Did you know that the largest remaining & barely tapped energy source on Earth is the energy we waste? If you could net savings of energy spent dollars, after improving the comfort & safety of your home, would you? In the process this will also help reverse our climate crises. E.P.A. data shows 22% of all USA’s destructive greenhouse gases (GHG) are from residential heating & cooling. 92% of existing older homes are under-insulated causing waste & discomfort. My focus is the on these inefficient, structures most of us live in. Your savings may vary, due to your local climate severity, & the available rebates for energy saving retrofits. Here are 10 solutions to reduce 50% to 80% of heating & cooling costs & add one hour wild fire resistance for existing & even new code built homes.

1) Insulate from the outside by attaching insulation to your homes exterior sheathing, brick, or metal walls & roof. Cut 40 to 70% of energy waste just by properly installing an outer continuous insulating envelope. With a proper finish it can also provide a 1 hour wild fire rated protection. This also provides a very important air & water infiltration barrier. 2) Insulate properly the top of your attics floor deck. Then add reflective foil facing up, to reflect summer's heat away from the insulation & out the attic vents. The left photo above shows what can be done with a 25 year old double-wide box shaped FHA home in Carbondale CO. Interior photos of it, are in the Gallery. It received a Home Energy Rating Score, of 50. Meaning it’s 50% more efficient than new code built homes. 3. If you have crawl space, close off vents, vapor seal its floor & insulate the concrete & rim joists along the walls. This technique saves energy & adds foot warm comfort to the first floor above. Both of the homes in photos above have a high insulation value of R-30 added to the outside of their original plywood sheathing, plus 1 hour wild fire resistant stucco finishes. Some more attic insulating & new HVAC equipment reduced their heating & cooling by 65% & 71% respectively. I can design something very effective & in any style for your home too. 4) Value benefits of exterior envelopes: Envelopes will add 3 to 5 inches super-insulating & one hour fire resistance to your outer walls & roof to make them very durable, substantial & desirable. 5) Homes are correctly measured from the outside. Thickening walls creates 3% to 4% more sellable floor area. That value added alone pays for half of the install cost. 6) Great insulation lets you save an additional 50% of the remaining energy cost. This is by replacing existing HVAC equipment that wastes power thats not needed now for your very efficient home. If you Install small high efficiency electric heat pumps, the new Federal & state incentives pay 38% towards the first cost for this equipment. 7) Then you can power your heat pumps with clean energy PV solar on site, or with a PV provider. 8) Thermal- solar- panels heat a hot water storage tanks to provide all your domestic hot water needs. As with PV Solar & heat Pumps Federal & local Rebates combine payed me back 50% of first cost for my thermal solar. Your net energy savings keeps more $$$ in your bank each month & years to come. With these relatively cheap & effective improvements you will reach Net Zero energy. You can enjoy 75% to 80% in energy savings costs per year. If financed, the energy savings can pay it all back in 4 to 6 years, depending on the dollar's value. 9) Breathe fresh air 24-7 with Mechanical Ventilation Heat Recovery system (MVHR). This saves energy by recovering heat, by exhausting your homes warm, stale & humid air. It transfers only the heat, to warm up in-coming fresh air. In its summer mode, it cools interior air slowly or faster with a mini chiller if needed. 10: Passive solar energy provides free radiant heating for homes. South facing overhangs shade the high summer sun. The lower winter sun, beams inside under the roof overhangs. This warms a home & its tiled slab floors. Then that heat is released inside at night when it’s needed.

If you are thinking about a beautiful life sustaining home or commercial building, I’d love to help you. This will help protect our children’s future. Please contact me for answers to your questions in a free 15 minute consultation. Darek Shapiro (970) 989-3877 Some resourceful URL’s are for you below:

Starting with Fire Rated walls & roofs: https://home.howstuffworks.com/home-improvement/construction/materials/5-fire-resistant-building-materials.htm

To breathe fresh air 24-7: https://www.heatspaceandlight.com/how-mvhr-system-help-stop-summer-overheating/

Heat Pumps: https://homeguide.com/costs/heat-pump-cost

To reduce greenhouse gas emissions: https://www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pnas.1922205117https://.

Please see passive & active solar design photos of home El Jebel CO Home in the Gallery.