Let the light shine in…and save money. Solar Tube information

For 2 years before I built my house, I researched numerous green building techniques and products, as I see so much wasted water and energy as a home inspector.  Several years ago,during a home inspection, I was delighted to discover a new skylight.  It was small, round, and looked like a recessed light. It was so bright, I was looking for the switch to turn it off!  I asked the owners about it and it led me to the internet searching for solar tubes.

There are several makers of theses skylights, the original being “Solatube”.  These types of skylights are easier to install, and bring in so much light! They are also smaller, and less likely to leak than traditional skylights. Additionally, they are energy efficient, meaning they don”t allow heat or cold in or out of the house.  ( They also have a tax advantage for being energy efficient!)

We installed 2 in our master bedroom closet, one in the powder room, the pantry, the laundry room, and the other bathrooms.  During the day, we don’t have to turn on any lights in any part of our house. 

Because we were in the process of construction, the placement and installation was easier than installing them after, but they are easier and can be installed anywhere.  I don’t endorse any particular brand, but take a look at the specs at www.solatube.com to get an idea about what I am talking about.  

The use of lights and appliances takes up about 34% of our energy usage according to the US Dept. of Energy.  If your average bill is $100.00, you can save about 15-25 dollars per month on your energy bill by installing solar tubes, plus write off a portion of the cost of the solar tubes themselves. 

Check them out if you could use more light in areas of your house!

More energy (money!) saving tips…

Most everything comes down to money.   Everything we do in our house either saves or costs us money.  Change a few home habits now, and have enough money to send your children to college, or take that trip to Cancun, or invest in whatever…

Here are some simple ways to cut your energy costs at home:

 1.  Change or clean your furnace, A/C filer once a month. This cuts down on contaminating the inner workings of the furnace and A/C, which allows the unit to operate more efficiently.  Servicing your furnace and A/C once per year will also keep it working efficiently.  To many people, servicing means ” come out and fix my broken A/C “!  Not so.  A yearly cleaning, checking the refrigerant pressures, making sure the furnace is safe and effective, etc.  It may seem easier to pay the $150. electric bill month after month, than to pay $75. up front to service your A/C and then pay $100. a month because the unit is now more efficient.  Makes sense, but we need a kick in the pants sometimes to get us started. 

As a Home Inspector,  I see more heating and cooling problems from deferred maintenance than any other major system in the house, and at a costly price.

Insulation:  If you have an older house with a pitched roof, adding more insulation such as blown in or batt insulation, or even spray in foam insulation, you can drastically cut down your energy costs.  Again, you spend money up front, however it pays for itself soon enough.  I considered several types of insulation when preparing to build my house, but my wife and I planned on staying in the house for more than 4 years, so we went with the better, (but more expensive ) spray in poly-uria foam insulation. it seals all the air gaps and gives about an R-50 rating for the roof insulation.  As a testimonial, we did not use the furnace except once ( a relative was staying over and wanted the house hot!)  The temperature stayed about 68 degrees to 72 degrees in the daytime, without the furnace on.  Now, if you are planning to move in two years, it may not pay for itself, however it is a great selling point for potential buyers!

According to the U.S. Department of energy, 34% of your home’s energy use is through appliances and lighting.  One consideration is the addition of Solar tubes, (energy efficient skylights).  As I built my house, I added them to bathrooms, the pantry, and to the master closet. Where ever I go in my house now, I have no need for turning on lights during the day.  They are also tax deductible!

If you have the bad habit of leaving lights on, try installing motion sensor switches.  They turn the light on when you walk into the room, and if they don’t detect any motion for a minute or two, turn the lights off again. These are great in closets, and bathrooms.

I don’t want to get too much into solar ideas, lets just say that here in Tucson, solar can be a HUGE benefit in reducing the cost of energy, and cutting green house emissions. However for most persons, the up front cost is prohibitive, and truly is a deterrent.

Another expensive but big energy saver is upgrading older single pane windows.  So much energy in the way of heat and cooling is lost through the windows.  I attended a Home Show here in town, and saw the difference in single versus double, versus triple pane windows, and I was truly impressed. The triple pane did an outstanding job of keeping out radiant heat, and if you plan to replace your windows anyway, seriously consider the triple pane. 

Keep your eyes peeled for for more tips later, but in the meantime, keep an open mind and try being more aware of how you spend your energy dollar!

There are many more tips in a .pdf format from the U.S. Department of Energy @ www.eere.energy.gov/consumer/tips/

It’s a dry heat!

These postings may be more geared for the southwest desert area, but can be extrapolated to other areas of the country.

The temperatures here have been consistantly over 100. F for the past week. If you want to save a little money on your A/C bills, try this: Don’t adjust your thermostat more than 2 or 3 degrees. Use the night time temps to help cool your house by lowering your thermostat to it’s lowest point that you are comfortable with, and raise the temperature during the day to the highest comfortable temp, keeping it within a 2-3 degree range. For example. I keep my house between 74 and 77 degrees. At night before I go to bed, I lower the thermostat to 74. When I wake up, I move the temperature up to 77 degrees.

When you cool (or heat ) your house, you not only are cooling the air temperature, but everthing in the house as well, such as the flooring, furniture, appliances, etc., If you raise the temp way up in the house while you are gone to work, your have to cool everything in the house when you get home, using more energy. Try it out for a month, and compare the savings! You’ll be surpised!

You don’t need a pricey programmable thermostat to do this either.

Save money, and save energy!