Builders adapt to demand for energy efficient homes

James Shea

Daily Press Writer

MONTROSE — For Dave Congour, the idea sprang from an observation. In the winter, he opened the screen door and felt a rush of warm air.

“Something came back to haunt me; there was a burst of warmth between my door and the storm door,” he said.

Congour, owner of Colorado Clean Energy Systems, is a trained engineer with experience in plumbing. He wondered about the phenomenon for a long time and finally came to the conclusion solar energy could help solve the nation’s energy problems.

“You have this energy that is hitting your house, and it is just being wasted,” Congour said. “The sun that hits your windows goes to passive (solar) heating, but the sun that hits your roof largely goes to waste - it just makes sense.”

Homeowners around the country are looking at ways to decrease energy use in the home. Since 2002, natural gas and electricity prices have increased at double-digit rates annually, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration. A gas bill in the winter can cost a homeowner hundreds of dollars and many people are looking to the alternative energy market for solutions.

“I think the political acceptance (for alternative energy) has always been there,” said Jim Heneghan, Delta-Montrose Electrical Association energy service supervisor, “Everything that you do that is environmentally friendly has been popular since Earth Day kicked off in the late 60s. I think the main driver now to being energy efficient is economics. Energy costs are hitting people’s pocket book. So, why not do something that is going to save energy and reduce pollution?”

Demand on the rise

Many of the same discussions took place in the 1970s during the country’s last energy crisis. Homeowners looked at passive solar, when the sun’s natural radiation heats the house, to solar panels and wind energy. During the 1980s and 1990s, energy prices were relatively inexpensive and demand for alternative energy decreased.

“I think consumers are more aware of what an energy-efficient home can do and that is translating into more demand and some builders, and some very good builders, are responding,” Tom Polikalas, Delta-Montrose Electrical Association public information officer said.

In 2004, the United States saw a 24-percent increase in demand for solar products and a 17- percent the previous year, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration. Demand for other alternative energy products are also on the rise.

At the same time, the cost for alternative energy technology has decreased.

“Fossil fuels have been increasing in cost,” Polikalas said. “Fortunately, the renewables have been coming down.”

Builders have jumped into the new market. They see a growing demand to make homes more efficient and to install alternative energy productions.

“They are seeing a rise in consumer demand,” Polikalas said. “I think a builder wants to do what his client wants.”

The home as a system

Congour has captured a portion of the burgeoning new market. To start, he researched the technology and developed an understanding of how to build solar systems. Last fall, he designed a system for his home and word got around.

“I built my own ultra-efficient system, and didn’t get it working until April, because I got busy doing systems for other people,” Congour said.

For homeowners, the foundation of green building is sealing the home. Any efficiency gains made with solar or other technology are lost if the house loses heat in the winter and cool air in the summer.

Polikalas said DMEA recently studied homes in the area looking for energy leaks. The results were surprising. Not only did older homes have air escaping, newer-model homes were often just as inefficient.

“Sadly, there is a lot of new construction that goes on that doesn’t do a good job in the construction phase of taking measures to reduce air infiltration problems once the building is complete,” Heneghan said. “Properly insulating a house has always been pretty fast return on your dollar”

Once the house is properly sealed, a homeowner can take better advantage of the alternative technology. Something as simple as a south-facing sunroom to more complex systems, like a home run on solar electricity, is available.

Contractor Philip Bailey said homeowners and builders must be smart. A home is a system. To take advantage of passive solar, a home must be oriented toward the south and the individual heating and cooling needs of each room must be examined.

“A lot of people don’t look at the home as a system,” Bailey said.

In the early years of green building, architects did not look at the incredible amount of energy a home can absorb from passive solar. They built giant glass houses and paid the price.

“The joke in the industry is that the original ones were solar ovens,” Heneghan said. “They would use too much glass.”

Bailey said, now, a home is designed to take advantage of the sun’s heat when it’s needed - in the winter. Computer models are used, and eves off the houses are built to certain lengths. The eves allow the sun to hit the glass in the winter, when the sun is low on the horizon, but not in the summer.

“It is crazy not to do the calculations when you put up eves and install passive solar,” Bailey said.

Many of the newer passive-solar homes, called tempered-solar, look like normal homes. They are oriented toward the south but do not have giant windows, making them attractive to the average homeowner.

“It (tempered solar) refers to the fact that you built a conventional-looking house, but you have done some of the (green building techniques),” Heneghan said. “You have oriented so you can get solar gain, south facing, but you don’t do all the design techniques of passive solar. You can see as much as 30-pecent energy savings in the sun-tempered homes as the home that is not oriented and glazed properly.”

Congour’s systems are a little more complicated. He installs solar panels and converts the energy to heat. The heat is stored in water and released into the house. Congour said water is the most efficient way to convert solar energy to usable energy.

Randy, Johnson, owner of Johnson Electric, takes alternative energy even one step further. He installs solar panels and batteries, making the home its own energy producer. These systems are called photovoltaic and let people function off the power grid.

Johnson installs most of his systems for people who live in the mountains and are too far away from a power line but he sees more people becoming interested in the technology.

“It is growing so fast in other areas of the country you are hard pressed to be able to buy solar panels,” he said.

More than one benefit

Besides reduced energy bills, green building also has tax advantages. The 2005 Energy Policy Act instituted a $2000 tax credit for photovoltaic and solar hot water systems and a $500 tax credit for installing energy efficient windows, doors and heating equipment.

While the tax credits do not completely pay for the improvements, the economics make sense. Congour said his systems pay for themselves with energy savings in four to 15 years, depending on the use and size of the system.

“In the past it was the true believers that really wanted to do their part for the environment,” he said. “Now, it is still a medium return on investment.”

It seems future demand will only increase. Polikalas said energy prices might not increase as quickly as they have in the last few years but will continue to rise.

Congour said he believes energy efficiency in the home is important for national security. If homeowners can reduce their dependence on energy, they are making the country self-sufficient and less reliant on other countries.

Congour said it makes sense to design at least passive solar features into a house. “The natural gas situation parallels the crude oil situation in the world. It is projected that we are going to import liquefied natural gas into the country. That to me is a recipe for disaster. Instead of becoming less dependent on foreign countries we are becoming more dependent.”