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Clean Energy Worked on My House

Posted on April 23, 2012 by Bob Jenks
Tags,  Climate and Conservation,  Consumers and Utility Customers

Last fall, I wrote about how I had signed up for an energy retrofit of my house through Clean Energy Works Oregon. Clean Energy Works is a non-profit that allows utility customers to do home energy efficiency upgrades and pay for the upgrades through a charge on their utility bills. In that earlier post, I described the program and what made it attractive to me. Let me start with the advantages to the Clean Energy Works program:

The first is one-stop shopping. You can sign up for the program and Clean Energy Works arranges the various contractors, so you don’t have to contact furnace installers, insulation installers, and window installers separately. A lead contractor will assemble the team to complete the work on your house.

The second is the ability of Clean Energy Works to bring Energy Trust of Oregon incentives on certain measures together with federal stimulus money to reduce the cost of the energy efficiency upgrades. You don’t have to pay for the retrofit up front, apply for incentives, and then wait for them; the incentives are instead provided up front as a discount on the overall cost of the project.

The third is the ability of Clean Energy Works to include some items that are not directly related to energy efficiency. For example, in our home we added a bathroom fan and carbon monoxide detectors. Before the upgrade, our house was drafty. Now with it sealed up tight, we need to be able to get moisture out and we need the CO detectors.

The final advantage of Clean Energy Works is that it is tied to a loan that is then paid back on your heating bill over the next 20 years. The interest rate is 5% and early payback or refinancing is allowed.

What We Did

My wife and I decided to do a deep retrofit to our 80 year old home. This included having shingles taken off the outside of our home so insulation could be blown in. Additional insulation was also installed in the attic. Our house had been quite drafty and we had it sealed up pretty tight. The final tests showed an amazing improvement in eliminating air leakage. We replaced the natural gas furnace, which was installed in the 1970s,and converted our hot water to gas and installed a tankless water heater. This last step was expensive, and there are lower cost alternatives—natural gas water heaters with tanks that are nearly as cost effective, for example. On the other hand, my family tends to use a good deal of hot water. I personally find the shower a great place to think about my upcoming day, so if I am going to use extra hot water, I should make my hot water system as efficient as possible.

It is important to note that we did not have to go so deep and do as much as we did. We could have had a less expensive upgrade. By doing less, we could have tried to more closely match the reduction in our utility bills with the cost of the loan. But we felt this was a good opportunity to invest in our home, recognizing that we would get not just lower bills but greater comfort, and we would also reduce the carbon footprint of our home. In addition, as energy costs rise, the value of the savings will increase. Our house went 80 years without any insulation in its walls, but will now always be insulated.

The energy audit suggested that we would see energy savings of greater than 30%, which we knew would not fully cover the loan, but would still offset a significant portion of it.

The Results

Wonderful.

The comfort level in our retrofitted home is amazing. The house is no longer drafty. The temperature is consistent from room to room. It really is an amazing difference and is much greater than I had expected. We expect that this improvement will also follow us into the summer. With good insulation and a well-sealed house, we should be able to cool the house at night and in the morning with windows and fans, and close up the house during the day to maintain a comfortable temperature.

The second benefit, which I was not even expecting, is in air quality. The new furnace comes with a significantly better filter, and a gentler fan (at least on its low setting which is normally all that is required to warm the house). My dust allergies that rise up in the winter heating season disappeared this year.

Finally, after several months of bills, we can conclude that the promised savings is there. In March, for example, my electric bill is down 47.5% and my gas bill is down by 32%. The total bill savings was a little over $100, while the cost of the loan on the measures was about $20 greater than the bill savings. The savings has varied each month. When tracking bill savings, it is important to recognize changes in weather, changes in the number of days in the billing cycle, and our home usage. In December, our savings was only 21% on electricity and 24% on gas. But last year we went to visit my wife’s family over the holidays, so we had lower than normal usage. After making adjustments of weather, billing days, and occupancy, my best estimate is that my electric bill has declined by about 40% and my gas bill by about 30%, and that covers about 80% of the cost of the loan.

As electric and gas prices increase, the savings will grow, but the loan amount will not. In the long run this investment is cost effective and will save us money. In the short term, we are paying a little more each month, but our comfort and quality of life have improved.

I was quite surprised that the electric bill went down so much. The primary driver of this is the conversion of water heating to gas. However, having a more efficient electric fan in the new furnace contributes, and the new system has reduced the need to occasionally use an electric space heater upstairs, where there is only one heating vent. Finally, I note that the effort and investment have also reminded my family of the value of conservation and I am less likely to find lights and televisions left on in rooms that are empty.

The Disclaimer

We are very happy in our retrofitted home. It was well worth doing and the results have been better than we expected. At the same time, this was a significant endeavor. We had contractors working inside and outside of our house for several weeks. My lead contractor was great. His commitment to air sealing my house and eliminating leaks was extremely strong.

But a different house with different contractors will likely get a different result.

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03/29/17  |  4 Comments  |  Clean Energy Worked on My House

Comments

  • 1.Bob,


    I enjoyed your post. I am also familiar with the changes you had them make to your house. I did a similar set of things to my house (el. for gas water heater swap, insulate walls, floor, and ceiling, junk gas furnace). But I put a wood stove back in the house: it had been heated with wood way back as had most houses in my inner SE neighborhood (Energy Trust and CEWO are precluded from that sort of thing unfortunately, which is curious since one day natural gas will either become unaffordable or we'll realize we shouldn't be burning it but leaving it in the ground).


    But all the improvements you mention ring true. I'm also delighted to hear that the loan amount and the bill savings are close.



    Do you mind me asking how much the total cost was for this set of retrofits and upgrades?

    Reuben Deumling | April 2012

  • 2.Did you realize you payed at least twice to thrice, what it should have cost, had you had the work done outside of CEWO? ...and your incentives and rebates were just written in and pocketed by the contractor. sorry, the truth hurts, just like the myth of solar ever penciling out.

    ryan | May 2012

  • 3.@ryan,

    First, as a consumer organization, we encourage customers to shop around, compare prices and ensure that they are getting a good deal. In my case, I am satisfied that I did. I did compare the bid from CEWO to what I could have gotten outside of CEWO. The price for the furnace and hot water heater were a similar price to what was available.


    Based on the number of hours it took to insulate the walls of my home and to seal all of the leaks, I am satisfied that I wasn't overcharged. These folks worked hard on my home for weeks. Blowing insulation into the walls from the outside required removal of shingles, and had to be done with lead and asbestos controls.


    My research told me that the price was reasonable. It is possible that I could have saved a little bit by shopping around and hiring the contractors myself. But part of what is appealing with CEWO is the ease of having a single point of contact and having someone else dealing with the subcontractors. While I could have done this myself, it would have taken longer and I would not have had the entire job completed before the start of the winter heating season.


    As for the incentives, they were fully disclosed. I saw the price of each measure before the incentives and the total price after incentives. The incentives were "pocketed" by the contractors, in the sense that they were used to bring down the price of the project before I paid, rather than me paying the entire amount and applying and waiting for the incentives as a rebate.


    Finally, we recognize that CEWO is one option that folks can consider. We encourage homeowners to shop around and find the best deal for them. Some folks, like me, appreciate the convenience of CEWO. Others might want to ensure the lowest possible price, even if it takes more work on behalf of the homeowner. And some folks like to do as much on their home as a do-it-yourself project.


    We think all are good approaches.

    Bob Jenks | May 2012

  • 4.Ryan - Your perspective is slightly accurate regarding cost, you will pay more for a project in the CEWO program, but your assumptions are way off. Here are some legitimate reasons why CEWO projects cost more:


    1. Happy employees getting payed a decent wage (as required by the program), resulting in high quality workmanship, pride, and a better end product.


    2. The ability to have a Home Performance contractor manage the project from start to finish while utilizing scientific principals and a whole house perspective with an emphasis on building durability and health and safety.


    3. Access to financing that enables homeowners to afford a more comprehensive project.


    4. Third party verification and quality control provided by the program.


    5. Verified and perceived value for your home with the CEWO brand associated with the work, which guarantees that the work was done correctly and completely. This has a high potential to make the home more attractive in the existing home market if the homeowner wants to sell their house.


    I know many of the contractors that work in the CEWO program, and I can attest that nobody is just "pocketing" the rebates. In order to participate in CEWO as a contractor you have to maintain a high level of credentials, which includes ethical business practices, the drive to be better than your average "Joe contractor", and a thing that we like to call integrity. Another thing to consider is that most people who are in business are not striving to go out of business, so a fair profit is justified for all their hard work. A house is usually the most expensive investment that an average person will make in their lifetime, and the cost of maintenance and repair can really add up. As the saying goes, you get what you pay for.

    Tom | May 2012

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