Peak Oil energy crisis - The End of Suburbia

Dave:

We *really* do call it that here. Serious.

Though at -40 when the car won't start, a lot of folks no longer think it's funny.

Jay

 

jayman... you are right, people will balk at the extra $$ even if they knew that they only had to live through a handful of winters to recoup that cost in heating bills. $2500 in -40º wont take long!!

 

David:

You got that right.

The house I used to have in the Burbs was built with energy efficiency in mind. I forego what I thought were impractical and useless options: trayed ceilings, fancy hutches, pretty decorative columns in the dining room, etc.

Thing is, all the impractical and - in my opinion - useless options easily add $10,000-$15,000 to the finished price of the home. It may help the "curb appeal" but contributes 0 to helping heat or cool the house.

And although I was the first person to p*** and moan about what it cost to heat and cool that house, my neighbors told me they would *kill* to have my utility bills. My gas and power bills were usually 1/3 of what theirs were.

So to my way of thinking, spending $2,500 on something that is out of sight, out of mind, but guaranteed to permanently lower your utility costs, is a *smart* investment.

Spending upwards of 6 times that on frilly crap is plain dumb.

The sad thing is, the folks who spent 6 times more on frilly crap had blown their budget. So even minor things like sealing and insulating their HVAC ductwork - something that can dramatically lower your bills too - were suddenly impossible.

Jay

 

Too many people forget that most of the frilly crap can always be added later.

Wood and tile floors were axed early in the spec'ing of the place I'm waiting to build in favor of what will make the place as energy efficient as possible - with the exception of my fireplace. I GOTTA have that!!!

 

Jay at the time the house was being built my folks lived in Whitehorse YT. So the were familiar with triple glased windows and insulated siding etc. etc. and my dad was a big supporter of super insulation etc. and heat exchanges as he worked for the Dept of Public Works and saw on a daily basis the way to improve things and when they decided to leave the Yukon there were a lot of his wants on the table. No finished basement, no finished lower carport no paved drive way all the flash and glitz but all the important things were there. The builder was a really super guy and did it right. One of several who carried my dad's coffin also. I always wanted to get that house and retire there, but alas not to be.

 

Wolfy:

Actually, I much prefer wood/tile over carpet, primarily for IAQ (Indoor Air Quality) issues. First of all, the nylons, rayons, binders, etc, in carpet will outgas for quite some time after installation.

Second of all is just the overall cleanliness of the home. I don't care if you fire up the vacuum 4 times a day, you will *never* get the floor clean. Dust mites in particular *love* carpet. They poop and breed like crazy, often simultaneously!

Every home I bought used, the first thing on the project list was ripping out all the carpet. You would truly be surprised at the s*** you'll find under the carpet and especially under the pad. Nasty, disgusting ... you get the idea.

Since I can put in laminate, hardwood (Just have to rent the air nailer), and ceramic tile myself, I can usually keep my finished cost under $4.50 a sq ft. When you consider that around here the better carpet is upwards of $25 a sq yd, it begins to make sense.

Fireplaces are ok if they're airtight, like those conversion ones from Regency that are popular up here. All combustion air is from outside, so you actually have a net heat gain while using them.

Jay

 

Frank:

Sounds like your old man was *way* ahead of his time. Need more people thinking like that.

Nope, don't need it. Who are you trying to impress anyway, the neighbors? To h*** with them.

It rarely is. Look around for an old run-down hobby farm somewhere. I picked up mine almost 6 years ago at a bankruptcy sale. The old house was a write-off but the land has good drainage and potential, and the outbuildings were decent.

If you do most of the construction work yourself, you save a ton of $$$.

Jay

 

Jay the builder said it was one of the more expensive houses he'd ever built to which my dad said "I don't care and you shoudn't either". I helped finish the lower car port and they eventually got the drive paved and he finished the basement over a couple of winters, mom did the yard and put in the garden and they had it fenced. Beautiful location backed onto the river but above the flood plane. At the time the saw mill in town had a contract with an Australian firm for the supply of spruce 2x6's and that was all the mill did and the locals used to buy the excess. So that's what the builder used. Picked up at the mill to save cartage and other shipping expense. Wrapping and strapping etc.

 

I prefer it as well. However, they fall into the list of things that can be added later, and at far less expense since I won't be paying for the labor to install it.

My neighbour and I layed the floors in my current house. Laminate throughout, and tile in the kitchen. Only the tile was laid professionally, as the contractor included laying it, in the price of the kitchen gutting.

I also hate carpet, and with two dogs and cats, will have my hands full keeping it looking tolerable. I simply cannot afford to add another 10K back into the price of the house.

As it is, I haven't gotten so much as a nibble on my current place, and it MUST sell before I can move forward.

 

Frank:

It always means more to you when you do the work yourself. And the money you save over paying somebody really helps the budget and long-term equity.

Jay

 

Wolfy:

The last home I had built in the Burbs, and my current home at the hobby farm, was minimally finished. I'm capable of drywalling if I have the time (Rolled up all my vacation time) but will usually let the contractor insulate and hang the sheetrock.

However, I still prefer to mud the drywall, sand it, and paint it. You save a ton of money that way. The floor is left bare ply and I can then finish it myself with whatever I chose.

The only place I use carpet is on stairs, which is a safety factor. When I was a kid I slipped on a wood stair and took a nasty tumble.

Fortunately I landed on my head, so there wasn't any damage!

There are high quality laminates out there, I really like the Pergo stuff, but it's hard to beat "real" hardwood flooring. Once you learn how to use that air powered floor nailer, it's a piece of cake.

I don't mind tiling myself. Though I have learned that the concrete backer board makes your life *so* much easier. You know the surface will be strong and will minimize future moisture problems.

Jay

 

not always but you do get to have it "your way"

 

Something interesting....
http://www.washtimes.com/commentary/200406...92733-4642r.htm

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(senna4ever\";p=\"82490)</div>

have seen that several times and what he presents has been debunked by people that dont even believe the peak oil theory (hulberts curve)

hard to believe that a substance that has nothing but the standard organic makeup and structure, could be made from an inorganic substance and that is what he is saying.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(\"DaveinOlyWA\";p=\"81472\")</div>

not even close. even in the mild winters where i live, the cold uses much more power than the air conditioning did last year. and although our summers are just as mild, the only thing i have to go by is the hottest summer i have ever seen in Western Wa last year. hot as it was, its no where near as bad as most southern tier states. but temp is a killer and you have to look at logistics really.

how cold does it have to be before you want some heat? in the grand scheme of things... not very.

our comfort zone is simply much closer to the hot end of things. if its 100º F we want it to be 70º F a difference of 30ºF. now if its 20ºF we still want it to be 70ºF then its 50º difference. so you see, cold comfort simply uses more because it has farther to go.

couple that with high efficient air conditioning and you will find that the hit for air conditioning is only 2-3 mpg in 100ºF from what i got last summer. in the winter, i easily double that hit for what is considered "indian summer" weather for most people on this forum.[/b][/quote]


Dave-
I never adressed this when you posted it but let me raise a few points for your consideration.
1 Solar radiation will warm the house even in cold temperatures which effectively lowers the ambient temperatures requiring heat or cooling.
2 Every light and appliance in your home adds some amount of heat to the house, again reducing heating loads and increasing cooling loads.
3 Finally, even with high efficiency cooling systems, the amount of energy required to remove a btu of heat is greater than the amount of energy required to add a btu of heat with a furnace of similar efficiency.

Points one and two mean that depending on the design of the building envelope and orientation of the structure, the temperature where heating switches to cooling will probably be closer to 50 degrees than to 70 degrees. This will change the math somewhat of your otherwise quite valid point. Point three will affect the amount of energy required to overcome the delta T in your resulting equation. Energy consumption in the south is huge in the summer.

An interesting tidbit is that in 1999 Texas, leading producer of petroleum in the US, became a net importer of petroleum. Summer cooling costs were a substantial portion of that consumption. Another fun fact is that Texas is the second largest producer of wind generated power in the US.

 

I'm in the Dallas area and cooling is our primary energy consumer. I designed my house to keep out unwanted sun and my energy bills are 1/3 of my neighbors.

I've held many solar house tours and I get a skeptic sometimes. I show them that my monthly utility savings more than offsets the small increase in mortgage payment to cover the additional capital. If that doesn't convince them I ask them "What's the payback of crown moulding?"

My House - www.enerjazz.com/house

 

Hi Paul-
I checked your website but was unable to make out some of the figures on the charts. Your home is quite impressive, especially when you consider the year that it was built. Can you tell me what your current energy consumption is? I tend to look for kilowatt hours per square foot per month or just kilowatt hours per month. Do you use any gas in the home?

I have a 4200 square foot home. I use rainwater for domestic use. My average monthly electric consumption is 1137 kilowatt hours plus 13 gallons of propane. I use a hot water circulating system and must treat my water with UV. I use halogen and incandescent lighting so no savings there but I prefer the light quality. I also take a hit with my 500 watt plasma TV and my old refrigerator that uses 7 kilowatt hours a day. Someday that will be replaced with one that uses less than 2 but not quite yet. I also use a DEC ultra-aire to supply mechanical ventilation and maintain my RH to below 50% year round.

One other thing, I offset all my additional costs with reductions from standard construction techniques and none of my methods affect an architect's abilities to design as they please.

My goal in building energy efficient housing is to keep the consumption in a range to allow PVs to supply all of the home's energy needs once it becomes economically viable. I am hoping that that will occur in the next eight years.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(senna4ever\";p=\"82490)</div>

Oh yes, the "earth has a creamy nougat center of oil that constantly replenishes oil fields" theory.

 

Have to have something to lubricate the tectonic plates as they slide past each other, otherwise we'd have many more earthquakes. :wink:

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(priusenvy\";p=\"84064)</div>

Oh yes, the "earth has a creamy nougat center of oil that constantly replenishes oil fields" theory.[/b][/quote]

You mean we actually live on a gigantic candy bar???? Who'dve thunk that one!!! :mrgreen: