Make Money Going Green

All right, the summer is over – we’ll get used to it, and by spring we’ll be looking for the last bit of snow to ski and toboggan on, or ice to play on. In the meantime, we’re going to start seeing notices from an old friend - the gas (or oil) company. Not to fret, the cooler months (I will refrain from using the ‘W’ word for now), offer an excellent opportunity to make money while reducing energy usage: I still prescribe to the old adage ‘money saved is money earned.’

Home Sealing and Insulating: What energy efficient lighting is to your electrical bill, sealing and insulating is to heating. With paybacks around a year and returns between 75-100%, sealing and insulating offers a great return. Re-pointing bricks, sealing baseboards, and adding insulation to your attic make good weekend chores and offer a nice reward.

Fuel Economizers: If you don’t want to give up comfort for savings, economizers can be a great way to go. Microprocessor controller, these sophisticated devices make low to medium efficiency furnaces or boilers act like their high efficiency siblings. Economizers pay for themselves in 1 to 2 years and have a guaranteed energy reduction between 10-30%. Intellidyne make some of the best units (www.intellidyne.ca).

Heat recovery ventilators: In older brick homes like we have in North Toronto, ‘ventilation’ is accomplished by allowing air to flow through walls, floors, and other openings. As homes are renovated they typically become ‘tighter’ and air quality becomes an issue. Installed on forced air furnaces, HRVs pre-heat (or cool) fresh air by bringing it into close contact with out-going exhaust air (eg. www.lifebreath.com). Window units are also available (eg. www.purifresh.com). It’s tough to put a payback or return on these units, but they are certainly cheaper to use than opening a window in the Winter, okay I said it, or using an electric duct heater to pre-heat fresh air.

Please feel free to contact me with any questions at 416-559-8774 or info@villageenergy.ca

Patrick Burke has researched and written on sustainability issues, and is President of Village Energy – a local energy saving and energy generation system integrator.

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