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Jul 02 , 2010
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Twitter user @LilacCityRealtr (Realtor Jim Grapes)
snaped this pic of the professional home energy
auditors performing the inspection of his home this
week. He said, “The house passed, but there's small
list of things, one is to caulk around my upstairs
bedroom windows. I didn't expect that.” |
When local real estate professional Jim Grapes tweeted a photo about his Avista in-home energy audit yesterday, he probably didn’t expect to see it on the Avista Blog – but we love this stuff! The tweet, sent from his @LilacCityRealtr Twitter account, included the photo of Jared and Mark (seen on the right), the professional energy auditors who reviewed every nook and cranny of his home in Spokane County.
Through Twitter Jim later said, “The house passed, but there's small list of things, one is to caulk around my upstairs bedroom windows. I didn't expect that.”
I think that’s the beauty of Avista’s in home audit program. We’ve all got a pretty good idea about things we should do around the house to be more energy efficient, but a third-party can review every aspect and point out where you can get the most bang for your buck. It might be something simple like caulking windows – or maybe even bigger stuff like a water heater or insulation.
What is the program?
In partnership with Spokane, Spokane Valley and Spokane County, Avista is operating an audit program that provides comprehensive home energy audits in Spokane County.
The three government partners have pledged nearly $700,000 in federal stimulus funding, which will be matched by Avista as part of its ongoing energy efficiency initiative. Together, these funds will help offset a large portion of the cost for a professional home energy audit for qualifying residents. Get all the details here.Jim obviously knows homes and the value of an energy dollar. He wanted to share his story in the hopes that others would take advantage of the program too. You can find him at www.lilaccityrealestate.com.
Thank you for sharing your story Jim.
You may also like reading this Avista Blog post
May 26 , 2010
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Ginny Welch gets a good look at her new Toyota Prius. |
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The trunk of the Prius was stuffed with CFL goodness. | Efficiency matters and every little bit adds up. Even when you drive a fuel efficient car. And now, one lucky woman owns a brand new Toyota Prius - and a case of CFL bulbs - to help her be more energy efficient both at home and on the road.
Beginning April 1, KREM 2’s Project Green and Toyota joined Avista in promoting the benefits and awareness of energy efficiency, energy assistance and rebates offered to homeowners. The grand prize in the seven-week promotion was the Prius, courtesy of Northwest Toyota Dealers. The May 25 grand prize event was hosted by KREM 2 weathercaster Tom Sherry and Avista Low Income Program Manager Christine McCabe.
Finalists were drawn each week from the over 65,000 entries to the contest. They ranged in age from 19 to 57 and came from communities throughout eastern Washington and northern Idaho. They are Flavia Ford, Post Falls; Rhianna Thomas, Springdale, Wash.; Robert Holven, Chester, Wash; Eleanor Anderson, Post Falls; Alicia Knowles, Spokane; and Christie Higley, Coeur d’Alene.
And the winner is Ginny Welch from Airway Heights, Wash.
Apr 26 , 2010
I had the opportunity today to see my first in-person home energy audit on Spokane’s South Hill. I attended the official launch of Avista’s two-year Home Energy Audit pilot program. In partnership with Spokane, Spokane Valley and Spokane County, Avista is operating an audit program that provides comprehensive home energy audits in Spokane County.
The three government partners have pledged nearly $700,000 in federal stimulus funding, which will be matched by Avista as part of its ongoing energy efficiency initiative. Together, these funds will help offset a large portion of the cost for a professional home energy audit for qualifying residents. Get all the details here.
The first thing that really struck me about the audit was how comprehensive it really was and how in just a few hours, the homeowner was armed with a wealth of actionable information on how he could most effectively make energy efficiency repairs and modifications. He’ll also get a detailed report shortly after the audit is conducted.
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A blower-door test helps show where air is
leaking into a home - and where your energy
is being wasted. | The most visible demonstration from the audit was the blower door test. A massive fan is attached to the home’s front door which simulates a 20 mph wind gust hitting the outside of every wall of the home. Then you can feel (and even see, in some cases), where air is leaking into the home. During this audit, a number of unsuspecting places in the home’s basement and second story showed obvious leaks.
Crawl spaces, a pet door and pipes were key items, but to my surprise, the home’s older windows actually held up quite well. What a waste it would have been had the homeowner spent thousands of dollars on new windows, when the windows weren’t really contributing to much of the home’s energy losses.
Every home is different and everyone’s use of energy is unique to their lifestyle, which is why a detailed audit is so important when making decisions about energy efficiency. Our audit program should help get the ball rolling for many interested homeowners in Spokane County.
I also took some video of the kickoff event, and will get that posted to the blog soon.
Apr 16 , 2010
If you’re thinking about upgrading the appliances in your home, now is a perfect time to start shopping.
Washington and Idaho are offering new state-wide rebate programs for certain Energy Star appliances. You can also receive an Avista appliance rebate, which we’ve been offering for years, for qualifying Energy Star appliances. Plus if you buy an Energy Star refrigerator, we’ll pay you an additional $30 and pick up your old unit for recycling.
What’s the deal with all the rebates for appliances? It’s simple – old appliances use more electricity and water than new energy efficient models, and that can have an impact on your wallet and on the environment. Washington State expects its program will save residents about $1 million in energy costs, save 355 million gallons of water and prevent over 8,000 tons of CO2.
It may seem odd that Avista pays customers to use less energy, but it really makes sense for customers and for the company. Helping customers use less energy helps reduce the amount of new electricity we have to generate or purchase and that helps manage everyone’s costs. As we say, energy efficiency is the least-cost new resource.
Happy shopping….and saving.
Mar 25 , 2010
Been on spring break yet? Here’s some tips that could help give your energy use a break.
If you’re a college student, depending on which school you attend, you may have recently returned from a much needed spring break. Or, you may be counting down the days to one coming up. Either way, if you’re a college student who rents, then here’s some low-cost, no-cost ways to save energy while you are at home or away enjoying your break. Even if you rent an apartment, townhouse or a home, you can make a difference on your energy bill and the environment.
Lighting and electronics
Consumer electronics are becoming a large part of everyday life, accounting for 15 percent of household electricity use. Many consumer electronics use energy even when turned off, which is called phantom energy use.
Buy a smart power strip. Smart power strips can shut down auxiliary items when the main device is shut off, but leave some devices left on, such as clocks. Search for one online by “smart” or “controlled” plug strips.
Unplug any battery chargers or power adapters, such as a cell phone charger, when not in use. Each individual charger doesn’t use much energy, however, every little bit adds up, especially with roommates.
Remember to turn your computer off at night and use the built-in energy savings standby and hibernate functions. Computers left on 24/7 can add about $12 a month to your energy bill. If you have more than one computer in your residence, the potential energy savings can really add up.
Install high efficiency compact fluorescent bulbs (CFLs) in place of incandescent bulbs. CFLs last up to seven times longer than an incandescent bulb (7,000 hours versus 1,000 hours). It will take about six months at three hours burn-time per day to pay for the CFLs, which are available for every lighting need.
Reducing your energy use in the kitchen
-Use the microwave, a pressure cooker, electric pan or a toaster oven for smaller meals.
-Take advantage of residual heat by turning the oven or burners off a few minutes before you’re done cooking.
-One dishwasher load usually uses less hot water than three washings by hand.
-Vacuum the condenser coils on your refrigerator every three months to remove dust so it can operate more efficiently. Coils are located on the bottom or rear of the unit.
Tips for vacation
Water Heater: Turn down the temperature on your water heater to 120 degrees. If you are away for a week or longer, turn off an electric water heater or put a natural gas water heater in vacation mode, if your water heater has one.
Refrigerator: Fill your refrigerator or freezer with plastic milk containers filled with water, if you’ll be away for less than a month. A full refrigerator or freezer uses the smallest amount of energy. Also, turn off your ice-maker.
Lights: Turn off all lights in your home before leaving except for security lighting. Consider installing a timer to limit the time the security lights are on and to make it appear you are home.
Electronics: Unplug all electronic appliances such as computers, stereos, TV’s, DVR’s, cable and satellite boxes, cell phone chargers and DVD players. Electronics with digital displays, instant-on features and remote controls use electricity even when they are turned off.
Windows: In summer, close drapes and blinds to block out the sun and keep your home from heating up and provide security while you are away.
If you have roommates, try to reach an agreement about a comfortable temperature for all. Running the heat or air conditioning (A/C) with windows open will quickly add to your energy bill.
Mar 15 , 2010
This morning I had the pleasure of working with my 4-year-old daughter on a video I’m producing for customers. It’s going to be about Power Supply and how those costs are driving the rates you pay. The image on the right is from the video. I’m not sure just yet what will make the final cut and end up in the video, but she was pretty excited to watch herself on camera nonetheless.
I told her I wanted to show someone using electricity, so we flipped on a lamp and she read some books while I fiddled with the camera for about 20 minutes. I probably got about 6 seconds of good video. That’s about par for the course for me.
She asked me why we turned on the lamp. I said it was because it used electricity, like nearly everything in the house. She then started pointing to things around the house that use electricity, like the TV, refrigerator, DVD player, laptop, lights, clocks, microwave, her princess nightlight. This is by no means an exhaustive list. This went on for 10 minutes in nearly every room in the house. She had a couple misses – no electricity with the dog, door or carpet. Yet the carpet brought up “getting shocked,” referring to static electricity, but that’s for another day.
Anyhow, the point is that we have a lot of electronics in the house and I bet you do too. We didn’t have Blu-ray players, DVRs or computers (at least not a home), when I was a preschooler. And while we could live without some of the stuff we plug-in everyday – I’m glad I don’t have too.
The increasing demand for electricity can be directly tied to all the cool technical stuff we can buy for our homes today. That doesn’t mean I don’t want to be smart about my use though.
I suspect if you send your kids on a (supervised) electricity scavenger hunt around the house, you’d be able to keep them occupied for an hour or so. For more ideas about teaching kids about electricity and natural gas, check out www.avistakids.com. Feb 15 , 2010
Kudos to our customers who in 2009 saved enough electricity to power over 6,800 Inland Northwest homes for a year and enough natural gas to serve over 3,000 homes! These savings show that every little bit we do in our homes and businesses to save energy really do add up.
What did customers do to save so much energy last year? They looked for the Energy Star ® label when buying new appliances, installed high efficiency water heaters and furnaces, and upgraded windows and insulation to help keep their homes warm in winter and cool in summer.
For their efforts, customers qualified for rebates and incentives from Avista and reduced the amount of energy used in their homes. Commercial customers also received incentives for making energy efficiency improvements which helps manage their operating costs.
In total almost 35,000 rebates and incentives totaling about $18.1 million were given to residential, commercial, industrial and limited-income customers in 2009 through energy efficiency programs. But offering energy savings programs to customers is nothing new to us – we’ve been doing for more than 30 years.
To make sure we’re able to keep up with the increasing demand from customers for the popular energy efficiency programs, we filed requests today with the utility commissions in Washington and Idaho for modest increases in the natural gas tariffs which fund these programs. If approved by the utility commissions, residential natural gas customers in Washington will see a $2.54 increase in their bill starting March 15, and Idaho residential customers will see a $1.52 monthly increase.
This leads to the question – why do we help customers use less of our product? Because generally it costs less to help customers reduce their energy use than it would cost to build new power plants or purchase additional energy to meet customer demand. Plus, using less energy is the best option for our environment.
Feb 12 , 2010
Today we launch our first-ever podcast. I sat down with Avista’s Director of Energy Efficiency, Bruce Folsom to discuss our energy efficiency programs and the rebates and incentives that are becoming more and more popular every year.
Take a listen. (You will be directed to a blank web page, which may take a moment to load).
Feb 03 , 2010
Last night was great chatting with KHQ viewers about energy assistance and Avista. If you didn't have a chance to join in you can view the chat log here.
Do you find value in live chats? Should we do them more? E-mail me to offer your thoughts. We did a previous live chat in November - read about it here. Feb 01 , 2010
My feet have stopped hurting. I got a little rest, and I now have a little perspective on Avista’s 2010 Energy Fair held last Saturday. It was great! Some 325 people of all ages and interests came through the Lair Student Center at Spokane Community College from 10 a.m. until 3 p.m. They talked with Avista staff and our community partners about topics that ranged from installing energy saving door sweeps to filing for earned income tax credits. We were very pleased to partner with Community Colleges of Spokane for this first annual event. Also attending and providing valuable information were staff members from SNAP, Work Source Spokane and the CASH Coalition.
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Camille shows how to help insulate
drafty windows. | One of the biggest hits of the day was the interactive singing and dancing program from Wattson, our energy watchdog and his friend Edison. It was so fun to see the kids – their parents and a few Avista staffers – singing and dancing right along with the big dog and his pal, learning energy efficiency tips at the same time.
It warmed my heart to see a family relaxing around a table in the Lair Café, talking about the Wattson activity sheet the kids colored. Or catching bits of conversation from the older couple who discussed which lamp in their home would get the free CFL bulb they received at the fair.
A little excitement was in the air at least once an hour, when door prize winners were announced. And a lot of excitement followed the announcement of the two grand prize winners. Avista House Warming certificates, cozy blankets, and other energy-saving goodies were the coveted prizes.
All in all, I thought the fair was a wonderful success. Attendees told us the information was very helpful and they appreciated the free samples they received after each demonstration. We learned some things that will make it even better next year and we’re looking forward to it.
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