Toronto Hydro’s Festive Light Exchange for 2009

I can’t believe it’s that time of year already! Pull out two of your old incandescent energy sucking light strings, take them to the exchange depot nearest you on the appropriate date and Toronto Hydro will give you a new super energy efficient LED light strand. Below is a copy of Toronto Hydro’s schedule (source: http://torontohydro.com).

2009 FESTIVE LIGHT EXCHANGE SCHEDULE

Posted by CathyR

HomeStars Blog Redux – The Top 10 Greatest Hits

Some of our blog posts get a lot of traffic, even though they were written last year.

I thought it would be a good idea to relink to some of the posts that get the most traffic over the last year. Many home renovation tips are timeless and it’s a good idea to check in once in a while and revisit them.

1. The Pros and Cons of Tankless Hot Water Heaters
2. Cottage Chic Decorating Tips from Sarah Richardson
3. Ecopods make a quick and easy low-impact retreat, guest cabin or artist’s studio
4. It’s almost outdoor furniture time!
5. Insulating paint — an alternative to traditional insulation
6. Kitchen Renovation Planning Checklist — before the renovation begins
7. Thinking of buying a new furnace?
8. Where to Buy Eco-Friendly Hardwood Flooring
9. The latest in kitchen appliances, as seen at the Interior Design Show 2009 (IDS09)
10. Kitchen Renovation Checklist Part II: The Renovation

Posted by BrianS

Six Tips to Help you Get the Most out of your Central Air Conditioning Unit (for the least cost)

Central air conditioners are likely the largest electricity consumer in your home (unless you have a heated driveway like we do, in which case your CAC will look like an energy sipper in comparison!). There are many steps you can take to maximize your unit’s efficiency with very little effort or cost involved.

• Have your unit cleaned annually to keep it running at its most efficient. Just like your furnace, a central air system will run more efficiently if its kept clean.
• Make sure your home is well insulated and caulk any holes or gaps you might find. Use the incense test to locate drafts. Light an incense stick in a room, hold it near the windows and watch where the smoke goes.
• Draw curtains and blinds on south facing windows to block out heat. Or apply solar film to windows to cut out heat but keep light.
• Raise your programmable thermostat to 25-26 Celsius (higher if you’re away during the day).
• Use magnetic vent covers on the basement and main floor air vents to force the cold air to higher levels. The air will work its way down to lower levels on its own.
• Install and/or run ceiling fans (which use a fraction of the energy of CACs: 60 watts vs. 3500 watts of power) to keep air circulating.
• Use the stove as little as possible to prevent additional heat in the house (or cook dinner in the morning and reheat in the microwave that night).
• Switch from incandescent to compact fluorescent or LED lightbulbs. Not only are the latter more energy efficient, they emit less heat into your home.

Related Posts:

Five Tips to Help You Buy That New Central Air Conditioning Unit

Posted by CathyR

Five Tips To Help you Buy That New Central Air Conditioning Unit

It invariably happens that if your central air conditioner is on its last legs it will give out on the hottest stickiest day of the year. See our list of Heating and Air Conditioning Companies for reviews but also consider the tips below when deciding which air conditioner to buy:

• Choose an Energy Star Approved Unit. Energy Star rated units are kinder to your electricity bill. Given that Central Air Conditioners are the biggest energy hogs in your home buying an Energy Star approved unit makes sense. Energy Star approved units are at least 20% more efficient than a standard model.
• Choose a unit with the Highest SEER rating you can afford:Within Energy Star there are various levels of energy efficiency. SEER stands for “Seasonal Energy Efficiency Ratio,” the higher the number, the more efficient unit is. Every unit whether it is Energy Star or not has a rating so that you can compare units.
• “Right Size” your unit. While you might think that buying the biggest unit you can afford is the way to go, it is in fact, an inefficient thing to do. Larger units use more power to start running. If the unit is too big for the home, it will cycle more frequently, staying on and turning off for shorter periods thereby using more electricity.
• Consider the compressor’s location: A central air conditioning unit consists of two parts, one inside the house hooked up to the furnace, and the other outside the house. The compressors are noisy and not particularly nice to look at. When getting an estimate, ask where the compressor has to go. You might have to consider some additional landscaping.
• Look for government rebates and utility incentive programs (such as the “Peaksaver” program) for more savings.

Related Posts:

“Six Tips to Help You Get the Most out of Your Central Air Conditioner (For the Least Cost)”

Posted by CathyR

“Talking” appliances from General Electric? Well, sort of.

In the not so distant future you will be able to buy “smart” appliances to hook up to your “smart” meter which works with the “smart” grid. All these smart things can make a person feel pretty dumb if you haven’t a clue as to what I’m talking about, but believe it or not, they’ll help you lower your electricity bill, which, as electric prices start to climb, particularly during peak hours (and they will), these appliances will become more important.

GE "Smart" washer -- Same Beauty, More Brains

Recently, General Electric signed a partnership deal with the software company Tendril so that new GE “smart” appliances will be able to communicate with each other if your home has a smart meter, which in turn is connected to your local utility.

GE Smart Range

The benefit of this system to the homeowner is what we all dream of: lower electricity costs. These appliances will be able to coordinate certain activities that currentlywe have little control over. Best of all, the appliances will do it on their own. You won’t have to think about a thing!

For instance — take the defrost cycle on your freezer. If you are cooking dinner, the oven will notify the freezer to delay the defrost cycle until after it’s finished cooking. Sounds kind of creepy doesn’t it — like the appliances have minds of their own — which I guess in a way they do. 

The same thing will happen with your dryer. If you throw a load in the dryer while you’re cooking dinner, the dryer will power down and use less energy, and you don’t have to do a thing — it does it all for you.

GE Dishwasher

The whole idea of “talking” appliances works to your advantage in more than just your home: using less electricity puts less stress on the electrical grid. Finding ways to use the current electrical grid without having to add more power plants is a good thing for both the environment and taxpayers.

Granted, these appliances will cost more. But as electricity becomes more expensive, the costs will hopefully be offset. To find out more about how these appliances work together, watch a great video developed by GE:

http://geconsumerandindustrial.com/videos/GE_Energy_Demand_Management.wmv

For more information on Smart Meters see: http://www.torontohydro.com/electricsystem/residential/smart_meters.html

Posted by CathyR

Super Energy Efficient Heating, Ventilation and Cooling (HVAC) Systems for the Archetype Homes at Kortright

Archetype Homes

It is estimated that homes and buildings account for 30% of all energy use in Canada. The Archetype Homes built up at the Kortright Centre are made not for other builders to copy, but rather to learn about which are the best and most efficient practices and equipment for decreasing our homes’ carbon footprint in Ontario. In the two model homes, several different heating and cooling techniques have been used including  current “best practices”  and those considered to be the wave of the future.

House A represents current best practices for reducing energy consumption. Specifically:

• Heating and Hot water system: A single-panel thermal plate domestic hot water heater is used in conjunction with a 98% AFUE efficient wall-mounted condensing boiler. This system provides heat for the radiant flooring for the basement floors, and hot water for domestic use.
  

  Condensing boiler in House A

• Drain Water Heat Recovery coils are wrapped around the cold water pipes leading to the hot water tank to capture waste heat from showers and the dishwasher. This heat preheats water going into the hot water tank, so less energy is needed to raise the temperature of the cold water.

  

  Drain Water Heat Recovery Coils

• An air source heat pump absorbs heat from the outside air, passes through a compressor and is then used to heat the home. In the summer the system is reversed.  This system is usually backed up with an oil or gas system.
• A heat recovery ventilator (HRV) brings fresh air in from the outside and exhausts stale air from the inside while transferring the heat from the stale air to the fresh air.
• A high-efficiency hydronic air handler with an electrically commutated motor blower saves electricity by reducing the frequency of furnace “cycling” (turning off and on).
• A sealed wood stove is used to warm the main living area without needing to turn up the furnace.
• A programmable thermometer is installed to adjust for night time and away time during the day.
• The house is positioned so that the windows can take advantage of the sun’s light and heat in the winter (passive solar heating) and landscaped to provide heat relief in the summer via a pergola.

House B represents future developments in energy efficiency including the use of renewable energy. While the structural design and positioning of the home are the same as House A, further advances in heating and cooling have been added to study and see which are cost-effective as well as efficient. Specifically:

• House B is heated with in-floor radiant heating throughout the entire house.
• Uses a micro-cogeneration unit that produces electricity from its own waste heat.
• Has a horizontal, closed loop ground source heat pump (geo-thermal system), combined with a one-panel solar evacuated tube hot water system which produces hot water, room heating and cooling.
• 3 kilowatt wind turbine system.
  

  3KW Wind Turbine

• A floor-by-floor zoned cooling air handler capable of maintaining different temperatures in different areas of the house
• A thermal storage sealed masonry fireplace
  

  House B's micro cogeneration heat and hot water system

• An enthalpy recovery ventilator which not only recovers heat, but also exchanges humidity
• Home automation temperature and lighting control
• Automated blinds to control heating and cooling via the windows.

Related posts:

http://blog.homestars.com/archives/2009/05/27/archetype-homes-at-kortright-centre-three-types-of-eco-friendly-insulation/

http://blog.homestars.com/archives/2009/05/19/the-archetype-homes-water-efficiency-and-xerascaping/

http://blog.homestars.com/archives/2009/05/05/archetype-homes-construction-waste-and-innovative-building-techniques/

http://blog.homestars.com/archives/2009/04/28/the-archetype-homes-at-the-kortright-conservation-centre-green-homes-and-models-of-leed-efficiency/

Posted by CathyR

We’re giving away $15 at Chapters Indigo! Summer Reading!

We’re excited to be launching, once again, our “Charter Member” program. It’s really easy. Think of 3 home services you’ve done in the last little while, write a review on them, and tell a few of your friends about us, and we’ll give you $15 at Chapters Indigo.

These are the criteria:

And receive you $15 Chapters gift card

You know you’ll be enjoying the sun this summer so why not get into a good book.

Not only that you’ll be helping other people out who are looking to do renovation. Helping them avoid the bad contractors and find the best ones! Give back to the community from your experiences!

Posted by BrianS

Three Types of Eco-Friendly Insulation for a Green Home

Archetype House A and B, exterior

One of the key goals of green building is to significantly reduce the amount of energy consumed over the life of the building from fossil fuels. Buildings work as a system and the tighter the building envelope, the smaller the heating and cooling system you’ll need. Further, if the building is oriented so that it can make maximum use of the sun to help with winter heating and natural lighting during the day the heating and lighting costs will also be reduced.

Insulation:

Insulation is measured by how much heat it can resist per inch (depth), resulting in an “R value” for “resistance value.” The Ontario building code states that newly constructed homes must have minimum levels of insulation – R20 in the walls, R40 in an unused attic, R35 for cathedral ceilings and R12 in the basement.  Because the Archetype homes are demonstration models, several different insulation types were installed in the two homes. They will be monitored to see how they perform over time.

In House A, above grade walls were insulated with mineral wool insulation between studs (R22.5), and fire resistant batt fibre insulation (R21) while the exterior walls were clad with 3″ styrofoam (R12),  7/16″ plywood sheathing, Blueskin exterior expoxy air barrier for a total R value of R35.  There is a vapour barrier and 1/2″ drywall on the interior.

In House B, two types of spray foam were used for insulation: Heatlok Soya Polyurethane 2-pound spray foam plus 1/2″ drywall, and stucco finish on the second and third floors. Icycnene spray foam with 1/2″ drywall and stucco or wood siding on the outside.

Spray foam has several advantages over batt insulation:

• it minimizes air leakage,
• creates a healthier indoor environment, and
• offers greater design freedom

House A and B’s basement walls were insulated using  mineral fibre insulation (R21) with a 2″ extruded polystyrene core over Durisol block resulting in a total value of R22. The basement floor consists of 4″ of poured concrete over a 2″ extruded polystyrene insulation board for a value of R10.

House A unfinished attic. SIPs insulation panels

The cathedral ceilings in both homes were insulated with structural insulated panels (SIPs) for a total insulation value of R39 (the roofing material would account for the last thermal resistance point). The panels consist of “7/16″ oriented strand board on both sides of a 10.5″ expanded polystyene core,” (think of an insulation sandwich).  These panels allow for liveable space in the attic requiring no cross struts across the bottom of the attic space for support thereby making the attic useable space. While the panels are apparently fast and easy to install, you do need to use a crane to get them up to the roof. House A’s attic has been left unfinished while house B’s has been finished with two rooms and a bathroom.

Windows: If the building envelope is tight, the major heat or cooling loss will likely occur through and around the windows. House A’s windows are double-glazed, Argon-filled, low-E (emmissivity) with fibreglass frames. Fibreglass expands and contracts at the same rate as glass, thereby reducing air leakage. House B’s windows are triple glazed, with the low-E coating on layers 2 and 4 with a third layer of glass in the middle of the window.

For more information, or to book a tour of the Archetype homes, click here.

Related posts:

The Archetype Homes: Landscaping the Drought Resistant Way

The Archetype Homes: Construction Waste and Innovative Building Techniques

The Archetype Homes: Green Homes are a Model of Energy Efficiency

Posted by CathyR

Welcome to the age of smart meters and “Time of Use” pricing from Toronto Hydro

Last week we received out new “smart meter registration” notice from Toronto Hydro. I dropped what I was doing and immediately went on line to sign up. As of May 1st, if a smart meter has already been installed in your house, you can check what your electricity use is on an hourly basis.

Why would you want to check your hourly use? Because as of May 1st, Time of Use pricing came into effect. Using electricity during peak hours costs more than double what it does during “off-peak” hours. Weekends and holidays are all off-peak.

TOU prices reflect the ‘Electricity line’ only. Delivery, Regulatory and Debt Retirement charges are additional line items found on your bill and are not included here.

Source: http://www.torontohydro.com/electricsystem/residential/tou_rates.html

The graphs below are of our family’s daily energy consumption:

Sunday May 11 Electricity consumption

Monday May 12 Electricity consumption

Tuesday May 13 Electricity consumption

What do these graphs tell me about our consumption?

Looking at the big red bars on Monday, at first I couldn’t figure out what was going on — where was all that electricity being used? Then I remembered Monday is cleaning day and we’ve got the vacuum, washer and the dryer going at a pretty much constant rate. It had never occurred to me until I looked at these graphs how I use electricity during the day, but given that I work from home most of the time I have a tendency to throw a load in the washer or dryer while I avoid work.  And boy, vacuums and dryers really do use a lot of electricity!

Information is power and in this case, knowing when our family is most likely to use energy will help us move some of our activities to different times of day. Further, the ability to see on an hourly basis, just when our electricity consumption is highest may help shift our consumption patterns. Laundry can be done in the evenings and weekends, ditto for vacuuming.  With this great new website and my trusty “Kill A Watt” I’ll be able to get our family of five’s energy consumption down to a pretty good level (say, 800 kwh per month — excluding air conditioning) in no time.

Posted by CathyR

Bullfrog Power, EnerWorks, Enbridge and Natural Resources Canada providing more grants for Solar water heaters

If you have ever considered putting solar hot water heaters on your roof, you might consider doing it this year, especially if you live within the Enbridge Gas distribution area (Ontario only).

Bullfrog Power has teamed up with Enbridge and EnerWorks to provide homeowners with even more incentive to add a solar hotwater heating system to their home. Bullfrog applied for and received a $1.4 million grant from Natural Resoures Canada to start the Solar Water Heating Program to make solar water heating more affordable to homeowners.

The solar water heaters are provided by EnerWorks, are Canadian made, and the first to be CSA approved for year-round use.

Advantages of solar water heating:

Solar hot water heating  is used for washing clothes, dishes, showers and baths (not swimming pool heating in this case) and can save up to 60% of your annual hot water heating bill.

It does not affect the temperature of your water but works with your current hotwater system to provide you with consistent hotwater by displacing gas or electricity when the sun is shining.

When the sun shines, it heats the water that passes through the installed solar panels on your roof, and is then stored in your hotwater tank.

This program is available until December, 2010.

How to apply:

1. For an initial site evaluation call 1-866-775-8808, or visit http://www.bullfrogpower.com/solar
2. If your home is eligible, certified installers will help you book an energy audit. (Necessary to apply for the federal Eco-Energy Grant).
3. After the energy audit, installers will install the solar panels.

How much will government incentives and grants save you? Example:

For an average 12X4 system of two panels and a family of four using 75 litres of water per day –

Cost including installation: $10,000 (approximately)

Solar Water Heating Program: $2,500 (approximately)

Less provincial and govenment incentives, grants and tax credits: $2,500 (approximately)

Total cost to homeowner: $5,000.

Note: if you live in Ward 30 in Toronto, you can apply for an additional $1000 credit through the ward’s Solar Neighbourhood Program.

Monthly cost based on loan provided by TD Bank amortized over 10 years at prime plus 3.25%: $56/month.

(Cost/month without rebates approx. $83/month.)

Posted by CathyR