Home gets energy efficiency makeover
At a time of year when most Arizona residents cringe while opening their electric bill, Jan Green isn’t sweating it.
While many summer bills inch toward $300 and above, utility burden comes in at an enviable average of $77 each month.
Green’s Phoenix ranch house, built in 1979, doesn’t have a single solar panel installed. It doesn’t capture rain water and reuse it. And it isn’t built with any specialty materials. Despite that, it has become the first home in the state to receive the prestigious Pearl Gold certification for energy efficiency.
Green’s house is the second house to receive Pearl certification in Arizona, the other coming in one level below with a silver rating.
“I practice a lot of sustainability,” Green said of the lifestyle she willingly inherited from her mother. “I just kicked it up into energy efficiency.”
As a Realtor who specializes in energy-efficient construction, Green wanted to put her education to use when she purchased the home in 2015. She basically gutted it, with the exception of a bathtub and a couple doors, and invested about $12,000 into features that have paid her back more quickly than she anticipated.
“Some of that payback was as fast as lightning,” she said. “This house is a case study house. I have slideshows on this house. It is a teaching tool for others.”
She purchased a new, 16-SEER airconditioning unit. And she keeps the temperature in her home at about 80 degrees, which is made more comfortable by the home’s tile floor throughout, which she installed to help manage her allergies.
She invested in spray foam insulation, creating a semi-conditioned space for the air-conditioning vents in the attic. The spray foam, she said, provides a barrier between the roof and the vents so the air-conditioning unit doesn’t have to work so hard to cool the house.
Green also sealed the ducts throughout the 1,500-square-foot home. Ducts, she said, can typically leak about 20 percent, unnecessarily cooling attic space and wasting energy.And she purchased Energy Starrated appliances and EPA-endorsed WaterSense faucets. The home is also equipped with water-saving showerheads, dual flush toilets and energysaving LED or CFL lightbulbs.
To block a good portion of the sun’s heat, Green purchased and installed sunscreens on west-facing windows.
And luckily, the previous owners had recently upgraded the home’s windows and doors with low-E quality replacements just before Green purchased the house.
After reviewing utility bills from the home’s previous owners, and the ones she was receiving after the upgrades, Green could see the difference. Pearl certification verifiers saw the difference, too.
Pearl verifiers visited Green’s home and tested its capabilities and determined that the upgrades resulted in a 69 percent reduction in energy usage. Green’s Home Energy Rating Score, or HERS, went from a 174 to 65, which falls within the 50-70 range of most new homes built in Arizona.
“Knowing I’m contributing less carbon to the environment gives me great satisfaction,” she said. “I have controlled the environment for my allergies, too.”
Part of Green’s pride is knowing she achieved the rating, and enjoys lower utility bills, because she made adjustments that anyone can do. In addition to installing water-saving faucets, Green also purchased a water-saving, energyefficient washer and dryer set, and she plans to design and install xeriscape landscaping once her budget permits.
“I have more money to spend,” she said, noting her plans for shade structures and exterior paint.
In her work as a specialist in energy efficiency with the Scottsdale Area Association of Realtors, Green said many
homeowners think efficiency upgrades are financially out of reach. They automatically assume that solar panels are the first thing they need, she said. But really, they’re not.
“That’s the last thing you should do,” Green said. “You should reduce energy before reducing power.”
Beyond all of the upgrades Green initiated, she said she also benefits from the block construction of her home. She said tests indicated the presence of vermiculite, which is an insulation that was used inside the blocks during construction, and aids in the home’s efficiency. Since blocks are known to be hollow, she said she lucked out there.
While Green knows she is one of the lucky Arizona residents with a low utility bill, she said others can achieve the type of efficiency she enjoys with a little education.
“Energy savings is becoming more and more important,” she said. “A lot of people want to reduce their bills and don’t know how. This is a way to do it.”