Energy Wasting Day

I recently received information on Energy Wasting Day and while it made me laugh it also caused me to reflect on a blog article recently posted in the Advocate Magazine.

The article was about a free service (not really free since you pay a fee each month to Oncor to subsidize this program) where your electrical provider will send someone out to do a free energy audit on your home; seal HVAC connection points throughout the house to prevent air loss, weatherstrip doors, install foam insulators behind light switches and plugs, and seal plumbing penetrations beneath the sinks.

I, like the blog writer thought this was too good to be true. So I called the company in the article, E3 Solutions and Matt Newnham and his crew showed up. First they tested the amount of air that the home was losing and said it was quite a bit since my house was built in 1933. They proceeded to seal all the HVAC connections points, repair duct work that was leaking, seal plumbing penetrations underneath all the sinks and install foam insulators behind the light switches and plugs. While they will blow in attic insulation at a cost subsidized by Oncor, I was told it was unnecessary on my house. What they did not do was weatherstrip the french doors (3 sets) nor weatherstrip the windows. After all the work was completed another air loss test was completed and the air loss was reduced by 12%. This is not a huge difference but it would be nice if I got a 12% decrease in my electricity bill.

There are some limitations: your house has to have at least 50% of the HVAC vents in the ceiling and the home must have been built before 2002.

Oh and by the way, it was free and it took about two hours.

Give Matt a call at 214-995-9581 and try it out for yourself. It's only good until the funds run out which Oncor predicts will be sometime in late June to early July.