Fighting the War Against Oil at Home

How can you fight the War Against Oil today?

Here on Winter Avenue, we're doing our bit.

First, let's take a look at the field of battle. We live in an old "Craftsman" style bungalow, built in 1921 by guys with hand saws. It's one story, three bedrooms and one bath, about 1,650 square feet in all. The home was originally heated by coal, then by gas space heaters, before a central system was installed in the mid-1960s. We replaced it in 1990, added air conditioning 8 years later.

Three years ago, in 2005, we added a layer of cellulose insulation to the attic, where it's now R-30. We also had all our old knob-and-post wiring replaced by real insulated copper.

Still, with the rising price of oil and gas we're suffering. Our natural gas bills have been running at $200-250/month during the winter, and our electric bills the same in the summer.

What to do?

We're about to find out.

A local renovator who specializes in energy these days is bringing in some figures tomorrow, and we're told to brace ourselves for up to a $40,000 bill. (The mortgage we paid off this month was just a little higher.) (Old wall illustration from Sikesdesign.)

Here's the to-do list:

1. All the windows in the old part of our house (the kitchen's were replaced a decade ago) are being replaced. That's a lot of glass. They're each a full yard wide, usually 5-6 feet high, and they're everywhere. We're figuring about 12 big panes of glass, plus all the stuff which goes with them.
2. They're going to drill holes in the outside wall and pour in some cellulose for the walls. If there are joists in the way of it reaching the ground, multiple holes will be drilled. Eventually they fill in the holes and we really need to re-paint the place.
3. We're going to have insulation sprayed on to the floors, underneath. All the wiring and duct-work will be tied-off beforehand, and extra supports are going to be erected in our crawl space to hold the extra weight.

There are also some "this-is" and "thats-is" to do, because I'm about as handy as a lump of coal. Some parts of the floor are sagging, given that they're 87 years old that's normal. We're going to have the front porch replaced, which will coincidentally open up a way to clear some things from our basement which have been there for many decades. (A piece of old bed frame, some metal ductwork from the old heater, etc.)

Our old mortgage becomes a second mortgage while we consider whether to add some space onto the back, and we'll need paint and a new roof regardless, and the roof should have more insulating power then the one it replaces.

We'll see how tight we can get. I'll report on the energy bills when we're done, but if they're cut in half, we're still saving just $1,800/year and spending $6,000/year for 10 years to do it. That's why such work still needs tax advantages. 

It's too early to think of adding solar panels and windmills, because there aren't any mass-produced systems that really make sense yet for the residential market. But we'll look around. If you represent such a company give me a holler.

While the cost of all this is large for the direct financial benefit, even at current prices, I like to think of it as my part in the War Against Oil. If everyone does this we're talking about millions of jobs, billions of dollars pumped into local economies, and literally billions of barrels of oil saved each year.

So, when it comes to your house, how tight can you get?