Not YET Green

While President Obama was at Savannah Tech in Georgia on Tuesday announcing his HOME STAR plan, I was on Capitol Hill promoting the same proposal to several Congressional representatives or their staff!  As Obama outlined in his speech, the proposal is a job creation idea – pulling unemployed contractors from the hard-hit construction workforce to make American homes more energy efficient.  (Skip ahead in the link above to 6:15 on the video for HOME STAR info.) The HOME STAR plan was published on the Senate Energy website yesterday.  The bonus is that while it puts construction workers back to work, it also would give American families a financial boost.  Home owners could expect to see at least $200-500 in energy savings per year so that money could be use on other expenses or as savings.  I think it also offers the benefit next time the home owner sells the home as buyers start shopping for homes with the lowest operating costs.   

HOME STAR offers two tracks.  One includes incentives up to $1500 and would allow homeowners to upgrade systems one at a time like furnace or insulation.  The other would use home performance science to identify exactly why and where your home leaks energy, prioritize projects that will save the most energy the quickest, hook you up with the contractors to make the improvements, and then measure to make sure it really worked.  The second track includes a scaled incentive plan, so the more energy you cut…the bigger rebate you earn! 

More updates from Capitol Hill…and what this proposal could mean for you in the next posts.

April 30th will be here before you know it!  The seller at 400 S. Washington in Elmhurst has reduced the listing price to help buyers who are shopping for a home now to earn the $8000 (first-time buyer) or $6500 (move-up buyer) tax credits.  The home offers an outstanding location that is walkable to all the highlights of Elmhurst, an updated kitchen and first floor family room, a new master bedroom bath and an attached two-car garage.  What are you waiting for!

v2.0 of the detailed feature sheet for 250 N. Myrtle in Elmhurst was released today!  A special green home deserves a special green marketing plan.  And the website www.250NMyrtle.wordpress.com does just that.  The site reduces paper-based marketing for Myrtle by 94%!

The improved site offers easier access to photos, videos and product links.  It also provides one-click browsing to view room-by-room information like room dimensions, finishes and photos.  Pages have been added to list savings/ benefits available to the eventual homeowner, and an owner’s guide to maximize enjoyment of the home and energy savings.  The new green page provides links to the filed documents that record the green features of the house and captures all the green highlights.  Blog posts will keep you up-to-date on how this home relates to real estate news and emerging trends.  The press coverage page contiues to showcase all the media attention the ground-breaking new home has received! 

Be sure to check out the website to learn more about what makes this green home green, and share the address with friends who might be interested in living in such a home!

So the good news is that a lot of Illinois homeowners took advantage of recent State rebates and upgraded to more energy efficient water heaters.  The State reported last week that residents received $500,000 in rebates for $2M in water heater sales.  I’m sure they will all be pleased with reduced monthly utility bills! 

The bad news is that the State announced the rebates were ended on Feb. 19th and cut the program on Feb 21st.  Uh, not a lot of notice!

So the insight out of all this has to do with appliances.  The rebates on those begin on April 16th and run til April 25th (in honor of Earth Day).  My tip of that day is that if you think the water heater money went fast, watch the appliance rebates go!  If you have any plans to upgrade appliances and earn the State rebate, plan to shop in March and pull the trigger right on April 16th.  Tips on shopping for ENERGY STAR appliances coming soon!

Rebates for furnaces and air conditioning units appear to still be available, but it is smart to get an energy audit first.  Otherwise you may be buying a bigger system than you really need.

250 N. Myrtle is staged, with a great new price.  The elegant home was carefully designed and finished to provide upscale and healthy living in a home that can actually cut your utility bills!  The new price will be $788,500 and details and web updates will appear throughout the week.  Besides the trend towards greener homes, 250 N. Myrtle also demostrates emerging trends like a spacious, yet compact floorplan and options for muliple generations of one family to combine households.  Come check it out during Open House on Sunday Feb 28th from 1-3 pm!

The recently published Elmhurst Energy & Emissions Profile surprised me a bit.  I expected Elmhurst homes to be more in line with the rest of DuPage County.  Instead, it shows we use 18% more natural gas than other DuPage homes and 25% more electricity than other Chicagoland homes. 

Based on the averages it looks like the typical Elmhurst family spends $2239 annually on utilities.  If our homes caught up and reduced natural gas usage to the DuPage level and electrical usage to Chicagoland level, our annual utility bills would be reduced to $1719.  That’s a savings of $520 per year! I can think of a lot of things I could do with $520 per year!

And how much personal sacrifice and effort would it take to reduce our utility bills by 23%?  It’s a lot easier than you might think!  Plus, your home will actually be more comfortable, and will have better results when you go to sell it.

According to the Center for American Progress, the average U.S. single-family home would require just $2500 in energy saving improvements to see utility bills savings in the range of 30% per year!  How far would $2500 go on the typical Elmhurst home?  The majority of homes were built before the 1970’s when building codes began to reflect energy efficient practices.  Best way to spend it on homes like this (ballpark figures), would be:

• $500 on an energy audit to identify problems and prioritize the “low hanging fruit” for solutions
• $750 on air-sealing around windows and in the basement/crawl and attic, and weather-stripping doors
• $1100 for insulation, starting in the attic, then the basement foundation sills
• $150 for a follow-up audit to make sure the air-sealing really worked in all spots (Set up your final payment to contractors to be made after you get satisfactory results from the final audit.  Now that’s a way to ensure your contractors are paying attention to all the details!)
• Apply for the tax credits available for the rest of the year and you’d probably earn a credit of about $300 towards the cost of the air-sealing and insulation materials!
• Final cost:  $2200
• Projected energy savings:  30%
• Projected utility savings:  $672
• Simple Payback Period:  3.3 years (at that point the improvements will have paid for themselves just through the monthly savings!)

My 5×10 Challenge outlines the steps to implement the above suggestions.  I am happy to get you connected with qualified contractors to do the work.  Contact me for more information!

The recently released Elmhurst Energy & Emissions Profle offers some great insights for Elmhurst residents to cut their energy usage and improve their homes!

One of the biggest findings in the study is in Table 2 and Table 3.  It shows that factors like our pre-1970’s housing stock and predominance of single-family homes with air conditioning in Elmhurst means our homes use more energy than the rest of DuPage and the Chicagoland region. According to the study, Elmhurst homes use 5% more natural gas than other Chicagoland homes and 18% more than other DuPage County homes.  For electricity, our homes use 25% more than Chicagoland homes and 19% more than DuPage County homes!

One big takeaway from the study is that now we all have a benchmark to work against.  Whether you work towards reducing your usage below Elmhurst’s average, or shoot to reduce below the lowest local benchmark, now you have a number to work on!  

For now, here are the benchmarks:

• Annual Elmhurst Natural Gas Usage – 1102 therms (2005 average), $788 Nicor bill (2009 average rates)
• Annual Elmhurst Electrical Usage – 11,340 kWh (2005 average), $1451 ComEd bill (2009 average rates)
• Lowest Local Natural Gas Usage:  DuPage County – 898 therms (2005 average), $642 (2009 average rates)
• Lowest Local Electrical Usage:  Chicagoland Region – 8420 therms (2005 average), $1078 (2009 average rates)

How do you stack up?   Future blog post will help you figure out exactly where you stack up against the averages!

In honor of Earth Day and Spring Cleaning – and ahead of Elmhurst’s annual free garbage day, join the Reedy Family Recycling Event!  We will be collecting various items on behalf of SCARCE.  We’re hoping to divert materials from the landfill, teach our kids about community service…and help our daughter earn a free ticket to DisneyWorld! 

Important Dates:

Sunday, February 21st – Reedy Recycling begins!  See instructions on back. 

Saturday, March 27^th – Spring Break begins!  Make time for Spring cleaning & get us your junk

Saturday, April 3^rd – Reedy Recycling ends (April 4^th is Easter Sunday)

Week of April 18^th – Free Garbage Day in Elmhurst*.  Find another pile of recycling?  Too late for our tickets, but call us and we’ll get it to SCARCE

Collection Items:

Many of the items below will be reused and made into new consumer products!  Check out the upcycling products on the TerraCycle website.  Only the items on my list below will be collected.

Office/School Materials

*Art supplies

*Books, textbooks (any condition)

*Crayons (broken or unbroken)

*Elmer’s Glue sticks and bottles (empty and clean)

*School/Office supplies (gently used or new – scissors, rulers, spiral notebooks, binders)

*Scotch tape dispensers

*Sharpie, Expo or Papermate pens (non-working)

Electronics

*Cell phones (non-working OK, chargers too)

*Ink jet cartridges

Household Items

*Buttons

*Eyeglasses

*Keys (any condition)

*Safety pins

Food Packaging

*Altoid containers (empty and clean)

*Capri Sun pouches (empty and clean)

*Candy wrappers

*Cliff Energy Bar wrappers

*Lay’s brand chip bags

*Margarine Spread containers

Contact me for drop-off info or we will pick-up from you!

Out of the whole Remodeling Magazine survey this year, one project jumps out at me – entry door replacement.  This year in the midwest a new entry cost $1229 and added $1106.  It recouped 90.1%, putting it in the top spot.  That doesn’t reflect the fact that entry doors are eligible for an ENERGY STAR federal tax credit.  Here’s the cheat sheet:  Select an entry door with a .30 or lower U-value and a .30 or lowr SHGC and you could earn a 30% credit on the door itself (not installation).  Let’s say the door itself is 2/3 of the total cost at $820.  The cost of the project after the credit would be $983 and would put about $200 right into your pocket at resale!

Last year, the City of Elmhurst used federal grant money to commission a study of our local energy use.  The study compares both commercial and residential averages to DuPage County and Chicagoland regional numbers.  The results are published on the City of Elmhurst website.  The Elmhurst Energy & Emissions Profile was produced by the Center for Neighborhood  Technology in Chicago. 

For Elmhurst the Profile…

• provides a baseline understanding of energy use
• completes requirements for the City to apply for certain energy efficiency improvement grants in the future

For individual residents the Profile…

• Helps you assess how your personal energy use stacks up against the averages
• Gives us all a benchmark to use for improvement
• Provides some suggestions to cut energy use

For me, the report is a call to action.  So much energy efficiency can be gained just through personal choices!  I will be sharing insights from the report over the next few weeks.  My goal is to ensure that at resale time, the families that I work with will be able to show that their home improvements put these households below local usage numbers.  There is definitely a premium at resale for homes that have lower operating costs – and I’m happy to be your guide toward improved value. 

I have also stepped up to participate in a subgroup of Elmhurst’s Cool Cities Coalition to look at ways we can help the community embrace the recommendations in the study and reduce our utility usage.