Any homeowner willing to do a little planning or up-front spending can enjoy years and years of reduced energy bills.

As energy costs continue to rise around the nation, many homeowners are wondering how to protect their pocketbooks. Turning back the thermostat and turning off the lights hardly make a dent when fuel and gas prices rise in dollars, not cents. Electric costs are also impacted by often-costly initiatives to protect the environment.

But there are options for reducing home energy use that can result in savings of hundreds, if not thousands, of dollars a year, while minimizing the impact on the environment.

Heating and Cooling From the Earth
There is a way to heat (and cool) your home without heating fuels and with minimum electricity—by tapping into geothermal energy.

“When you say ‘geothermal’, some people think you’re talking about drilling wells in Alaska,” says Al Midgett, eastern region manager for WaterFurnace International, which manufactures and sells ground-source heat pumps. “But what you’re doing is using the earth to heat and cool your home.”

Unlike a conventional heat pump, which draws on outside air for heating and cooling, a geothermal system draws warmth from below the ground’s surface, via vertical or horizontal pipes that circulate water or environmentally safe antifreeze through a loop under the ground or submerged in a pond. “There’s more energy in the ground,” says Midgett, “than a house can ever use.” In summer, the system pulls warm air out of the home and puts it back into the ground.

Since the cost of fossil fuels has gone through the roof, ground-source heat pump sales have increased substantially. And no wonder. Homeowners with a geothermal heat pump can save 40 to 60 percent on their utility bills compared with a conventional heat pump. Midgett says heating a home can be a quarter of the cost for a homeowner who replaces an oil or propane furnace with a geothermal system. “We’ve now even beat natural gas,” he adds.

Midgett says a geothermal system is usually about a third more expensive than standard heating and cooling systems, mainly because of the cost involved in putting loops into the ground.

While a geothermal unit costs more to install, “where we win is in lifecycle costs,” he notes. The system will pay for the extra installation cost in five to six years, perhaps less if energy costs continue to rise.

Midgett advises, hoever, against jumping on the geothermal bandwagon without analyzing the home’s current status in terms of air leakage and insulation. “Your house needs to be part of the system,” he explains. “All the money you spend to heat your home can go right out the window if you have leaks and lack proper insulation.

“When you’re looking for a contractor to install a geothermal system,” Midgett advises, “find somebody who not only knows the equipment but who understands heat loss and gain.” It’s also important to find a technician willing to spend time educating the homeowner about how to run a geothermal system efficiently and how to establish different zones in the home for heating and cooling that will ensure efficient and customized comfort through the year.

Taking Advantage of the Sun
While many associate solar energy with high-cost photovoltaic systems, passive solar homes take advantage of the sun’s energy through design, site placement, and thermal mass.

While it’s easier to take advantage of passive solar energy in new construction, homeowners can also use some of its concepts in existing homes. Leigh Seddon, president of Solar Works, Inc., in Montpelier, VT, says the first thing homeowners should consider is the building envelope. Good insulation and good insulating glass are important for holding in the heat gained by the sun. The second key, he says, is the home’s orientation. The long axis should face south and have many windows designed to take in the sun’s warmth on winter days. Thirdly, homeowners should build in storage capacity for the sun’s natural warmth by tiling floors or even building on a south-facing sunroom. “You can reduce energy consumption by up to 30 percent by building a passive solar home,” Seddon says.

Homeowner Francis Wessel of Goochland County, VA, uses lots of south-facing glass on his home, as well as tile floors, to draw in and store heat in winter. Ken Schaal, owner of Commonwealth Solar in Ashland, VA, says the Wessels can enjoy 70-degree warmth in their home on a winter day, even with exterior temperatures in the 40s, just by taking advantage of passive solar gain without any auxiliary heat running.

But even a homeowner living in a house that doesn’t meet the site orientation or design that’s ideal for solar gain in the wintertime can still make some small, low-cost adjustments to the home to take advantage of solar energy. “The placement of trees, for example, can make a big difference,” notes Schaal. The south side of a home should have minimal coverage from trees, while trees can be beneficial on the west side of the home by cutting down on heat gain in the summer.

Another option for shading one’s home from sun in summer are solar screens, which are relatively inexpensive, but can cut down significantly on the sun’s infiltration through windows. Even standard window shades will help as long as they’re white and, therefore, reflect light.

In winter, homeowners can reduce heat loss by using window quilts on a track system, which can provide an insulating benefit as good as many double-paned insulated windows, says Schaal.

“If you have a well-insulated, high-mass house, even a heat pump can do pretty well,” he adds, noting that homeowners need to pay particular attention to air infiltration. An often-overlooked area is the crawlspace, which, if vented and uninsulated, can lead to cold floors and major heat loss. “So long as you can control water and keep it below the vapor barrier, it’s best to seal up the crawlspace,” Schaal explains. “It’s a much neglected area.”

Seddon says other commonly overlooked areas of heat gain in summer and air infiltration in winter are old or poorly-installed skylights and recessed lights. Big skylights can let in a lot of heat in summer; and often, recessed lights lack insulation and can let in cold air from roof and attic spaces.

But even a home that wasn’t designed to take advantage of southern exposure can benefit from a well-placed sunroom on the home’s south side that will draw in a lot of natural heat in winter. Seddon says installing tile floors over concrete will create a storage area for the heat to preserve its warming effect even after the sun has gone down.

Homeowners can use the sun to decrease energy costs even more by installing a solar water heater. Active solar collectors on the roof use a metal plate under glass to heat water. While a solar water heater can cost anywhere from $4,000 to $7,000, long-term savings can be substantial. “Hot water is the second-highest energy consumer in a home after the HVAC system,” notes Seddon. “An average family of four,” he says, “will spend $500 to $800 a year on hot water. There is now a federal tax credit for homeowners who install solar water heaters.

However homeowners try to beat rising energy costs, the most important thing to remember is that the home functions best when all its parts are working together. This means preserving the benefits of an efficient HVAC system by closing up air gaps, insulating properly, and installing energy efficient windows or sealing leaks around existing ones. It also means taking advantage of natural warmth when it’s available, and the natural cooling effect of shade through roof overhangs and trees.

For more information:
• Michigan Geothermal Energy Association ;
• Geothermal Heat Pump Consortium ;
• Solar Energy Industries Association , 202-682-0556.