Going Green . . . I Think . . .

And what was this person trying to sell them instead an extremely expensive system ?????

 

It wasn't me but I know there are people who do professional home energy audits. They test your home and let you know where you're losing heat/cool air/energy. The auditors do not work for an insulation company or anything like that, it's completely independent, which is why you pay them. They get paid whether they find energy loss or not. It's similar to a home inspection when purchasing a house but they specialize in energy efficiency.

Home Energy Audits

A home energy audit is the first step to assess how much energy your home consumes and to evaluate what measures you can take to make your home more energy efficient. An audit will show you problems that may, when corrected, save you significant amounts of money over time. During the audit, you can pinpoint where your house is losing energy. Audits also determine the efficiency of your home's heating and cooling systems. An audit may also show you ways to conserve hot water and electricity. You can perform a simple energy audit yourself, or have a professional energy auditor carry out a more thorough audit.

A professional auditor uses a variety of techniques and equipment to determine the energy efficiency of a structure. Thorough audits often use equipment such as blower doors, which measure the extent of leaks in the building envelope, and infrared cameras, which reveal hard-to-detect areas of air infiltration and missing insulation.

 

Huh? They had an energy analysis, and they recommended doing NOTHING to their home. I'm not sure that I understand what you are thinking.

 

Hey Villager and Mr Rodgers I was just teasing

 

Yep our house is tight so we learned not to use a grilling feature with our old cooktop or else all the smoke alarms went off and we'd run around opening doors and windows...can't wait for my new induction cooktop

 

The estimate just came back.....

$146,000

I think I'll continue to burn dinosaurs!

 

Villager, your note on saving water boiled for pasta to water plants was good.
My interpretation to reuse water that was boiled for veggies, not so much.
Funky funky smell from the greens in my houseplants that took days to dissapate.
Next time I'll save for outdoor watering?

 

Where was this from and for what. PM me if it's a lot of details. I'd like to know.

 

No problem.

The firm was called Verde Energy. They do consulting only. If you and they determin that going forward with the plan is a good thing, they refer you to a local contractor that they have vetted.

This for a pretty much full boat system. Enough solar panels to go off-grid, batteries for failover, grid tie in with an automatic transfer switch to go from grid to solar. Of course, the price would go down as I removed the gold plating. But then - what's the point?

 

I never thought about a smell, but then I don't have houseplants. So you're saying there is a reason there is no broccoli scented potpourri?

I would imagine that if you poured it in an outdoor garden it would be better, but I haven't tried it. So far I've been pouring used coffee grounds on mine, so we'll see how that goes.

 

OK Brassy and Kaosdad check these people out and their geothermal systems.

They have installed these geothermal systems in several homes I have designed. Builder is Artelegno Homes.

Southern Air Temp http://www.southern-air-temp.com/index.html
I personally recommend this system over solar panels windmills or all the other extremely expensive twilight zone stuff out there

 

Has anyone looked into pellet heating systems, or the newer ones that use hulled corn as fuel? I've been doing some reading on the latter, and someone I know works with them and they seem very appealing as an option, except for the potential cost in retrofitting existing systems to accept the new furnace.
Just another thought.

 

saw this article and thought you might be interested in it.

http://wtop.com/?nid=108&sid=1390469

 

Can you explain the reason for pouring used coffee grounds on your plants?

 

Caffene - makes 'em grow faster.

 

Used coffee grounds make an excellent mulch. Note that they are acidic with a pH of between 3.0 and 5.0 making them superb for mulching rhododendrons, azalea and other acid loving plants. They are an excellent source of nitrogen.


They can be used thinly all over the regular garden as organic matter so you can simply toss your used coffee grounds onto the garden if you like. Unless you’re adding inches of this stuff (in commercial quantities) to the garden, you’re not going to see a difference in your soil pH. If you do add a large quantity, you may want to dig them into the garden as there are reports that they will “go bad” and develop a fungal layer if left exposed to the air.

http://www.simplegiftsfarm.com/coffee-grounds-and-gardening.html