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Value of Energy Retrofits for Air Leaks & Heat Loss InspectAPedia®  -     The bottom line value of energy retrofits for air leaks and heat loss in buildings How to find, diagnose, & correct air leaks & heat losses in buildings Solar Age Magazine Articles on Renewable Energy, Energy Savings, Construction Practices

This article series discusses finding and curing air leaks and heat losses in buildings, here focusing on the bottom line value of energy savings retrofits - where to spend your weatherization and insulation money. This detailed article accompanies a building weatherization and energy-savings company through a detailed building inspection for heat loss points and air leaks. Readers should also see HEAT LOSS in BUILDINGS, see HEAT LOSS R U & K VALUE CALCULATION, and see HEAT LOSS INDICATORS. And see ENERGY SAVINGS RETROFIT OPTIONS for energy savings products and tops like lightweight concrete insulation, fixing window leaks, and more.

Our page top photo shows the risk of an insulation blow-in retrofit by an amateur. The heating cost reduction from adding cellulose to the attic floor may be offset by the installer's mistake of knocking down and failing to replace improperly-installed horizontal fiberglass batts on the attic side of a wall between the attic and heated space. The net gain of this incomplete insulation retrofit may have been small.

But properly performed, an energy retrofit that determines the main heat loss points in a building (or un-wanted heat gain during the cooling season) can pay for itself very quickly.

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Bottom Line Value on Energy Retrofits for Air Leaks & Heat Loss in Buildings

This article series explains how to survey a building for air and heat loss or gain points and how to correct them.

As we introduced above, in this article the author, Steven Bliss, accompanies a building weatherization and energy-savings company through a detailed building inspection for heat loss points, convective loops, and air leaks. The author accompanies Princeton Energy Partners as they use thermal imaging, smoke guns, and visual inspection to pinpoint building air leaks, heat loss points, air infiltration and air exfiltration on a building. The importance of setting priorities for sealing these points of energy wasted is emphasized and discussed, and sketches as well as photographs of common points of building heat loss, or unwanted heat gain, and air leaks are provided.

• Building Heat Loss & Air Leaks - PDF form, use your browser's back button to return to this page
• Building Heat Loss & Air Leaks - part 2
• Building Heat Loss & Air Leaks - part 3
• Building Heat Loss & Air Leaks - part 4 - what is the bottom line value of energy retrofits to stop air leaks & heat loss?

The text below paraphrases, quotes-from, updates, and comments an original article, "House Doctors with Better Medicine, Princeton Energy Partners use the latest diagnostic tools to comb a house for the major causes of heat loss. Their findings are often astonishing. Their strong prescriptions bring results', Steven Bliss, (see links just above) from Solar Age Magazine and written by Steven Bliss.

The Bottom Line on Energy Retrofits Using Caulks and Sealants

Energy retrofitting reduces drafts and cold spots and, according to PEP, produces some unanticipated benefits such as fewer rodent problems and fewer frozen pipes. Still, to sell the service to big buyers - the developers, housing authorities, and government agencies - it has to show an attractive return on investment. Says Gadsby referring to conventional weathersealing treatments, "To do a job for $1200. that's going to save $50. a year is just not the way to do business."

In some cases the savings have been spectacular. For example in a 1982 retrofit, PEP spent three months retrofitting the 450-unit Glenhardie Condominium Comlex near Valley Forge, PA, for $62,000.

The 20-building development already had its insulation and heating system upgraded when it went condo four years earlier. After three months of house-doctoring, consisting solely of attic work, the annual heating bill was reduced from2093 to 1329 therms of natural gas, resulting in a first-year savings of $40,600, not including the $9,300. tax credit.

More typical was a proposal to the Baltimore Housing Authority, in which PEP agreed to treat apartments for $550. each while they were undergoing rehab. PEP's work was to be staged over two to three visits.

With annual heating bills in that housing stock running $1200 to $1300 (1984 costs), the simple payback would be under three years. In terms of air infiltration alone, said Gadsby, recently-built townhouses generally measure in at about 10 to 15 ach (1984 data) at 50 Pascals before house-doctoring and are sealed down to about 6 ach after.

Costs for weatherizing are held down by providing the service in a one-day blitz, or in new construction in a series of quick hits. In general, a weatherization company can do more effective work for less money during construction or rehab than with retrofitting, since the problems are more visible and accessible. The cost to the homeowner was estimated to be one half to two-thirds what it would cost to retrofit after construction, and you're probably going to save an extra 5 to 10 percent on energy costs as well.

See HEAT LOSS R U & K VALUE CALCULATION for additional details about calculating building heat losses.

Here we include solar energy, solar heating, solar hot water, and related building energy efficiency improvement articles reprinted/adapted/excerpted with permission from Solar Age Magazine - editor Steven Bliss.

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AIR CONDITIONING & HEAT PUMP SYSTEMS
ENERGY SAVINGS in BUILDINGS
INSULATION & VENTILATION INSPECTION & IMPROVEMENT
INTERIORS of BUILDINGS
ACOUSTICAL SEALANTS
AGE of a BUILDING - how to determine
AIR BYPASS LEAKS
AIR LEAK DETECTION TOOLS
  Find Heat Loss & Air Leaks
  Heat Loss Investigation Sequence
  Blower Door Test Data Results
  Smoke Gun for Air Leaks
  Attic Energy Losses - InfraRed
  Basement Energy Losses- IR & Visual
  Duct System Air Movement
  Living Space Heat Loss
  Targets & Hidden Leak Points
  Convective Loops & Thermal Bypass Leaks
  Insulation Air & Heat Leaks
  The Bottom Line on Energy Retrofits
AIR LEAK MINIMIZATION
AIR SEALING STRATEGIES
ANIMAL ALLERGENS
ASBESTOS IDENTIFICATION IN BUILDINGS
ATTIC LEAKS, CONDENSATION & ATTIC MOLD
ATTIC VENTILATION
BASEMENT HEAT LOSS
BASEMENT LEAKS Moisture or Mold
BASEMENT WATERPROOFING
BATHROOM VENTILATION
BLOWER DOORS & AIR INFILTRATION
BRICK LINED WALLS
BUCKLED FOUNDATIONS due to INSULATION?
CATHEDRAL CEILING INSULATION
CHIMNEY INSPECTION DIAGNOSIS & REPAIR
COMBUSTION AIR for TIGHT BUILDINGS
CRAWL SPACES
DEW POINT CALCULATION for WALLS
DEW POINT TABLE - CONDENSATION POINT GUIDE
ELECTRICAL INSPECTION, DIAGNOSIS, REPAIR
ENERGY SAVINGS in BUILDINGS
ENERGY SAVINGS PRIORITIES
ENERGY SAVINGS RETROFIT CASE STUDY
ENERGY SAVINGS RETROFIT LEAK SEALING GUIDE
ENERGY SAVINGS RETROFIT OPTIONS
ENVIRONMENTAL HAZARDS
FIBERGLASS INSULATION
FIBERGLASS HAZARDS
FIBERGLASS MOLD
FIREPLACE Damage & Unsafe Hearths - Settlement
FLAT ROOF MOISTURE & CONDENSATION
FLOOD DAMAGE ASSESSMENT, SAFETY & CLEANUP
FLOODS IN BUILDINGS-mold
FLOORING TYPES & DEFECTS
FOUNDATION WATERPROOFING
FRAMING DETAILS for BETTER INSULATION
FRAMING DETAILS for DOUBLE WALL HOUSES
FREEZE-PROOF A BUILDING
HEAT LOSS in BUILDINGS
HEAT LOSS DETECTION TOOLS
  Find Heat Loss & Air Leaks
  Heat Loss Investigation Sequence
  Blower Door Test Data Results
  Smoke Gun for Air Leaks
  Attic Energy Losses - InfraRed
  Basement Energy Losses- IR & Visual
  Duct System Air Movement
  Living Space Heat Loss
  Targets & Hidden Leak Points
  Convective Loops & Thermal Bypass Leaks
  Insulation Air & Heat Leaks
  The Bottom Line on Energy Retrofits
HEAT LOSS INDICATORS
HEAT LOSS R U & K VALUE CALCULATION
Heat Tapes: Use on Roofs for Ice
HEATING COST SAVINGS METHODS
HOUSEWRAP AIR & VAPOR BARRIERS
HUMIDITY LEVEL TARGET
ICE DAM PREVENTION
Ice Dams: Comparing Two Houses
INSULATION CHOICES
INSULATION FACT SHEET- DOE
INSULATION IDENTIFICATION GUIDE
INSULATION LOCATION for BASEMENTS
INSULATION LOCATION for CAPES, CRAWLSPACES
INSULATION for GREENHOUSE or SOLARIUM
INSULATION MATERIAL IDENTIFICATION GUIDE
INSULATION MOLD
INSULATION R-Values & Properties
INSULATION & VENTILATION INSPECTION & IMPROVEMENT
  ATTIC CONDENSATION CAUSE & CURE
  Air Bypass Leaks, Thermal Tracking
  Blocked Soffit Intake Vents
  BRICK VENEER WALL INSULATION
  CATHEDRAL CEILING INSULATION
  ENERGY SAVINGS in BUILDINGS
  ENERGY SAVINGS PRIORITIES
  ENERGY SAVINGS RETROFIT CASE STUDY
  ENERGY SAVINGS RETROFIT LEAK SEALING GUIDE
  ENERGY SAVINGS RETROFIT OPTIONS
  FRAMING DETAILS for BETTER INSULATION
  FRAMING DETAILS for DOUBLE WALL HOUSES
  Inspect Attics for Moisture or Mold
  Inspect Basements for Moisture or Mold
  Inspect Building Exterior
  Inspect the Ridge Vent System from the Attic
  Inspect the Soffit Vent System from the Attic
  Insulation Air & Heat Leaks
  INSULATION R-Values & Properties
  Insulation Values of Log Home Walls
  POLYISOCYANURATE FOAM INSULATION
  POLYSTYRENE FOAM INSULATION
  RADIANT BARRIERS
  RIGID FOAM USE INDOORS
  Urea Formaldehyde Foam Insulation UFFI
  URETHANE FOAM Deterioration, Outgassing
  Vermiculite Insulation
LOG HOME GUIDE
MOBILE HOME INSPECTIONS
MOISTURE CONTROL in BUILDINGS
Mold Growth Resistance of Foam Insulation
MOLD INFORMATION CENTER
ODORS & SMELLS DIAGNOSIS & CURE
PAINT FALURE, DIAGNOSIS, CURE, PREVENTION
PLASTER & BEAVERBOARD & DRYWALL
RADIANT BARRIERS
RADIANT HEAT
RADIANT HEAT Floor Mistakes to Avoid
RADIANT SLAB FLOORING CHOICES
RADIANT SLAB TUBING & FLUID CHOICES
ROOF VENTILATION SPECIFICATIONS
ROT, FUNGUS, TERMITES
  TERMITE SHIELDS vs TERMITICIDE
ROT, TIMBER FRAME
SAFETY HAZARDS & INSPECTIONS
SEARS KIT HOUSES
SOLAR ENERGY SYSTEMS
SOUND CONTROL in BUILDINGS
STAIN DIAGNOSIS
STAIRS, RAILINGS, LANDINGS, RAMPS
STUCCO OVER FOAM INSULATION
STRUCTURAL INSPECTIONS & DEFECTS
SUMP PUMPS GUIDE
THERMAL EXPANSION of MATERIALS
THERMAL MASS in BUILDINGS
THERMAL MASS in UPSTAIRS
THERMAL TRACKING & HEAT LOSS
  Ceiling Thermal Tracking Marks
  Wall Thermal Tracking Stains
  Floor Carpet Thermal Tracking Stains
  Air Bypass Leaks Marks on Insulation
  Thermal Tracking to Diagnose IAQ
  Stains HVAC Supply Registers
  Pet Stains on Floors
  Pet Stains on Walls
  Human Occupant Stains on Walls
  Stains from Candles, Woodstoves, Fireplaces
  Other Stains on Indoor Walls & Ceilings
  What to Do About Thermal Tracking
VAPOR BARRIERS & AIR SEALING at BAND JOISTS
VAPOR BARRIERS & CONDENSATION in BUILDINGS
VAPOR BARRIERS & HOUSEWRAP
VAPOR CONDENSATION & BUILDING SHEATHING
VENTILATION in BUILDINGS
WATER ENTRY in BUILDINGS
WIND TURBINES
WINDOWS & DOORS
WINTERIZE A BUILDING
WOOD Burning Heaters Fireplaces Stoves

• Solar Age Magazine was the official publication of the American Solar Energy Society. The contemporary solar energy magazine associated with the Society is Solar Today. "Established in 1954, the nonprofit American Solar Energy Society (ASES) is the nation's leading association of solar professionals & advocates. Our mission is to inspire an era of energy innovation and speed the transition to a sustainable energy economy. We advance education, research and policy. Leading for more than 50 years. ASES leads national efforts to increase the use of solar energy, energy efficiency and other sustainable technologies in the U.S. We publish the award-winning SOLAR TODAY magazine, organize and present the ASES National Solar Conference and lead the ASES National Solar Tour – the largest grassroots solar event in the world."
  
• Steven Bliss served as editorial director and co-publisher of The Journal of Light Construction for 16 years and previously as building technology editor for Progressive Builder and Solar Age magazines. He worked in the building trades as a carpenter and design/build contractor for more than ten years and holds a masters degree from the Harvard Graduate School of Education. Excerpts from his recent book, Best Practices Guide to Residential Construction, Wiley (November 18, 2005) ISBN-10: 0471648361, ISBN-13: 978-0471648369, appear throughout this website, with permission and courtesy of Wiley & Sons. Best Practices Guide is available from the publisher, J. Wiley & Sons, and also at Amazon.com.
  Excerpts with updates and annotations expanding the original Best Practices Guide text can be found in the online review and book summary at BEST CONSTRUCTION PRACTICES GUIDE and also at DECK & PORCH CONSTRUCTION, at INDOOR AIR QUALITY IMPROVEMENT GUIDE, and in other articles found at InspectAPedia.com such as HOUSEWRAP AIR & VAPOR BARRIERS, SOUND CONTROL in BUILDINGS, and other topics.
• Ice Dam Leaks in building attics and roof cavities, how to inspect for evidence of leaks, identify causes, and correct bad attic ventilation, improper roof venting, and these causes of attic mold or roof structure damage

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