Climate Buddies
empowering you to include Climate Change considerations in everyday decisions
Positive Climate & Energy Improvement Action Card - Template
Thank you for volunteering to fill out this form for each Energy Action your Household (or
your Congregation) decides to implement. Your contribution is significant!
Instructions for filling out the form:
1. Please fill out all the fields. Climate Buddies will help you with the questions
highlighted in blue. You first submission will be draft only.
2. Find a friend to look over your work to complete the card and compare perspectives
and experiences. This can be within your congregation, but if the friend has not
implemented this action, please find a buddy to interview who has, for example an
EAT member.
3. Please add as many photos and pictures as possible. List who to contact (for
example at the City), relevant phone numbers and email addresses, and any other
data you might need before you begin. List all contact persons that can coach from
EAT.
If you have questions: send your feedback or questions to [email protected] and
include your strategy card template “as-is” as an attachment. Thanks!
Energy Action Title and
Focus:
Energy Action Lead(s)
plus congregational
affiliation:
Most Recent Update:
Improve attic insulation
Household or
Congregation focus?
Estimated Impact:
Household and Congregation
Impact vs. Ease of
implementation
category (refer to
Definitions below):
Energy/Climate
Challenge Addressed:
Achieved Greenhouse
Gas reduction:
Joep Meijer
August 21, 2012
From 5 to 15% of your cooling and heating which is most of your
natural gas in the winter and electricity in the summer
A – 2 (based on rating in the Energy Audit Checklist)
Conservation
____ kg Carbon dioxide (CO2-) equivalents
Up to 10% of your HVAC use.
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Ease of implementation:
a. How long to
implement?
b. Estimated cost?
6 weeks
$ 750 / 1000 sqft for DIY using fiberglass, $ 400 using cellulose;
add $1000 when using a contractor.
Austin Energy provides a rebate for home owners, small
businesses qualify as well, under the “Home Performance with
ENERGY STAR® for” program (website). It will reimburse an
amount based on the following formal: multiply the square
footage of the home X $.0035 (per square foot) X the R-value
added, + $45 setup fee when using a qualifying contractor (list).
For home owners there is a Federal Tax incentive as well. Use
form 5695 line 3a for insulation material, you will qualify for a
10% tax credit.
Equipment need is often free of use when buying a certain
volume of insulation.
c.
Estimated Cost
Savings over x
months?
Energy Action
Description:
The return on investment is typically less than 30 months.
1. Define what insulation you have now
2. Decide how much you want to add. To maximize energy
savings, install attic insulation to an R22 or higher rating
(14-16 inches). Some new construction uses R30 for the
attic, brings in the ducts in the conditioned space and
uses R19 for all walls. R44 is considered best of class.
3. Think about ventilation. Proper ventilation reduces the
summer temperature and moisture buildup.
4. Decide on the type of insulation. You can use blown-in
insulation. Cheapest is cellulose, more durable is
fiberglass. If you use blown in insulation you need to
install rafters to make sure the vents at the bottom of
your roof stay open. You can also using batting. These are
rolls of insulation. Make sure not to use facing if you are
applying it on top of existing insulation, and apply it
perpendicular to it.
5. Before you insulate, make sure you plug all holes. You can
use caulk for electrical outlets, or a can of PU spray foam.
If you use cellulose, make sure to protect it from touching
heated pipes, like the ones from your hot water heater.
6. Decide whether you want to add a radiant barrier to the
underside of the roof or not, you should do this before you
add insulation since you will be able to move around more
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Lessons Learned While
Implementing; failures
& successes:
What/where the biggest
hurdles to overcome
and how were they
overcome? :
Specific tools Available
to Help:
Tips for motivation:
Web Sites Applicable:
Photos & Calculations:
easily.
7. Decide whether you want to check your ducts for leaks or
not, professionals can do this for you, but an easy trick for
big wholes it to run the AC and feel where cold air is
coming out. If your ducts are not insulated, add
insulation.
8. Check for infill anywhere where there is insulation missing
where the walls reach the attic, or where the attic has a
knee wall or other separation, add insulation where
necessary.
9. Now you are ready for the easy part: install the insulation.
10. If you do it yourself, some DIY stores rent out the blowing
equipment for free when you buy enough insulation.
11. Whatever you do up in the attic: wear gloves, eye
protection, a hat, long sleeves, bring a walking light, your
cell phone, take enough brakes as it can get very hot up
there.
12. Do not cover hot pipes, for example the one from your hot
water heater, keep a 3 inch distance, to do that you can
build a metal box around it that will keep the insulation
away. This holds true for all but especially for cellulose.
 Safety is important, especially when you have stories.
 Stay on the joists; you will penetrate the sheetrock that is
the ceiling of the rooms below.
 Cutting roles of insulation is really easy with a carpet
knife. Press down the insulation on a hard surface and cut
it, it will decompress after you are done. It should work in
a single cut.
This process is quite straightforward; it just takes a little time to
complete the entire procedure, especially if you apply for a
rebate. If you do it yourself: the preparation time is longer than
the actual job!
You can study the information available here if you want to read
more about insulating your attic: here
This is a job that can easily be part of a joblist for volunteers
when you decide to do an energy efficiency upgrade in your
congregation.
(list website and reason for listing)
Applying bats on existing insulation (see the sheeting that he is
using to be able to walk around, very helpful)
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Loose fill application
Installing rafters
Definitions
Each Energy Action is assigned a category, according to the following (intuitive estimates):
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empowering you to include Climate Change considerations in everyday decisions
Cat.A: High impact and readily implemented
Cat.B: High Impact, but difficult (perhaps costly) to implement
Cat.C: Low Impact, but readily implemented
Cat.D: Low Impact and difficult (perhaps costly) to implement
[Optimum Order: All Cat.A’s, the best Cat.C’s, carefully analyzed & selected Cat.B’s]
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