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In my research on insulation for our new home, I stumbled upon the concept of “California T’s & Corners”. The concept refers to framing techniques that allow for exterior walls to be better insulated than with common framing methods. Here’s how it works:

Wood is a poor insulator. In your walls, studs are located every 16”. In addition, at each corner and intersection of walls, there are normally two studs installed. The result is that there is a substantial portion of the exterior walls that are poorly insulated. You can’t eliminate studs on your exterior wall; structurally they are required.

However, you can utilize advanced framing techniques such as California T’s & Corners to allow more insulation to be installed behind the walls. The pictures below will do a better job explaining the concept than I can.

Source: http://www.eere.energy.gov/buildings/info/documents/pdfs/26449.pdf

These techniques don’t require additional cost, just good communication with your builder. After utilizing these techniques, we were able to insulate many areas on our exterior walls that would not otherwise have been insulated.

Next Topic: Reflective Roof Decking.

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OK, enough background. Let’s get into the details of the methods we used to construct our energy efficient home. Over the next few weeks, I’ll discuss the methods used and why we chose them over others. I’ll also let you know the mistakes we made and how I would do things differently.

For now, here’s a list of the topics of the next few week’s posts.

1. California T’s and Corners

2. Reflective roof decking

3. Double paned, argon filled, low e windows

4. Spray foam insulation

5. Electric Heat Pump

6. High efficiency electric water heater

7. In-slab ductwork for HVAC

8. Compact fluorescent lights

Tomorrow, I’ll discuss a framing technique that we utilized, California T’s and Corners.

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Found an excellent post over at Frugal Dad about the decision making process for buying a fuel efficient car. Does it make good financial sense to purchase a new car to save money on gas? I’ve asked my self this question several times. Frugal Dad analyzes the costs, taking into account MPG on the old and new cars, insurance and maintenance costs, and the payment on the new car.

Frugal Dad’s conclusion?

“As you can see, from a purely economic standpoint it does not make sense to finance a newer, more efficient car in the short term. Over time, as the cost of gas continues to increase, and the costs of ownership of the newer car come down (and the loan is paid off), the savings realized could be significant. However, it would take a lot of fill-ups at the pump to justify adding a car payment to your monthly budget.”

FD goes on to discuss the non-financial impact of continuing to drive a gas guzzler. The environmental impact is greater if you continue to drive the gas guzzler.

My thoughts?

Frugal Dad is spot-on with his analysis. After taking into account the payment on a new car, it usually doesn’t make financial sense to purchase a new care solely to save money on gas. I have personally heard of people who drive enough miles to make the math work. In Frugal Dad’s example, you would have to drive around 28,000 miles to breakeven. When it is time for us to buy our next vehicle, we will definitely purchase one with better fuel economy.

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 Here’s a picture of our home. My wife, 2 young daughters, and I live in Northwest Arkansas in a 3,100 square foot home on .75 acres in a suburban setting. Yes, we don’t live in a tiny home. I know many people who would say that we should live in a much smaller home to further reduce our energy usage. They would be accurate, but we felt that this size house was right for us.

Climate

The climate in Arkansas is unpredictable. The average January temperature is 44 degrees, but this past January we experienced a high temperature of 27 degrees on a Wednesday, then a high of 72 degrees on the following Sunday. Average July temperature is 89 degrees, but we frequently hit temperatures in the upper 90’s for days on end.

Site

In February 2006, we purchased a lot in a residential subdivision in a small town in Northwest Arkansas. The lot has numerous mature trees on the East side of the lot, but no shade on the north, south, or west sides of the lot. The lack of shade on the south side is a problem as the full summer sun is absorbed by the house.

Restrictions

In designing our home, we had to following the normal rules of many neighborhoods – minimum square footage, placement of the house, building materials, roof pitch, etc.

 With my next post, I’ll begin outlining the energy saving components we placed into the house.  I’ll discuss the items we left out and explain the reasons why.

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Almost two years ago, my wife and I began designing our current home.  As we started the process, energy prices started rising.  I started researching ways to build our home in a way that would lower our energy bills.  I became frustrated because the articles I read were grouped into one of two categories:

1.  Methods were too expensive or “over the top” for my wife and I.  There are people out there who have constructed homes that are ultra-low energy users.  However, many of them did so at a hefty price.  My budget wouldn’t allow me to implement many solutions where the payback would be decades in the making.  Also, some solutions (underground house, anyone?) wouldn’t work in my suburban neighborhood setting.

2.  Too basic to make a real difference.  Don’t get me wrong, I like simple ideas such as adjusting your thermostat a degree or two.  However, I was looking for more substantial ideas that would provide a quick payoff.

As we researched options for our home, we found that by merely making smart choices and shopping around, we could implement some tremendous energy-saving components to our home without adding much to the overall cost of the home.

The results:  We’ve been living in our new home since July 2007.  Our energy bills are approximately 40% of comparable homes in our area.  

Over the next few weeks, I’ll be sharing the specific methods we used and the results.  I’ll also share our problems, pitfalls, and regrets.

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Yesterday I told you why I started the site.  Simply, we’ll provide real solutions for people wanting to make a difference in their home energy usage.  Today, I’ll l tell you why you should (or shouldn’t) listen to me.  I’m certainly no expert.  I don’t have an engineering degree, no formal training, and I don’t work in home construction. 

So:  use this information at your own risk.

 I do have an interest in reducing my own energy usage, however.  My current home was designed and constructed to have lower energy costs.  I’m constantly trying new things to lower our family’s energy usage.  So, join me as we learn together.

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In my first post I said this site will be about one topic: Reducing household energy costs.

The reason I started the site is to provide real solutions to real people for reducing energy use at home. Most of the information I’ve found on the web is either too basic (lower your thermostat, turn off the lights, etc.) or too over-the-top for most people. We will discuss all kinds of energy saving strategies, but the primary focus will be on solutions that everyone can use to make a real difference in their energy usage.

Tomorrow, I’ll discuss why you should, or shouldn’t, listen to what I have to say.

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Welcome to a new adventure! I’ve been interested in home energy savings for a while now, and I’ve decided now is the time to record my thoughts. I hope this will be a learning experience for me and anyone who wants to join me along the way.

This site is about one topic: Reducing household energy costs.

Whether your motivation is saving the environment, saving money, or both; I will present real solutions for real people.

I’ll be providing more information about the site over the next few days. For now, I want to say welcome to Home Energy Living.

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