Filed Under Green · Tagged: energy efficiency, Green, Home Improvement · Print This Article
Going green is all the rage. Can it help you in hour home buying or selling? YES! It’s something to keep in mind as you prepare to put your home on the market, or in your house hunt. People are becoming more aware about green living.
I talked with James Gerdsen, President of Apollo Heating and Cooling in Cincinnati about ways to upgrade a home — or things for potential buyers to look for — that can improve your efficiency. Improving your efficiency not only keeps your costs down, but reduces your carbon footprint. And, of course, those things sound good.
If you’re a seller, there are simple upgrades or maintenance you may want to consider that might give you an edge. (These may also help you at inspection time.)
For buyers, these might be things you want to look for or about which to ask with a home you are considering.
He listed some important tips for sellers and buyers (and any homeowner) to consider.
- 1) Get a programmable thermostat. This is one of the easiest things you can do to improve your home’s efficiency. (Popular brand Honeywell offers models from $200-$500.)“For every degree you adjust your thermostat, you can save 3% over an 8-hour period,” says Gerdsen. With a programmable thermostat, you can easily set your home’s temperature to adjust overnight or while you are out during the day. Gerdsen recommends lowering 6-10 degrees in the winter. (For air conditioning in the summer you won’t want to make the adjustments that extreme because your air conditioner has to work harder to remove the humidity from the air. Maybe keep it around 6 degrees lower.)
- 2) Schedule your furnace for a tune up. Tuning up your furnace is the same as tuning up your car, and it can increase the efficiency of your equipment. (Remember: Efficiency = Money!) Gerdsen recommends getting your furnace tuned up every year. (You can consider a tune-up for your new listing.)”Your furnace fires 3-5 times per hour. In one year your furnace runs about 2400-2600 hours. That’s 12,000-13,000 fires in one year. You want to consider getting a tune up once every year to increase your efficiency.”Gerdsen also recommends tuning up the air-conditioner every year. The dirtier it is, the more pressure the unit needs to cool the air in your home.
When I list a house, the first thing I look at on the furnace is the service record. If they sellers don”t have a sticker with a record, then we need to get a sticker on there with a service date in the last 12 months. When the house is for sale, that is the first thing a buyer will ask for is the furnace to be cleaned if they don”t see it cared for on a regular basis. It”s good to show potential buyers that you have been maintaining the house, and a great way to see that is the sticker on the furnace. Buyers, be sure to check for that sticker. If you don”t see one, ask for a furnace cleaning prior to your purchase! - 3) Change your air filter every 3 months. “The EPA says the air quality in your home is 5x worse than the air outside,” says Gerdsen. A dirty filter makes the motor in your unit work harder, which consequently makes your equipment work harder.
Other things to consider
The EPA recommends you replace your furnace if it’s older than 12 years. Gerdsen suggests that a 16-17 year old furnace should be replaced. If you are a seller or a buyer considering a new furnace, you want to look at the % efficiency. You can get a furnace that is 92-95% efficient, which means that only 5 cents on the dollar goes out your chimney with a 95%-efficiency furnace.
Another item available in this realm is a tank-less or on-demand water heater. However, these are considerably more expensive. At Apollo, a traditional water heater could run $500-$600, whereas an on-demand system can run upwards of $2,800. As far as efficiency, a standard water heater can be 50% efficient, and an on-demand unit can be labeled at 80%. (It’s actually higher because it only uses energy when hot water is running.) These units are also much smaller and could be advantageous in small spaces.
Bottom line, if you’re a seller you may want to concentrate on the easier and cheaper upgrades and maintenance, like switching to a programmable thermostat — these can be a big plus. You will want to be sure to let me know if you’ve made efficiency changes in your home — it will be something we want to point out to buyers. It probably won”t be worth the expense of something like a tank-less water heater because most buyers will probably not be persuaded by it enough to offset the high cost to you. (You”re selling your home, so you”re not going to benefit much from the higher efficiency.)
If you’re a buyer, these are things you might want to look for or consider for your potential home’s future. For instance, your seller isn’t likely to replace an old water heater with a tank-less unit. But you instead may want to ask for a credit toward one instead of asking a seller to replace a water heater themselves. (This may also apply to furnaces, air-conditioners, etc.)
In working with customers in the Cincinnati area, Gerdsen feels that Gen Y-ers are the most savvy about “green” home attributes. Second time buyers are more savvy about efficiency because they’ve paid those utility bills in a home before. And people with very high levels of spending power may not be as concerned about efficiency as because they have more cash on hand to cover higher energy bills.
To learn more, visit Apollo’s website for a wealth of information about home heating and cooling. Apollo takes “green” seriously, working towards LEED (“Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design”) accreditation for its employees within a year.
Gerdsen thinks everyone should check out a carbon footprint calculator, too. You can find one at CarbonCounter.org.
Also consider visiting EnergyStar.gov. Here you can find information about tax credits for energy efficiency!\n\nStay tuned to my blog for more green tips in the future!
One of my clients and blog subscribers let me know about cheaper programmable thermostats:
I just read your blog entry about heating and cooling tips. I just wanted to let you know that many programmable thermostats run much less than the $200-$500 you quoted. I just bought and installed a 5+2 Honeywell thermostat for ~$50 from Home Depot. It certainly isn’t the top of the line, but it has most of the features discussed on the Energy Star website. Scott