recurve is software used by home energy auditors to calculate the current energy needs and comfort levels of your home. Once the data is entered, it creates a document that visually shows the results of the audit and recommended solutions for homeowners – making solutions ready to be implemented by the EcoSmart Homes team. Recurve makes possible the one-stop solution for comfort, health, and energy improvements.

Recurve’s Adam Winter said “we [Recurve and Xcel] want to promote EcoSmart as the Recurve ‘SuperUser’ in Colorado – the leader everyone should look to.”

Eric Doub, co-founder of EcoSmart Homes, is Boulder-born and raised and leveraging 30 years of home energy leadership to take home performance upgrades to scale. “In addition to saving money on utility bills, our customers are pleased to be helping the environment and have someone to manage the process for them,” explains Doub.

Ecosmart is one of the original home performance companies in Boulder and a Colorado leader in providing home comfort, health and energy benefits. They are well positioned to capture significant market share of the $20B Colorado home performance market and are planning to hire additional staff to meet the demand.

About EcoSmart Homes – www.ecosmarthomes.com

EcoSmart Homes is a one stop shop for home and energy upgrades. Since 2005, they’ve helped homeowners move from a leaky home with high energy bills and cold/hot spots to a super-tight home with low energy bills and a consistent, comfortable temperature throughout. Ecosmart manages the entire home improvement process and minimizes the “transaction stress” associated with dealing with many different contractors.

Eric Doub, co-founder EcoSmart Homes, in front of Solar Harvest, Net Zero home in Boulder.

Photo by Dan O’Connor [http://www.danieloconnorphoto.com]

Additional questions or information, please contact:

Eric Doub, EcoSmart Homes: eric.doub@ecosmarthomes.com , 303-440-7176
Mark Wood, Marketing Coordinator: mw2525@gmail.com, 303-358-3765

October 14, 2011 –
With Boulder’s much-touted “300 days of sunshine a year,” solar power seems like a no-brainer for residents who want to green their home energy. Once financially out of reach for most homeowners, solar is becoming more accessible due to decreasing technology costs and incentive programs that help offset the cost of solar systems.

(Photo by Jonathan Castner)Eric DouB, CEO and founder of Boulder’s EcoSmart Homes, with the Coolorado built by a company in Arvada, that keeps the home air-conditioned but uses only 600 watts of power.

But despite solar’s growing popularity and affordability, it isn’t the only green energy option out there, nor should it be the first one residents consider, say local energy experts. There are numerous alternatives to solar and, luckily, numerous sources of information to help homeowners choose the right ones to fit their energy needs.

Eric Doub, CEO and founder of Boulder’s EcoSmart Homes, says that a homeowner’s first step should be a professional energy audit. Among other things, an energy auditor will check your home for air leaks and inadequate insulation and assess appliances for energy efficiency.

To obtain an audit, homeowners can contact the county’s EnergySmart program, which offers homeowners subsidized energy audits for $120. Afterwards, an adviser helps the homeowner find qualified contractors to do the recommended work and guides him or her through the various incentive programs and financing options.

Alternately, homeowners can hire a home-performance contracting company, such as EcoSmart Homes, which will perform both the energy audit and the necessary upgrades. Either way, “that assessment is vital,” said Julie Herman, executive director of the Boulder Green Building Guild. “It can help you understand where you’re wasting energy and allow you to prioritize what steps to take next.”

Those steps usually include a slate of energy-efficiency measures to reduce energy use (and loss) in the home. “The cheapest unit of energy is the one you don’t use in the first place,” Doub said.

That’s why he and other experts suggest tackling this “low-hanging fruit” first. For instance, EnergySmart auditors switch out incandescent light bulbs for compact fluorescent ones and install energy-saving showerheads as part of the initial energy audit. Other efficiency recommendations may include air sealing and adding insulation to crawl spaces and attics, recommissioning or replacing inefficient appliances and mechanical systems, and installing a programmable thermostat to regulate heating and cooling.

In addition to lessening greenhouse gas emissions and lowering utility bills (adding insulation and air sealing can reduce heating and cooling costs by up to 20 percent, and a compact fluorescent bulb can save up to $40 in electricity costs over its lifetime), these energy-efficiency measures can make a home healthier and more livable.

“Most of what we do is actually driven by comfort concerns,” Doub said. “Say you’ve got a room above the garage that you can’t use because it’s too hot or too cold. Fixing drafty windows and adding proper insulation can make it comfortable.”

Once you’ve made your home as energy-efficient as possible, you can move on to investigating greener sources of power. “Focus on reducing your energy demands first, then let those alternate sources of energy be like the icing on the cake,” Herman advised. In addition to solar panels, two emerging eco-energy sources are ground-source heat pumps and small wind turbines.

Although the geothermal energy from a ground source heat pump isn’t technically considered a form of “renewable energy,” it’s still an eco-friendly way to heat and cool your home, said Laura Hutchings, CEO of Populus, a sustainable design consulting company and administrator for Boulder’s residential EnergySmart program.

With a ground source heat pump, a network of piping is laid underground. Liquid refrigerant is pumped through the pipes, where it absorbs heat from the ground. The refrigerant is pumped back up and compressed, increasing the heat energy temperature to approximately 120 degrees, which is then used to heat a home’s interior or to produce hot water.

What makes this technology so eco-friendly is its high level of efficiency. Monte Schmidt, owner of geothermal company Blue Valley Energy, explains that, for each watt of electricity used, a heat pump generates about four watts of heat energy, making it up to 400 percent efficient. In contrast, electric heaters and natural-gas furnaces top out at around 100 percent efficiency. And, because the systems utilize off-peak power, geothermal can help smooth out power-grid peaks and valleys.

This efficiency can result in substantial savings. Schmidt said that one customer who switched from propane to geothermal heating saved almost $5,000 in one year. And geothermal can be especially cost-effective when paired with solar power: “I got a call just this week from a client,” Schmidt said. “We put in a geothermal system for him years ago, and he recently added solar panels and extra insulation. Now his house is running at net zero energy use.”

Small wind is a trickier subject. Although the cost of commercial wind energy has gone down significantly in recent years, the technology generally isn’t economically feasible at the residential level. At least not yet.

“You can do small wind in Boulder County, but it’s difficult,” said Brad Queen, energy division director at the Center for ReSource Conservation. Not only does the investment take longer to pay back, but the logistics pose a problem as well. “To get good wind, you need to get the turbine up pretty high, which can be a problem in a residential neighborhood,” he explained. “And you can’t just bolt the turbine to your roof — that will cause damage to the roof and probably still won’t be high enough anyway.”

However, Queen said that small wind does have its place. “It can make sense if you have an off-grid house up in the mountains where there’s lots of wind at night, especially if you couple it with solar panels that produce energy during the day.”

“As the technology improves and the small turbines are better able to handle our dramatic wind storms, I think small wind will become more popular,” Hutchings said.

But despite these recent and potential technological developments, the experts reiterate that reducing your energy demands should come before seeking out alternate sources of energy.

“Solar, ground source heat pumps, small wind turbines — these can make sense in the long-run, but you have to make sure that the design is solid,” Queen said. “And you should only pursue them after you’ve exhausted all the avenues for energy conservation.”

Financing green energy
“With all the incentives right now, there’s a lot of money out there to get back,” Herman said. Here are just a few of the loans, rebates and other incentives out there to help fund your green energy project. Consult your energy auditor for a more comprehensive guide.

The federal government offers a personal tax credit for up to 30 percent of the cost of installing solar water heaters, solar panels, small wind turbines, geothermal heat pumps, and other green technologies.

EnergySmart offers rebates of up to $1,000 and low-interest microloans of up to $5,000 to Boulder County residents to help pay for home-energy upgrades such as air sealing, adding insulation, replacing windows, and purchasing high-efficiency furnaces and water heaters.

Xcel Energy’s Solar Rewards offers rebates to customers who install photovoltaic panels.

Longmont Power & Communications offers matching grants of up to $500 to residents who implement qualified energy-efficiency measures such as air sealing, adding insulation, and replacing furnaces, refrigerators and water heaters with more efficient models.

April 29, 2011 –
SUPERIOR — Pharmaceutical consultant Prafal Shah was keenly aware of a draft that came through the window next to his desk in his home office.

So when Shah met a worker at Boulder-based EcoSmart Homes by chance, he decided to have an energy audit done.

EcoSmart and several other companies in Boulder County do such energy audits by using infrared cameras to take pictures inside and outside houses to show where heat is escaping. Electricity and gas provider Xcel Energy also does audits.

Based on the audit information, companies offer homeowners a variety of “energy retrofit” projects and upgrades — many of which can be subsidized by government tax credits.

So, how did Shah and his wife fare with the various programs and rebates?

After spending $3,000 on labor and materials for projects suggested during the audit, Shah got a $450 tax credit from the federal government for making the energy-efficiency improvements.

His energy bill decreased by 15 percent during the first three months of 2011 compared to the first three months of 2010. From January to March, Shah said he paid $632 for his Xcel Energy bill, compared to $741 for the same period of 2010.

While the outside temperature may have been warmer this year during those months, Shah said he is happy that the work he had done seems to be saving him money every month, and his house is warmer in the winter.

“The main thing is the comfort — the house feels warm all the time,” Shah said. “Before the energy improvements in August 2010, we kept half the rooms and heat vents closed in the house, which we thought saved energy.”

Fox 31/CW2 news segment that aired Wednesday, April 13, 2011

What would you do with $75,000 to do a home comfort and energy remodel?  Enter to win the Home Green Over Project contest by Sunday, April 17, 2011.
Tips for your home comfort & energy remodel:

• Always audit first before you get started – it will help you balance the building science with your budget and hone in on the best way to achieve comfort, health and performance at home while actually saving you time and money.  It will also help you prioritize whether you should do windows, furnace replacement, air sealing or insulation, crawl space retrofitting, etc. first.
• Use a reputable one-stop-shop solution like EcoSmart Homes for all of your energy audit and home improvement needs!
• Principals to follow: make sure the building it tight, ventilated right, and indoor emissions are light.
• Think about having the results verified and monitored with systems that you can run on your computer to check in.
• Make overhangs over windows 2ft instead of 1ft to prevent sun drenching.
• New windows aren’t great unless you air seal around the windows so there aren’t any gaps for air to leak through.
• Install a solar electric system.
• Use finishes (cabinets, countertops, paint, flooring, furniture, staining, etc.) that won’t off-gas and compromise your indoor air quality.
• Use CFL or LED lightbulbs to cut down on energy use.
• Change out old appliances like refrigerators, washers and dryers, and dishwashers with newer, much more energy efficient ones that have the Energy Star label.

EcoSmart Homes Sponsors $75,000 Fox 31/CW2 Home Green-Over – Contest Ends April 17, Winner Announced on Earth Day.

Boulder, CO – April 11, 2011 – EcoSmart Homes, Boulder’s one-stop for home comfort and energy upgrades, is a proud sponsor of the Fox 31/CW2 Home Green Over Project, a multi-phase, collaborative effort to educate Colorado homeowners on how to make their homes more comfortable, healthy, and energy efficient while saving them time and money.  The project launched in late March with a contest offering homeowners the chance to win a complete home energy performance remodel worth up to $75,000.  Entries are due April 17^th (http://www.kdvr.com/lifestyle/green), and a winner will be announced April 22^nd (Earth Day).

The Home Green Over Project offers EcoSmart Homes an incredible opportunity to showcase the new hassle-free, time and money-saving, whole-house approach to home improvement.  Owners of drafty, uncomfortable, energy-hogging homes used to have to make calls to a multitude of contractors to get relief.  Now they can make one call to EcoSmart Homes and rest-assured that their home improvement project will be completed with the utmost care in just 4 easy steps (assess, recommend, improve, verify).  Eric Doub, CEO of Ecosmart Homes, warned, “The Home Performance Industry is growing rapidly.  There are many ‘Single Measure’ companies out there who will recommend their product because that is what they sell, not because you will reap the greatest rewards from that measure.  ’You need insulation, because we sell insulation.’  Or windows.  Or furnaces.’”  He recommends that homeowners “look for a company that is on the frontier of the emerging home performance industry, a company that will be your trusted adviser in providing you comprehensive, turnkey service for comfort, health, and energy improvements.  The whole-house approach is essential for you to be happy, and for your home to be safe:  Don’t air seal and insulate without taking care of moisture sources such as in your crawl space; only reduce air leakage to the point that your furnace and water heater are operating safely, and so on.”

The top contending homes for the $75,000 Home Green-Over prize will receive a comprehensive assessment from EcoSmart, which includes an energy audit that will reveal the building’s issues as well as inform the upgrade recommendations that will result in the greatest improvement.  The winning home will undergo all of the recommended upgrades, which aim to decrease energy demands through measures like air sealing, insulation, and window replacement, improve air quality with proper ventilation and attention to moisture sources, as well as add renewable energy production by adding a solar electric system.  The results will be verified upon completion, proving that an uncomfortable, energy-leaky house can be made into a healthy, comfortable, energy-efficient, more valuable smart home!

About EcoSmart Homes:

EcoSmart Homes, headquartered in Boulder, Colorado, is Denver metro Colorado’s one-stop solution to home comfort and energy upgrades.  EcoSmart takes a hassle-free, whole-systems approach, handling everything from a home energy audit, to recommending comfort & energy improvements, to performing upgrades, to verifying that the work completed accomplished what it was meant to.  One call does it all for the ultimate in home comfort, health and energy performance. Contact: Ryann Anderson, Director of Marketing, EcoSmart Homes, 720-936-0831 or yann@ecosmarthomes.com, www.ecosmarthomes.com

About the Home Green Over Project:

The Home Green Over Project is presented by Fox 31 & CW2 and aims to educate Coloradoans on new technologies and streamlined financial solutions to upgrade the energy performance, health, and comfort of their home.  Other sponsors of the Home Green Over Project include SolarGlass, EcoTech Institute, Governor’s Energy Office, Bank of Colorado, Horizon Mechanical, Denver Solar and Wind, The AV Specialists, Command Performance, Water Purification Specialists, Excelerated Oil, Thermal Craft Insulation, DenverGreenStreets.com, and Smart Earth 3D Tours.  Visit http://www.kdvr.com/lifestyle/green/ for more information, or contact Account Executive Adam Chapman (303-566-7643 or Adam.Chapman@kdvr.com).

###

In April 2009, Steven Chalk, Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary, Office Of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy, U.S. Department of Energy, testified before the U.S. House Subcommittee on Energy and Environment, Committee on Science and Technology. Chalk stated that “the Nation’s 114 million households and more than 74 billion square feet of commercial floor space accounted for nearly 40% of U.S. primary energy consumption, as well as 73% of electricity and 34% of natural gas consumption, energy bills totaling $418 billion, and 39% of Carbon Dioxide, 18% of Nitrogen Oxide, and 55% of Sulfur Dioxide emissions.”

When I shopped for a mountain home in 1995, I chose to buy an existing all-electric 1976 home with the idea of a deep-energy retrofit rather than building a completely new structure. Over fifteen years, I have reduced my utility bills to the point that I now generate more electricity than consumed annually. Although my home has two wood burning stoves, I rarely use them (except to entertain company, or for atmosphere on the coldest nights).

Retrofitting existing homes requires careful planning but can provide tremendous financial and psychological rewards. You can phase improvements incrementally as your budget allows, too. Keep in mind there are new residential energy financing options such as the Bank of Colorado Energy Star Mortgage if you want to upgrade faster than rising energy costs.

There are two primary approaches for improving your home’s energy performance and reducing its operating carbon footprint.

This is where you play General Contractor

Start off with a home energy audit!

Check out Recharge Colorado’s Save Money and Energy with a Energy Audit Article

Here are a few links I’ve chosen to give you additional ideas once you’ve reviewed your audit. I can’t recommend this site funded by the Governor’s Energy Office enough. Go there first.

Searching on-line through back issues of publications such as Home Power magazine or via YouTube videos will uncover many project ideas.

Keep in mind that new information is constantly emerging. These links below are just a small sample of what is available.

INSULATION

Insulation is probably the very best investment you can make in your home. Just inexpensive caulking can do wonders for reducing drafts. Many people, including me, made the mistake of investing in expensive solar panels before exhausting conservation measures. One of the “crimes” the roofing industry could prevent is advising homeowners needing a new roof that they could potentially add insulation such as Structural Insulated Panel (SIPs) before re-roofing. Of course, you should consult a building engineer first.

At my house, I’ve used SIPs, blown cellulose, recycled blue jean insulation, and foil bubble insulation (around hot water pipes and HVAC ducts). Be very careful if you do your own insulation. If done wrong, you could invite future mold problems; for most people, I recommend hiring an experienced professional with good references.

• Adding Insulation to an Existing Home
• Why Insulate Your House?

SUPER-INSULATION

Super-insulation is the holy grail of insulation. If you super-insulate you may not need much if any heating or cooling. Right now, if I have a packed living room party in the winter, I usually need to open a window or turn on air-conditioning. But the fact that my house typically requires winter heating suggests I’m not there yet.

My original idea was to attach at least 4 inches of rigid foam to my cedar siding (without removing it) and put wood-like, woodpecker-proof, fire-proof Hardie Panel over the insulation. Concerns about moisture (and potentially mold) stopped me. Everyone else said I needed to remove the existing siding first.

Fortunately, I found a terrific product that allowed me to attach over my existing wood siding. This R-ETRO insulation system has been fairly easy (as I save labor costs by working with my general contractor Solar Works Construction) to install. I hope to finish this summer…I’m not into winter construction if I can avoid it!

• Can you ‘superinsulate’ that home?
• Retrofitting Exterior Foam on Existing Walls
• Passive House

LIGHTING

Before moving to Boulder, my Berkeley art deco bachelor pad had a beautiful skylight brightening my favorite living room nook. Whether it was afternoon or moon light that corner drew many a visitor’s attention. The only problem was that it leaked heat badly in the winter. Natural sunlight via light tubes would have been a perfect solution trapping heat in the winter and keeping heat out in the summer.

Twenty years ago, I remember Compact Fluorescents (CFLs) were bulky, slow to turn on, and expensive – something approaching $30 per screw-type bulb. I tried but many of the bulbs didn’t fit in my fixtures then. The cost of solar panels drove me to convert all my incandescents in 1999. CFL adoption today is above 20% for all residential lighting as many of the color, size, and cost issues have been solved. More exciting is that consumers today have warm, instant-on, dimming Light Emitting Diode (LED) bulbs available around $25 each. Two years ago, I stopped buying CFLs when Costco for a while sold early model (and some early failure) $10.99 LED screw-in lights. The LEDs I purchased more recently are much brighter though they cost 70% more…you do get a better bang for your buck after two more years development.

As an experiment, over the last few months I’ve replaced some of my kitchen ceiling recessed lights using the (discontinued Costco $10.99) Lights of America 3.5-watt LEDs with brighter LEDs over work surfaces. I’m quite satisfied with the $19 Feit Electric 6.5-watt LED as a general replacement but for folks wanting an even brighter light the $27 Sylvania 8-watt LED works great. In my living room, I’ve been using experimenting with a $22 fully dimmable Sylvania 8-watt LED. All of these new generation bulbs have the soft white (some people call yellowish compared to fluorescent’s blueish) color you’d expect in an incandescent bulb – look for 3000 Kelvins as the color temperature if you want to match common incandescent bulb colors.

• Tubular Skylights
• LED Lights v. Incandescent
• New LED’s
• Major Advantages and Benefits of LED Lighting Technology

WINDOWS

South facing windows that heat your winter home are part of any good passive solar design. The challenge is that these same windows should be blocked from overheating your summer home. New treated windows and insulated frames are a distinct improvement over double-paned windows of years past. However, even they can do better with an insulated window covering. Over a decade ago I chose quilted insulated shades on tracks. You can even decorate them for a personal touch.

• How to Select Insulated Windows
• Selection Principles
• Insulated Window Shades
• Homemade Window Quilts

EFFICIENT APPLIANCES

Aside from upgrading major appliances such as your refrigerator and furnace, one surprising area of savings is your toilet. It’s amazing how much water we flush down every day!

Ultra low-flush toilets can also save you money especially if you are on a well where you have to pump the water up. I have been using one-pint flush Sealand 510 Plus toilets for the last decade without problems.

About the same time I bought solar panels (pre-Amendment 37 rebates) I got rid of my electric dryer. It didn’t seem to make sense why I had humidifiers running yet needing to dry wet clothes. In Colorado’s arid climate, my clothes dry overnight. I have a couple indoor drying racks …this also works great in the summer time or under a ceiling fan.

One of the things I correct helpful house guests is to avoid hand washing their dishes. I believe dishwashers do a more efficient job. But not everything can go into the dishwasher. So when I hand wash dishes, I save my dishwater for my compost pile. My cheapest efficient appliance is a plastic basin I put in my sink and a 5-gallon bucket I leave outside of my kitchen door.

• The Importance of Energy-Efficient Appliances
• ENERGY STAR Products
• Toilets
• Dishwashing

SOLAR THERMAL

Solar Thermal lacks the glamour photovoltaics (solar electric) get. Yet, the payback is often much quicker. In my house, I use a drain-back solar hot water system to heat my domestic hot water. The backup is an air source heat pump for cold cloudy days. This heat pump is tied to a conventional electric hot water heater that has never been turned on!

In my spa building, I heat my covered indoor therapy pool to 96 – 97 degrees Fahrenheit primarily by solar reinforced by geothermal (on cold cloudy days) and ultimately backed up by a high efficiency propane boiler. Pool heating is expensive as each desired pool degree higher can add 10% or more to your annual operating cost. I believe I got a short 5-year (or less) ROI on my spa solar thermal system given these unique heating needs. Most people keep their swimming pools below 80 degrees but on sequential sunny winter days it’s not unusual to see my therapy pool temperature over 90 degrees just from solar thermal.

• Solar Water Heaters
• Solar Space Heating
• Use Solar Panels to Build Hot Air Heater System

SOLAR ELECTRIC

Even as a kid reading science fiction, I always wanted to live in a solar powered house. But it took me until 1999 to finally put up a 2-kilowatt system using 64-watt plastic coated panels. In 2009, for slightly more space and cost, I put in a 10-kilowatt system using 225-watt black glass panels. This almost 500% improvement just showed how far the price of of solar electric dropped in one decade due to rebates, technology improvements, and competitive pressures. Sadly, I suspect my solar panels will long outlive the companies that installed them. (One got absorbed and disappeared. Another declared bankruptcy.)

For the last two years, I’ve produced much more power than I consumed as it’s taken me much longer than expected to decide on a Plug-In Hybrid conversion. I waited for conversion costs to drop as well as news on new electric cars. I learned it doesn’t pay to produce more energy than you need – for my annual surplus Xcel Energy paid me only one-quarter of the rate I pay them. I expect my plug-in hybrid conversion will consume this surplus going forward.

If you don’t have a sunny space or cash now for your own rooftop solar, consider a third-party lease or joining a Community Solar Garden.

• Components of A Residential Solar Electric System
• Solar Electricity Basics
• Selecting a Solar Contractor

SMALL WIND TURBINES

If you live in a windy area, a residential wind turbine complements other energy investments. After all the sun doesn’t shine at night. And it’s often windier in the winter time when you need more energy. I almost invested in a vertical axis wind turbine company before the slowing economy hurt my consulting practice.

Small wind technical improvements continue. While uncommon now, I expect more and more urbanites will discover what ranchers and other more rural folks have been using. Issues about operating noise, bird deaths, minimum heights, minimum start-up speeds, maximum speeds, maintenance, and zoning are being tackled. I currently don’t own a small wind turbine but I see small wind as the next great residential push.

• Wind Electricity Basics
• Residential Wind Power – Residential Wind Turbines
• Residential Wind Power – Wind Generators & Wind Turbines for Residential Applications
• Wind Powering America: Small Wind for Homeowners, Ranchers, and Small Businesses
• Wind Estimator
• All small wind turbines – Portal to the world of Small Wind Turbines

GEOTHERMAL

People are surprised when I tell them that my home’s primary heating and cooling is via the earth. Huh? I explain that a ground source heat pump acts like a refrigerator moving low grade heat from one location to another. In the summer, heat gets put in the ground; in the winter, heat is taken out of the ground.

My contractor Radiance Corporation implemented a request to integrate the existing solar thermal with a new geothermal system, using the earth as a heat storage battery when solar hot water is unneeded. Since then, Radiance Corporation has been refining this synergistic solar banking technique even for commercial buildings.

I breathe much better now in the winter as I burn less wood. If you currently have an electric furnace, you might check out geothermal. It’s far more efficient than traditional electric HVAC systems.

• Geothermal Heating
• Federal Tax Incentives for Residential Geothermal Heat Pumps
• Experiments in District Heating

In the spirit of full-disclosure, I contacted a Boulder home performance improvement company that I had made a small investment in. I asked Eric Doub, CEO of EcoSmart Homes (www.EcoSmartHomes.com) for advice for folks who wanted to be their own general contractor.

He recommended a building science book by Joseph Lstiburek called “Builder’s Guide to Cold Climates” published by Building Science Press in 2006. It can be ordered via http://www.buildingscience.com

Doub offered more links below to develop an integrative approach.

Additional On-line Resources:

• What’s Working
• Building Green Inc.
• Building Science Corporation
• Green Building Advisors
• ReGreen Program
• Building Knowledge
• Saturn Resource Management
• Minnesota’s GreenStar Program
• HomeSmart
• Best of Building Science
• Building America Program
• Journal of Light Construction
• Energy and Environmental Building Association
• Ft. Collins Utilities
• Efficiency First
• Ecofutures Building, Inc.
• Boulder Green Building Guild
• Center for Resource Conservation

After you’ve completed your home performance upgrades, it’s a good idea to repeat the home energy audit to know if your improvements worked. Of course, monitoring utility bills for the next few years will give you an actual Return On Investment (ROI) when you compare the savings with your total efficiency expenditures. Be sure to factor in rebates and tax credits!

Work with a team that can help you optimize decisions – a one-stop approach for home performance upgrades.

For the majority of people, a “one throat to choke” approach may save both time and money as it could take you years to properly digest all the information referenced above.

Doub warned “The Home Performance Industry is growing rapidly. There are many ‘Single Measure’ companies out there who will recommend their product because that is what they sell, not because you will reap the greatest rewards from that measure. ‘You need insulation, because we sell insulation.’ Or windows. Or furnaces.”

Continuing with more advice, “look for a company that is on the frontier of the emerging home performance industry, a company that will be your trusted adviser in providing you comprehensive, turnkey service for comfort, health, and energy improvements. The whole-house approach is essential for you to be happy, and for your home to be safe: Don’t air seal and insulate without taking care of moisture sources such as in your crawl space; only reduce air leakage to the point that your furnace and water heater are operating safely, and so on.”

For $195.00 which includes an energy audit, this one-stop approach is definitely worth considering.

If you live in Boulder County, you may also want to investigate the EnergySmart program – free to Boulder County residents. The free Home Energy Assessment does include a blower test and infrared camera which is part of any reputable energy audit. You still need to be your own General Contractor but you get an advisor.

Last but not least, Denver Metro residents should enter the Fox 31 and KWGN Channel 2 Home Green Over Project. One lucky winner will be announced on April 22, 2011 and receive an energy performance remodel of their home worth up to $75,000!

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

Denver Green Streets wishes to acknowledge the people involved in making this special publication possible. The research for this report would not have been achievable without the generosity and tireless effort of Greg Ching, who has worked many late nights to complete this article. Additionally, Greg has first hand knowledge on this topic after retrofitting his Colorado mountain home.

Greg’s home was highlighted in a 2006 article published by The Center for ReSource Conservation.

About Greg Ching – Street Scene Columnist

Greg Ching, Chief Sustainability Officer of The Solar Gardens Institute, was given credit by Representative Claire Levy as the inspiration for the Colorado Community Solar Gardens Act.

As a Community Sustainability Services Consultant he led projects from high tech to high touch. Greg is a former software engineer & sales executive now Colorado Licensed Massage Therapist specializing in Phenomenal Touch ® and Watsu ®.

You can learn more about his diverse consulting background on LinkedIn or contact him directly at greg@denvergreenstreets.com.

About Eric Doub – EcoSmart Homes

The authors gratefully acknowledge Eric Doub, CEO of EcoSmart Homes whose counsel and research were invaluable in the preparation of this report. Eric’s company EcoSmart Homes focuses on performance upgrades in existing homes for comfort, health, and energy savings.

You can learn more about EcoSmart Homes by visiting their website or contacting Eric directly at eric.doub@ecosmarthomes.com.

© 2011 Denver Green Streets