ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Saturday, April 6, 1996 TAG: 9604060003
SECTION: BUSINESS PAGE: 1 EDITION: METRO
COLUMN: energy
SOURCE: MAG POFF
The form letter from American Electric Power Co. was intriguing.
The utility company offered a home energy fitness assessment. That's because we own a single-family house using electricity either to heat space or water. The program was free; all we had to do was return an enclosed card.
AEP, it subsequently turned out, was even willing to perform the audit on a Saturday for working couples, although that took a couple of months to schedule.
After delays caused by weekend snowstorms, Sidney and Regina - they never gave their last names - showed up on the stroke of 9 one Saturday morning with a carload of equipment.
I had plans for catching up on some ironing and other chores while they worked, but that was not to be.
While Regina began to reconnoiter the house, Sidney set up a laptop computer and swept me into the effort. I had forms to fill out about the house and our energy habits.
Do we cut back the heat or air conditioning in the daytime? How old are our various appliances and how do we use them? When did we buy the house? Had we installed insulation recently? How many square feet of living space?
I didn't know the square footage of the house, but Sidney was undaunted - he measured it. He also squeezed himself into the attic crawl space and pronounced himself satisfied with our degree of roof insulation.
He typed all of the information into the laptop.
Meanwhile, Regina summoned me to the basement. Our water heater was set at 140 degrees when AEP recommended 130 degrees for houses with dishwashers and 120 degrees for those without the appliance. The heater itself, Regina found, was properly insulated.
What did I want her to do? she asked in a tone that suggested the choice was all mine. Please set it back 10 degrees, I told her. (I have since found this is more than hot enough.)
Regina asked where she could install an energy-saving bulb that promises to burn 10,000 hours. She went to clean the refrigerator coils only to find that in our old model the coils are at the rear. She gave me a special brush so I can clean them myself when I am ready to pull the refrigerator out from the wall and unscrew the back. (This will be a long wait, I thought.)
With my permission, Regina added a water-saving device to all of the faucets. It adds air to maintain the same pressure but with less water.
And so it went to the dramatic climax. Sidney and Regina took down the storm door temporarily and installed a blower-and-canvas contraption to measure how fast the air turns over in the house.
The optimum, they explained, is 32 percent an hour. This is tight enough to be energy efficient. Any tighter could cause a health hazard, they said.
At 50 percent or 60 percent, which is the rate at most homes they test, owners should consider adding more insulation, more weatherstripping and the like.
Our house tested 44 percent, which is in the gray area. But after consultation, I decided that a house sheltering two smokers and five cats needed more air flow. So no more steps were necessary.
The energy auditors did their work and were gone in 90 minutes.
What's in all of this for AEP, which paid the bill from its home fitness contractor, Honeywell DMC Services Inc.? The cost varies from house to house, but a typical bill is about $200.
Oliver Kitner, AEP's efficiency services supervisor for Virginia, West Virginia and Tennessee, said the company's gain is energy savings.
The efficiency of one house makes little difference, he conceded, but a lot of energy will be saved in the planned assessment of 2,000 homes.
The program has been going for two years, according to Kitner. As of March 15, the company had audited 1,563 homes.
You don't have to receive a letter to participate, Kitner said, but you do have to live in the utility's Roanoke Division, which includes Roanoke, Roanoke County and most of Franklin, Patrick, Henry, Botetourt, Bedford and Pittsylvania counties.
The contractor usually works in one neighborhood at a time, Kitner said. New letters go out as the contractor runs through existing work and moves to another neighborhood.
If they don't already have it, Kitner said, homeowners could receive insulation wrap for the water heater and pipe insulation. If the furnace is electric, owners receive an energy audit of the home (such as I did), and assistance with caulking, weatherstripping, outlet gaskets and the like.
The homeowner is also educated about lifestyle changes that could reduce reliance on energy. Examples are turning the heat down or air conditioning setting up while people are away, using the washer and dishwasher only when you have full loads and taking shorter showers.
As a final step, Kitner said, the homeowner is given a computerized printout of the home's energy fitness with information on energy savings that can be pursued later.
LENGTH: Medium: 89 linesby CNB