For my reference:

Winter

• 68 during day for heating
• 60 at night for heating

Summer

• 78 for cooling

Resources:

• US Dept of Energy recommendation
• Frugal Dad, Winter Thermostat settings

LED light bulbs like the one above are cool.  The one we got is 2.5W and it’s equivalent to a 45W incandescent light bulb.  There are 7 led lights inside that power the thing.  LED lights should be what we all move to but the investments made in cfls (contains mercury, higher wattage) has everyone buying cfls first.  LED lights are already showing up in street lights and will also get more popular in car head lights.  They’re also great in flashlights.

We’re using one of the LED bulbs for the porch light, one over a vanity as a night light, and one other for my end table– so high use areas that need just enough light.  The lights are a bit expensive and the brighter ones even moreso.  But the ones we got should last a long, long time.  And at 2.5W, can’t really complain there.

The rest of the house we’re using 7W to 13W compact fluorescent bulbs.

We also need (and on the lookout for) 3-way LED or CFL bulbs for lamps.  The 3-way CFLs that are out now are way too big to fit in a lamp.

We’re figuring, in lieu of solar panels, we can reduce the amount of electricity we use by having efficient appliances and lighting, turning off our electrical equipment when not in use, and insulating the house.  Google has several more good energy saving tips.

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* I’m in a bit of a writer’s funk.  Maybe the WordCamp this Saturday will get me out of it.  I’ve got a few more posts on products in general and then the rest of the year will be focused on work related stuff with hopefully some updates on a bathroom remodel once we get started at the end of June.

My parents got one of these whole home IQAir air purifiers installed in their house.  I like IQAir’s room air purifiers too, e.g. the HealthPro Plus — looks like it’s won some awards and both the whole house and in-room purifiers are probably worth a look if you’ve got health issues.  I guess these are what they’ve been installing in homes for the Extreme Makeover Home Edition shows.

I like radiant heating systems the best (which we don’t have and don’t plan on doing for our house) because they’re the most efficient and provide the best type of heat, but it doesn’t help when it’s hot and you need an air conditioner.  For most people, forced air heating and cooling system is best and might as well check out the IQAir purifier while you’re at it.

There are a couple of cool energy check lists to look at:

• Energy Information – Energy Saving Tips (from Google)
• Green Home Checklist

We had a $1200 energy bill last year, about 50/50 electric to gas.  Unfortunately this was an increase of 20% over last year, we increased our usage by 20% :-(  However, the average energy bill for a household in the US is $1900 – $2000 a year.

Our usage was about 4500 kwh and 415 therms in 2008 and going to use this as baseline going forward.

For PG&E customers, all this information is available online.

The goal is to decrease usage and costs by 20 – 25% next year and 50% in 5 years.

—–

Infrastructure things we had already done:

• Energy star appliances (heater/air conditioner, dishwasher, refrigerator, washer/dryer) though our dryer is now electric versus gas
• CFLs with most of our lighting except three way lamps, led under cabinet lighting, and “candle” type lights in the living room
• Insulated floors
• Double pane windows

Things to do:

• Insulate attic and install attic fan
• Research insulation for exterior walls
• home energy audit
• Continue evaluating use of solar panels and tankless water heating

Our last major home improvement for our very simple 2 bedroom 1 bath home in Oakland is the bathroom.  When we bought the house, the bathroom and kitchen were new but done very cheaply.  We remodeled the kitchen last year, and we did landscaping the year before that.

We’re going stay in the same style and period for our bathroom remodel which is a bungaloid — a house kind of like a Crafstman style bungalow but not exactly.  We’re going to with a 54″ clawfoot tub from Sunrise Specialty in Oakland.  We’ll probably go with wainscotting, a basketweave tile floor, a Toto toilet, and we have to replace the sink, vanity, and window.  We may redo the drywall and add insulation.

Sunrise Specialty only sells to dealers and so we’ll probably get our tub and all the fittings from Acorn Kitchen and Bath in Oakland or Omega Salvage (super cool place) in Berkeley.  The tub will run a little over $2,000 new.  The fittings will run another $1,000.

We hope to start work in June and get everything done as soon as possible.

Granite countertops and stainless steel appliances…Not exactly.  More like paper countertop and black appliances.

We got the backsplash installed this weekend.  It’s an Oceanside recycled glass tile (creme brulee).  We’re getting cork floors from WeCork installed later this month, we need to install some hardware on the cabinets, paint the refrigerator, update the lighting and maybe paint.  And then we’re all done.  Maybe, possibly.  Earlier this year I said we’d be done by end of March.  Oops.

Almost after (once we install the floors and cabinet hardware)

This is a Blue Star range with convection oven and 22,000 BTU burners upfront.  The hood is a Vent-A-Hood.  The countertop is Paperstone.  Our cabinets were in the house when we bought it.  It’s Timberlake from American Woodmark, the Tahoe Oak Honey via Home Depot.

Before

Summary: Solar panels for a small home needs to get down to a $4,500 to $7,000 price point for it to make economic sense for home owners — a 7 to 10 year break even.  It may get to that price point eventually due to demand, decrease in prices of solar panels, improvements in technology (like solar roof shingles), group/community price breaks, and continued tax breaks and rebates.

Details: For 2 to 3kWh systems, current price point is estimated to be about $20,000 for installation.  With State rebates and Federal Income Tax credits totaling $5,000 to 6,000 you’re looking at $14,000 – $15,000 for the system.  You’re getting about 300 to 450 kWh a month.  If you are currently using 400 kWh a month, that’s about $50 a month or $600 a year.  This means your break even point is about 25 years.  This doesn’t include the home value appreciation due to your solar panel investment.

We average 325kWh a month, about $35/month.  Other info:

• How Residential Solar Panel Works
• Maintenance includes washing the panels periodically, seems like that’s all
• Estimate included 10 year warranty on full system, 25 years on panels themselves
• Estimate from Borrego Solar, for a residence in Oakland, CA – low energy use
• Installations should take about two days
• Home Depot is coordinating installations through BP Solar
• Temescal, Rockridge, and Berkeley residents (45 people) teamed up with Solar City for a group discount
• PG&E apparently increases the cost of electricity/energy 5.5% a year (not sure if that’s true)
• PG&E gave Far Niente Winery a nearly $2MM cash rebate for their solar installation
• But, PG&E has also given out cash rebates to California schools like Peralta Elementary

Borrego Solar seems like a good company.  I’ve seen Solar City around the area as well.

Plumbing
Michael Stabile (day to day stuff)
510-472-0123

Pelican Plumbers (big stuff, copper pipe replacement, etc)
510-812-1996

Heating/Cooling and Plumbing
Harry Clark Plumbing (even bigger stuff)
510-444-1776

Electrical
Gerrard Electric
510-525-4687

Early Light Electric
510-655-5877

Locks
Reed Brothers Security

1-800-400-LOCKGeneral Contractor
Eric Angress
510-528-8766

Earthquake Retrofit
California Earthquake Protection
510-527-7233

Paint Exterior/Interior
John Maxwell

Termites and Pests
Western Exterminator
1-800-937-8398

Carpet Installation
Laid Rite
510-215-2108

Windows
Henderson Windows
510-522-5657

Chimney Repair
H. Soot, Esq
510-522-0783

Landscaping
Pat Wagner – designer
510-638-6681

(Russ) Peters and Sons Construction – contractor
1-925-458-5398

Appliances and other
East Bay Restaurant Supply
510-465-4300

Ecohome Improvement
510-644-3500

Ace Hardware
Craftsman Home
Home Depot
Restoration Hardware
Rug Depot

Other (haven’t used)
Roofing: Jim Merlone – 510-843-2330
Hauling: Dido 510-527-3440
Sinan’s Windows: 510-654-9944
Solar City 1-888-SOL-CITY

• In general, Kenmore appliances (from Sears) are the way to go.  Solid products (mostly private-labeled) and solid customer repair service.  A lot of appliances are private label Amana or Bosch.  Fagor is a Spanish appliance company and their appliances look nice.  Not sure about quality.
• Always good to go to the back of dept stores and see floor models and returned appliances for big discounts 30-40% off.  We’ve gotten a bunch of stuff that way.  If you buy a set or multiple appliances, bargain for more of a discount.  Good to buy during a holiday sale weekend.
• Also, look for the EnergyStar label.  However, non-EnergyStar appliances are already more energy efficient than appliances from 10-15 years ago.  Look for rebates from your electrical and water companies, you could get $100 to $300+ back.

Range/Cooktop

I like BlueStar a lot.  Crazy expensive, near restaurant grade heat and temp control but they look *much* better than Viking and others.  Induction cooktops are really cool (highest energy efficiency and temp control) but about 5 – 7 years from being affordable.  Don’t get self cleaning ovens.

Refrigerators

Whatever brand you get, get a top mount refrigerator (where freezer is the bottom).  The $200 difference is worth it.  Ours is just Kenmore-Amana.

Dishwasher

Bosch all the way (again ours is Kenmore-Bosch).  Interior should be stainless steel.

Washer/Dryer

We have Bosch labeled and Kenmore-Frigidaire.  Both washers are front loaders, the higher the rpm 1000 to 1200 the better.  Front loaders are more efficient with its use of water and spinning water from the clothes for faster drying.

Go for vented (most common) rather than condensation dryers since the vented ones will dry faster.

The all-in-one washer/dryers are supposed to take a long time to dry so the higher capacity ones that are coming out are supposed to be best.

Warranty

Go for the extended warranty and repair.

We’re going with these guys – Oceanside Glasstile for kitchen backsplash, specifically a “Creme Brulee” iridescent mosaic.  100% recycled glass, yada-yada, hecho en mexico.  Part of our mini kitchen remodel.  We also went with Dawn for our faucet and sink, I guess these guys are out of China.

We should have the kitchen done by end of March.  The time issue with kitchen remodeling isn’t in the actual construction, it’s choosing stuff, ordering it, and waiting for everything to come in.  Realistically, it’s like 2 – 3 months just for planning and getting supplies.  It’s going to take all of two weeks max to put everything in (wouldn’t be surprised if it only took one week).

I’d love an induction range w/ a convection oven and some sort of solution for a wok (doesn’t exist), but instead of that, I hear the BlueStar range is the one to go with and we’ll probably be getting one in the next couple of weeks.
Probably the 30″ BlueStar Residential Nova Burner. It’s supposed to produce some crazy heat, is well reviewed, and beat out Viking and some other “professional for the home” grade ranges.

• range, cork floors, new sink/faucet, new counter tops, range hood, backsplash

We’re going to go with Paperstone for the counter tops, a 100% recycled paper product. Cheap, looks good, and seems like a responsible company/product. Vetrazzo and Icestone do recycle glass counter tops that look great too. May yet go with one of those companies but might be too expensive.

ecohome improvement is this store in Berkeley that helps you have a nice eco-friendly (cancer-free) home. We’ve got some more interior upgrades to do namely new carpeting and a kitchen and bathroom upgrade. We’re going to do the carpeting later this year but the kitchen and bath much later but within the next 5 years.

For the carpet we’re thinking natural wool. They don’t put any crap in this carpet, it’s all natural.

For the kitchen, we’re thinking cork floors. Cork floors are soft on your feet and makes for good warmth and sound insulation and resilient to mold and mildew. They come in lots of cool colors too. We’re also thinking bamboo cabinets. Both cork and bamboo are considered environmentally sustainable.

We’re also thinking recycled glass/concrete for our countertops. Check out Ice Stone. Pretty cool company.

The Go Solar California program looks pretty cool and starts January 1, 2007. It’s an incentive program for people to get solar panels installed for their existing homes (but also for new homes and buildings).

California has made a bold decision… to place 3,000 megawatts of new, solar produced electricity systems on rooftops by 2017. Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger’s goal is to put solar systems on a million California roofs.

Apparently only 0.3% of our energy comes from solar panels. It’s nice to see this incentive program.
—

Great article in the SF Chronicle last January about installing solar panels for your home in the Bay Area. They recommend Borrego Solar and I looked up Sky Power Systems and they looked pretty good.

We’ve noticed a lot of solar panels on homes while on vacation in Hawaii but also in our neighborhood. Most of the new complex/developments are being constructed in a “green way” with radiant heating, energy efficient windows, reclaimed wood from trail tracks in China or Brazil (that one is funny), bamboo or cork flooring, and solar panels which is great. Several houses nearby also have solar panels installed too.

—

Here’s another article about installing solar panels yourself in a step-by-step.

It sounds like the cost of installing a solar panel for our small house will be in the $15,000 (w/ rebate?) to $24,000. Given that our monthly electricity bills are under $50, it’s about a 25-40 year break even point. $5,000 – $10,000 total installation costs is what it would need to get down to in order for it to be in the ballpark of real consideration.

I’ve gotten a bit of a home owner’s vocabulary now that I’ll share in a bit. It’s good to know this stuff but I kinda don’t want to know sub-flooring, joists, dry wall, copper pipes, forced air, radiant heating, blah, blah, blah.

The next two items on tap is replacing our galvanized piping with copper piping. Galvanized pipes corrode and rust so we’re replacing everything with copper pipes which doesn’t do that I guess. We’re also stacking our dryer on top of our washing machine which is exciting because it’s giving us a ton more space. (I’m a tad domesticated.)
Anyway, I’ve been reading up on tankless water heaters and the benefits are:

• unlimited hot water
• space savings, since it’s a small box
• energy savings since it’s on demand hot water versus maintaining a hot water store

The cons seem to be that sometimes you have to wait for the hot water to get going which is lame if all you want to do is wash your hands or hand wash dishes.

The brand that people like I guess is Takagi. It’s interesting to read up on it anyway, apparently the system can be used for radiant floor heating too. Probably not going to get a tankless water heater but it’s cool when I hear other people get it installed, it’s becoming quite popular and already used widely in the UK.

There are other energy efficient things we’re looking at like insulation (easy to do, just need to get done) and solar panels (but not for another 5+ years). We’ve got energy efficient windows, a front loading washing machine, and that’s about it on the being energy efficient stuff.