Community Energy Services: A Bright Idea

Post and photos by the Hawthorne Hawkman. This post originally appeared on the Hawthorne Voices Blog, and is reprinted here at the request of CEE.


Earlier this year, the Hawthorne Neighborhood Council and Community Energy Services jointly sponsored two workshops to get residents energy-efficient and environmentally friendly home upgrades. The home visit and materials are valued at $400, and require a $20 co-pay. But the Hawthorne Neighborhood Council has offered to cover the co-pay for the first 150 residents who sign up. There's still plenty of space left for the materials and visits to be completely free to you!

Here's the catch: to qualify, you must be an owner-occupant of the Hawthorne neighborhood, and you must attend a CES workshop. The next workshop is set to take place on Tuesday, June 29th, 6:30 - 8:30 p.m. (they usually finish earlier) at Farview Park. If you are interested in attending, contact Kyle Boehm at 612-219-7334 or kboehm@mncee.org.

Pictured above are some photos from the home visit done with Hawthorne board member and blogger John Hoff.

Do not click "read more," but do contact Kyle to sign up!

John's Home Gets the Community Energy Services Makeover!

Post and photos by the Hawthorne Hawkman

The Hawthorne Neighborhood Council and the Center for Energy and Environment have rolled out a new community energy services program to help Hawthorne residents. If you attend one class and set up a home energy visit, you'll receive products, tests, and information valued at $400 for a mere $20 co-pay. But Hawthorne has agreed to cover the first 150 co-pays, so participants get all of this for FREE!

Our two scheduled workshops have already been held, but we haven't even reached the halfway point for participants. There are still plenty of Hawthorne homes that could get this free service, so if you're interested, email me at jskrenes@hawthorneneighborhoodcouncil.org.

Pictured above is John Hoff with CES instructor Neely Crane-Smith. And at his house, a blower door test was being set up. Go ahead, have some fun with the door. I did.

Before the home visits, residents learned plenty at the CES workshop...

...like how one youth who had seen this presentation came up with the slogan "TOLBY," or "Turn Off Lights Behind You" as a way to help save energy. And another huge drain on energy use is something called "phantom load." Namely, appliances like televisions, video game consoles, computers, etc. keep on using power even when they're not turned on. So connecting them to a power strip and shutting them down cuts energy costs significantly. We also learned that electrical outlets are a huge source of heat loss, as they are frequently the least-insulated areas of a wall.

Once the seminar was done (and it was scheduled for two hours, but we finished in less than an hour and a half) it was time to get a few of the initial products (such as light bulbs and insulation for the sockets) and sign up for the home visit. The Polish Lady and Hawthorne office manager Kathy Welch proved you can look good and have fun with that.



Next, John went home and began installing the products he'd been given. It turns out that he already had almost all of his incandescent bulbs switched out for the more efficient compact fluorescent bulbs. Here, John shows off a pile of light bulbs ALREADY switched out beforehand.





Once the home energy visit started, the consultants first went through the kitchen and pointed out that John could save a lot of money by going to a smaller refrigerator. With so much empty space being kept cool, his current model was a large drain on his energy costs. Another significant source of heat and energy loss is the water heater in the basement.




The first three feet of piping out of the water heater is where the most heat loss happens. So by insulating that section, we cut down on that unnecessary cost. The water heater should be set somewhere around 120 degrees, and after some tinkering, the consultants were able to confirm that John's was already set at a prudent 115.




John was also told how a washing machine that loads from the front instead of the top is far more efficient. It uses less water, is easier on the clothes, and since the clothes are less wet after each cycle, the dryer uses less energy as well. During this conversation, John revealed perhaps his only weakness in an almost Spartan dedication to green living: he likes his clothes to be warm when they come out of the dryer. So even though the load in the dryer was already done, he had to put it going again. Come on dude! Toughen up!



Here, John demonstrates an outlet that has been properly insulated. Those covers aren't just for keeping kids from poking fingers in there.



Don't ask me how these things work, but there are low-flow faucets that use less gallons per minute. See how one has engraved 2.2 GPM (gallons per minute) and the other is 1.5? The same thing goes for the shower head. So if you run your shower for ten minutes with the more efficient faucet, you use seven fewer gallons of water. In the final picture of the faucets, the consultant demonstrates how the water flow remains the same even though significantly less water is being used.





Once the blower door was set up, the CES guys brought out my favorite tool: the smoking gun. This could be a metaphor for SO MANY THINGS. But essentially the way it works is that you squeeze it and it puffs out smoke. When the "gun" is placed next to a window, or an electrical socket, or any other area where air might flow while the blower door is running, smoke will move along with an air current next to a hole. If the area is airtight, then the smoke just goes straight up. This helps identify places that need to be sealed in some way.



Finally, we were shown vermiculite. Like a lot of older houses, this one has this substance in the walls/insulation. Some vermiculite was made using asbestos, meaning that the blower door test was conducted slightly differently than in other houses, and the crew couldn't go and seal up anything in the attic.



Remember, the Hawthorne Neighborhood Council still has over seventy slots available to get this consultation and these supplies for free!

Fun with Blower Doors

Post by the Hawthorne Hawkman. Video by John Hoff.

Last week, John had his home energy visit from the Hawthorne Neighborhood Council and the Center for Energy and Environment joint project: Community Energy Solutions. $400 in products and consultations are given for a mere $20 co-pay. But Hawthorne will cover the co-pay for the first 150 owner-occupants who sign up.

I happen to think that "Tommy Boy," starring Chris Farley, is perhaps the best movie of all time. "Citizen Kane" comes in a close second, but hearing "Holy Schneikies!" puts a smile on my face more often than "Rosebud," so Orson Welles, you lose. In the video above, I'm re-enacting a scene that I have to do pretty much every time I'm in front of a fan. Only John isn't as culturally adept or as familiar with the finer arts as I am. So he spouted off a one-liner and turned off the camera before one of the CES consultants jumped in with the next line in the film: "Oh, I see I'm interrupting happy time."

(Do not click "Read More," but do look for a longer post about CES and the home energy visits. It's coming soon.)

New Residential Energy Program Coming to Hawthorne!

Guest post and photos by the Hawthorne Hawkman

This post originally appeared on the Hawthorne Voices Blog.

Learn how to reduce your energy use and save money! The Hawthorne Neighborhood Council has teamed up with the Center for Energy and Environment, CenterPoint Energy and Xcel Energy to offer Hawthorne homeowners Community Energy Services, CES, a full service residential energy program.

The program will not only provide you with information about reducing your energy use by installing low-cost/no-cost measures in your home, but it will also provide you with the tools and financing necessary if you are ready to make larger investments such as insulation, sealing bypasses and installing new windows.

Community Energy Services provides:

• FREE educational workshops to teach homeowners how to lower their energy use and save money;

• FREE educational workshops to teach homeowners how to lower their energy use and save money;

• Customized home energy visits from qualified professionals who will identify additional ways for residents to save in their homes, including a blower door test. Up to $400 in services and materials for a co-pay of only $20, however the Hawthorne Neighborhood Council will cover the co-pay of the first 150 people to sign up for the program, giving you a $400 value for free;

• Personalized energy use inventory for the last 12 months and feedback for the next 12 months to show the homeowner how these low-cost/no-cost measures resulted in decreased energy use, also allowing participants to compare their energy use to that of their neighbors also participating in the program (confidentially of course);

• Information on financing, incentives, stimulus funding and rebates for those wishing to complete larger projects such as insulation or a furnace replacement.

SAVE THE DATES!

A general informational workshop will be held at Farview Park on Wednesday, January 13, 2010 6:30 - 8:30 p.m. Two other workshops to sign up for these FREE services will be held on Wednesday, February 17th, 6:30 - 8:30 p.m. and Saturday, February 20th, 10 a.m. - noon. Call or email Ashley Robertson to reserve your spot TODAY, at 612-335-5869 or arobertson@mncee.org.

By being a part of the Community Energy Services program you will be one of the first people in the state to have access to everything this program has to offer! Invite your friends, neighbors and family, all Hawthorne homeowners are welcome!

Funding for this project was provided by the Minnesota Environment and Natural Resources Trust Fund as recommended by the Legislative-Citizen Commission on Minnesota Resources (LCCMR).