A 19th-Century fisherman's house gets a makeover and, in the process, becomes much more energy efficient. VICTORIA STOPPIELLO PHOTO
Energy Efficient simple, accessible and possible
by Victoria Stoppiello for at home
Most people who live in existing housing are baffled about how to make their lifestyle more sustainable.
Sustainable living operates on permaculture principles, including "one tool, many tasks," meaning that the best "tool" achieves many goals. An energy-efficient, naturally day-lit home saves money, improves comfort, and elevates your mood.
Inheriting a 19th-Century fisherman's house made our lives immediately more sustainable; and by retrofitting the structure, we reduced its electricity use year by year, finally arriving at an overall reduction of 66 percent.
Because they are implemented in the fall, each energy measure's impact is seen in the following year's kilowatt-hour reduction. (See table) Compared with the brand-new, expensive and, typically, very large homes that get attention in architecture and solar publications, our remodel was simple, accessible and possible for almost any homeowner.
Our solar and weatherization tools included:
• A batch solar water heater
• A two-panel grid-connected photovoltaic electricity generation system
• Increased insulation
• Double-pane window sash replacements
• A Sunfrost refrigerator
• An Energy Star-rated washing machine
• An electric-demand water heater that senses incoming water temperature (Where natural gas or propane is readily available, a gas-fired demand water heater would be the preferred choice.)
• Compact fluorescent lighting where feasible,
• And, finally, a super-insulated north side addition which added square footage while reducing overall energy use.
I'd inherited the house from my Dad, who was born in it, and our savings could pay for remodeling. The house faces true south, which was music to the ears of my solar-architect husband. It was built of old-growth materials, durable, beautiful, and now nearly irreplaceable. The house had wonderful natural light - since it was built before the advent of electricity and light switches. Finally, we'd had many good times working on the house with my Dad; it had good solar potential, good "bones," good vibes.
We brainstormed all potential improvements to the house and property, set priorities, with a new foundation and weatherization topping the list, followed by a kitchen remodel. By insulating, we'd reduce energy consumption and costs, reduce noise and drafts, and reduce the "external" costs of power production, which in the hydroelectric Northwest includes severe impacts on salmon runs.
Many people who refurbish old-homes replace their double-hung windows with new vinyl models. Instead, we installed fir double-pane replacement sashes (the part that holds the glass), removed the ropes and weights and insulated the cavities around the windows, leaving the original exterior window frames and trim intact - saving both money and historic character.
We used locally milled alder for new kitchen cabinets and decided against a dishwasher, but for a Sunfrost refrigerator, the world's most efficient. Because the kitchen had no morning light, my husband designed openings between the eastern living room and western kitchen to allow light to flood both rooms. This change made the small downstairs seem larger and more cohesive, and provided better natural ventilation and heat circulation from our primary heat source, a small efficient wood stove. The house has baseboard electric heaters as back-up.
Next, we added a dressing room with storage and a laundry room/vestibule/mud room on the north side of the house. The addition overlaps an exterior wall that couldn't be insulated due to plank construction abutting a stairway; the space between exterior and interior walls was literally less than one inch. We dismantled a garage on the south-facing west side of the house and replaced it with a carport with a clear polycarbonate roof on the north, lee side of the house. The clear roof provides good light and a covered work area during drizzles, plus a protected place to grow tomatoes in the summer ... in addition to a great space for storing vehicles and firewood.
We integrated new products and techniques: blown-in batt insulation, Marmoleum floor covering, premanufactured joists for floor and ceiling, and oriented strand board and reused bead board for interesting interior textures at low cost.
The addition was so well built that our electric bills actually went down, meaning we'd added space and reduced operating costs. Later, we added the solar batch water heater and two grid-tied photovoltaic solar panels (that we received for free as part of a beta-test) to generate part of our electrical load.
By the way, this was all in the early 1990s before "green building" became a trendy term and "sustainable development" ideas began penetrating mainstream thinking.
On average, 25 percent of your home's energy goes for water heating, 50 percent for space heating, and 25 percent for everything else (that means refrigeration, lights, TVs, computers, the works).
With water heating taking up that much of your energy budget, solar water heaters offer the most bang for your buck...and that's why investing in solar electric systems are the last thing to do, after you've insulated your home and installed a solar water heater, whether it's an expensive highly efficient model or an inexpensive home-built type.
We reduced the amount of electricity we used by 17 percent in one fell swoop by installing a very simple solar batch water heater.
Back when we used to work on this house with my Dad, it was an aesthetically satisfying home, built by fishermen with common sense. That basic approach has been continued. All the energy conservation measures we used are simple to implement and have been available for decades. By reducing our electricity use by two-thirds, our utility bills averaged $30 per month. And our 1895 house with its retrofits outperformed new houses built with the Washington State Energy Code during the 1990s.
