Going Greener

As you know I have worked hard to rehab this old house of mine, so last night I did some taking stock, to see if all these changes have been worth it financially to me.  Not surprising, there is a savings with the changes I have made, what shocked me I guess is how much of a savings the three major changes made.

In the first winter I lived hereI did put in a programmable thermostat, and since I was at work a lot I programmed very low settings for those away times, then I also programmed the house at 67 degrees when the furnace was running.  So the numbers for the three coldest heating months (December, January & February) were about $1300, if I had been home all day every day those numbers would have at least doubled.  The furnace was old and listed at 60 per cent efficient.


That summer I replaced the furnace with a 98 percent efficient gas forced air furnace.  The house had already been ducted so I had little choice but I am comfortable with forced air.  That winter's heating bills for this three month period were less than half or about $624.  I was very pleased with the savings and learned to put up with the noisier blower until I can work on the basement.

Last summer I did two major changes, I finished replacing all the windows with new for the first one.  This was a major change.  When I first moved in you could see curtains moving in the wind even though the windows were closed, some of the drafts were amazing.  I would love to say I continued the tradition of wood windows but the price was prohibitive but there is still the beautiful woodwork frames around the window.  Also last year, as you've seen in last summer's posts I had the house insulated and then sided.  So how much did these 3 months cost me this last winter?  I kept waiting for what I've always thought of as the big spike, and it never came.  This is in spite of the fact that the house was occupied 24/7 in December, and kept several degrees warmer due to small children in the house.  So drummmmmrolllll my winter heating costs for the same three month period this last winter were $303. 

For those of you who may think it was a warmer winter I checked the heating degree days for the three years and 2009 was the coldest of the three years, with 2008 being just a shade warmer.

So figuring just over $1000 per year per 3 month savings  I'll have saved the cost of the changes in about five years.  Not too shabby.

This summer I plan to replace the front and side doors and next year the water heater and then I'll be just about as green as I can get.