I'm In The Local Press!

From the Tempe insert in the Arizona Republic:

Want a few good tips to save money on your monthly utility bill? Tempe resident Jay Fretz has some useful tricks up his sleeve and he’s on a mission to share what he knows, often at no charge, through his new consulting businesses called “Home Energy Xperts.

“If someone is interested in making their home more efficient, they don’t have to buy a new air conditioner, there are small steps we can all take,” said Fretz, who holds a day job at a Tempe structural engineering firm. “Sometimes it’s as simple as cleaning things, cleaning filters, cleaning the coils on the refrigerator, things like that. There are no-cost steps that can be taken. Or, you can go whole hog and go all out and totally upgrade everything.”

 Tempe resident Karen Stucke-Jungemann was curious when she heard Fretz refer to “energy vampires,” and agreed to design a new logo for Fretz’ business if he’d come inspect her home; she wanted to know how many of these “vampires” were living in her house, built in 1967.  “Even though we have an ‘extremely low electric bill’ in his words, he was still able to give us advice. And we did install more insulation this fall. It was less than a month ago so we haven't measured the benefit yet. One quality of life benefit is that we think we have less airport noise! We live near University and Hardy in Tempe,” Stucke-Jungemann saidAlthough a handful of area businesses offer a similar service known as an energy audit, Fretz is hoping to provide a much less involved, less expensive option for people who can’t afford the $250-$500 charge for a full-blown energy audit.  For Fretz’ in-home energy inspection and detailed report, he charges around $50, but much of his advice is free.  “What I’m trying to do is carve out a niche below (the energy audit) that looks at the really low-hanging fruit, from light bulbs and turning things off, behavioral changes, to maybe putting weather stripping around doors and things like that,” he said. “Everything on the website is free, anybody who wants to email me and ask me questions or give me a call and ask me some questions about things they could do, steps they could take, to make their home more efficient, I am totally willing to give that advice free of charge.”

JoAnne Smith had Fretz inspect her Chandler home and learned a handful of new things, including how to use the SRP website to evaluate her energy usage.

“I have replaced light fixtures in my three bathrooms so I can use fluorescent bulbs and I rearranged the plugs on my computer and related equipment on two power strips so I can completely turn off the equipment that does not need to be plugged in all the time,” Smith said. She’s also planning to have a timer installed on her electric water heater.

Toilets are also on the checklist.
“I also try to let people know about the rebates that are available. In Tempe for instance, there’s a rebate of 50% of the cost of a new water-efficient toilet, up to $75. So you could buy a $150 toilet at Home Depot or Lowe’s and you get $75 back from the city of Tempe to do that. That might be enough to push somebody over the edge; they might say, ‘well, this toilet kind of leaks or it’s not the right color,’ or something like that and maybe this is the final straw that (makes them realize), ‘oh, I didn’t realize I as wasting 10,000 gallons of water per year. I’m going to go ahead and take care of that.’"

Thanks to Nancy for writing a thorough and accurate article about my business.

Read the original article here.

Rate your Home's Efficiency

I found a quick and easy way to calculate a home's energy efficiency.  It allows for different fuel sources such as natural gas, propane, electricity, and even wood.  It also takes into account your area's climate.  I'll paste the steps below and then reveal how my own home fared.

1. Find out how many kilowatt hours of electricity, cubic feet of natural gas, gallons of propane and heating oil, and cords of wood you use in one year.
2. Convert to Btus. 1 kilowatt-hour of electricity equals 3,414 Btu, 1 cubic foot of natural gas equals 1,025 Btu, 1 gallon of propane equals 91,000 Btu, 1 gallon of heating oil equals 138,700 Btu, and 1 cord of wood equals 19 million Btu.
3. Divide the total number of Btus by the sum of the cooling- and heating-degree days (5,512 for Phoenix).  Find your area's number here.
4. Divide the result by your home’s square footage.
5. If the result is under 10, you’re solidly energy efficient; 10-20, you’re doing fine; more than 20, you could stand to make some improvements.

My home used 12,139 kwh of electricity in 2008.  I don't use natural gas, propane(grill use is negligible), or wood.

Multiply 12,139 kwh by 3,414 Btu/kwh = 41,442,546 Btu.

Divide 41,442,546 Btu by 5,512 heating and cooling degree days (hcd) = 7,518 Btu/hcd.

Divide 7,518 Btu/hcd by 1,750 sq ft = 4.3

I'm really happy with that number given the creators' assertion that anything under 10 is an efficient home.  Like all approximations, this number isn't perfect, and it certainly doesn't tell the whole story - like how many people occupy this home, for instance.  It does give an easy to remember point of comparison, though.  I'd love to hear how other homes fare using this technique, so don't be shy if the math isn't too hard ;).

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