Save Money With Energy Audits, Air Conditioning Service and Insulation With Green ID
  • HOME
  • OUR SERVICES
    • Solar
    • Heating & Cooling
    • Insulation
    • Energy Audits
  • ENERGY AUDITS
  • ABOUT US
  • CONTACT
    • Schedule A Service
    • Careers
  • BLOG

SRP Rebate Program Update

11/8/2018

7 Comments

 
With APS lowering their rebate amounts, it’s not all bad news.  SRP customers were delighted to hear their SRP rates were lowered this past summer and now the SRP rebate program has increased. Even if you have had an SRP energy audit in the past but have not done any upgrades, your home would qualify for these new rebate amounts.  Homes must have an energy audit performed by a company like Green ID to qualify.
​
Beginning November 1, 2018 SRP homes having duct sealing or insulation upgrades performed can enjoy increased rebates!  See the table below for SRP new rebate changes.


SRP Rebate Program Changes

Upgrade
Old Rebate Amount
New Rebate Amount
Insulation
$400
$600
Duct sealing (single family home)
$250
$400
Duct sealing (condo or townhome)
$200
$300
The SRP shade screen rebate will remain the same at $0.80 sq ft, as will the energy efficient air conditioner rebates from $400-$800 and Nest thermostat rebates of $75.  

Can I Submit My Own SRP Insulation Rebates?

The SRP Home Performance With Energy Star program provides rebate incentives for homeowners who have a certified energy audit performed on their home for only $99.  Once the energy audit is complete, the contractor will provide recommendations to improve the comfort, air quality and energy efficiency of the home and facilitate SRP rebates on the homeowner’s behalf.  Homeowners are not able to apply for the insulation or duct sealing rebates themselves under the program.  The energy auditing contractor must create a HPXML file to submit to SRP with the house specifications in order to qualify for the rebates and the rebates can either come off the top of the cost or be assigned to the homeowner.  SRP typically takes 2-6 weeks to process the rebate checks.  Homeowners that choose to do the insulation themselves will not qualify for the insulation rebate as contractors are trained to meet Energy Star’s strict installation requirements.


There are several critical items that must be done for every insulation job to make sure the insulation is not compromised because when it comes to blowing insulation, the preparation is almost as important as the depth.
​
  • Air seal the attic. Air sealing is separating the attic from the conditioned house and you would think that the framers, drywallers and A/C contractors would know this when they build the house but surprisingly in most homes we find a lack of boundary between the attic and home.​
Picture
Picture
  • Kneewalls are neglected. A kneewall is a vertical wall in your home that has a back side in the attic.  Kneewalls are also in the attic and just like the drywall ceiling, they need to be properly insulated. 
Picture
Picture
  • Taking care of the attic hatch.  I love when insulation contractors throw a fiberglass batt across the attic hatch and call it good.  It’s like telling your kids to clean their room and you come back to see a half-ass job and them preoccupied with whatever they were doing before. Nice try, but that’s a fail.  
Picture
By doing these upgrades before you insulate your home, you’ll be sure to have a properly sealed and insulated home.

Will My Home Qualify For An Energy Audit?

Not every home needs an energy audit however most homeowners are misled into thinking they need to replace all their windows or go solar to reduce their energy bills.  By having an energy audit done on your home, you are getting a comprehensive test of the house to find the true problems.  We don’t send a commissioned sales person to do a “free inspection” and then turn around and use the same recommendations on every home.  Our auditors actually spend 2-4 hours in a home, just performing our tests that measure airflow, room pressures, HVAC efficiency, duct leakage, air leakage and so much more.  Only then, based on our numbers will we recommend solutions for your home.  I tell homeowners all the time, if we find that your home is in good shape, our auditors will let you know that.  There’s no games with our energy audits and that fact that most of our energy auditors have been with Green ID for 6+ years is a testament to their expertise.  We also complete and apply for all the rebate paperwork on your behalf and even take the cost of the rebate out from the start.  To find out if your home is a good fit for an energy audit, complete SRP Home Analyzer form and see where your home stands.

Be sure to take advantage of SRP rebate increase while it lasts because in recent years, SRP rebate amounts have varied and decreased much more than increased.
7 Comments

9 Energy Saving Tips For Your Thanksgiving

11/8/2018

0 Comments

 
​Here are 9 tips from Green ID to make sure you’re not gobbling up too much energy this Thanksgiving!
1. Turn it down!
​If you’re planning on having plenty of people over for your feast, lower the thermostat a few degrees before they arrive. The combination of warm guests and food will compensate for your decreased temperature.

2. Your refrigerator is running...
Take a look at your refrigerator doors! Firstly, keep an eye on them to make sure that they are closed firmly. Secondly, test them to make sure the gaskets are in good shape. You can do this by closing the door on a dollar bill. If the dollar bill falls out or can be pulled out easily, your seals may need to be adjusted or replaced.

3. Check your pans!
Keep the lids on your pots and pans while cooking! This technique keeps more heat in and allows you to lower the heat of your burners a bit!

4.Use the microwave.
Go with your microwave instead of your oven when you can. Your microwave uses less than half the amount of energy that your traditional oven does and it cuts down on time.

5. You do not always have to preheat...
Preheating isn’t always necessary. Your oven doesn’t need to preheat when you’re using it to broil or roast. When your oven does require preheating, allow it to preheat for just five to ten minutes. Preheating the traditional oven for five to ten minutes should be plenty of time.

6. Close that oven door!
Keep that oven door closed! Every time you open that door up to check on your dish a large amount of heat is lost and it takes a considerable amount of energy to restore the heat in the oven.

7. Make your cooking time count.

Cook as much of your meal at one time as you can. While using your oven, try to cook multiple dishes at one time. Even if the cooking directions say that they’re supposed to be cooked at different temperatures, they can often be cooked together. If dishes are cooked within 25 degrees F of the directed temperature they will turn out just as good!

8. Self-cleaning is not always necessary.
Avoid using the self-cleaning option on the oven. Unless a deep clean is completely necessary, stay away from this feature. Instead, use a damp cloth with some dish soap. If you do decide to use this feature, start it right after you finish cooking while the oven is still hot.
​

9. Cool the Leftovers.
Allow your leftovers to cool down before putting them in the refrigerator. Letting the foods cool off a bit before placing them in your fridge means that it won’t need to work as hard or long. 
0 Comments

Where HVAC contractors fall short

11/5/2018

0 Comments

 
Picture
 You can find great heating and air conditioning contractors of all sizes. What makes a great HVAC contractor? Experience, caring about the quality of the work and good customer service are the magic ingredients that are easier said than done. Even if a AC contractor has all these ingredients that make up a great technician or contractor they probably do not have the experience or know how to solve home performance issues like the comfort problems or high energy bills. Many AC contractors default to adding a return in a hot room or blow and go (just blowing more insulation in the attic on top of whatever is existing) and it can leave homeowners short... not solving their comfort or efficiency issues.

Lack of Home Performance Know-How
 
Call it the Achilles heel of the HVAC industry but AC contractors have all but ignored home performance even though it has huge impacts on the effectiveness of new and existing AC units. Air conditioning contractors are getting pushed out of their comfort zone with home performance. Now not all AC contractors ignore the elephant in the room but many small and large AC companies do. How do we know this? When you perform over 2000 home energy audits you get to see all sorts of situations and get to fix all kinds of messes left over by HVAC contractors. Someone homeowners have trusted AC contractors who are highly recommended and put on a well deserved pedestal but talk to them about home performance, the HVAC poster child can turn into the jealous step sister Drazella and can end up making themselves look like fools. We have seen countless homes that have had "energy audits" done by HVAC contractors and who were supposed to have done home performance work including duct sealing, air barrier sealing, air sealing and insulation realignment. I was shocked to discover duct board put in the wrong location to create a thermal boundary in the attic and the AC contractor charged the customer for this! Their home performance work was done all wrong.

Wrong Airflow Recommendations

Installing a new high efficiency air conditioner is only as good as the old ductwork that is in the attic.  In older homes, air conditioning systems were designed to match the old HVAC system and have the opportunity to be upgrades with the new unit. Too many air conditioning contractors just consider the unit, and ignore the ductwork.  If the ductwork is only sized for a 4 ton system, but you are putting a 5 ton AC system on, your home will home get 4 tons of air!  In Phoenix, this happens way too often and it leads to comfort, air quality and high energy bill complaints. 

We've seen that air conditioning contractors typically love to add a return in a room when homeowners have a hot room in the summer time.  We rarely see this work out as a good solution though, more often we are the ones getting calls from homeowners still having issues that are not fixed and AC contractors know just enough to make the problem worse but not enough to actually fix it.  Proper airflow recommendations can fix a hot room, but it takes a whole home approach and the experience to know which recommendations to install.​

For HVAC contractors
 
This section is for air conditioning and heating contractors to help understand and practice home performance more proficiently. Just like it would be silly for homeowner to buy a set of gauges and interpret temperature/pressure charts without knowing what they are doing, without an understand of how a home works as a system, specific upgrades like insulation or ductwork sealing can be meaningless or worse, even harmful to a homeowner. To take it a step further, even if the owner of the company becomes BPI certified to do energy audits, an install crew that is used to doing new AC installs day in and day out, may be clueless as to how to create a proper thermal barrier in the attic, or how to run a room pressure test to measure the effects of air sealing a home. Without careful planning and oversight of a crew, their energy efficiency installation work can be a waste of a homeowners money. 
 
What commonly happens is that the AC contractor performs an energy audit with an agenda but their recommendations come out narrow and cookie cutter... they are the same for each house. Then the installation crew that does the work doesn't know how to do it properly or has too little oversight to correct mistakes as they occur and the work is done wrong. In the home performance, energy efficiency industry we have a saying that "99% right is 100% wrong" and it's critical that energy efficiency work gets done right the first time. Why? Well when you blow a bunch of insulation over bad work, it becomes hard to find the mistakes and we may never get a second chance to fix the contractors problems.

Unless you are doing the work yourself, or can check it was done right before and after the insulation goes in, it's best not to get into home performance because you are likely hurting more customers than helping them.  While there is no denying that home performance and heating and air conditioning are complimentary and should be done as pairs, home performance is a different animal entirely and requires staff dedicated to its success.  That means if you decide to offer home performance upgrades, you'll need at least one dedicated staff to perform home energy audits, lead a crew to ensure the job is done correctly and set up systems and checks to ensure that it gets done right the first time.  What systems and checks should you use?  That answer is found from actually doing the field work and learning where the pitfalls are and where guys most often make mistakes or take shortcuts, find hiring a manager who has that experience.

There is nothing wrong with offering to add another return to a hot room, or dabble in airflow recommendations but just realize that no one solution is likely going to solve your customers true issues like a whole home performance solution can. 
0 Comments

5 DIY Energy Saving Tips

11/1/2018

0 Comments

 
​The energy efficiency of your house depends on many different factors, from sealing your duct work system, to turning​ off the lights when you leave the room. Even if you have all the big stuff covered, that doesn’t mean you should slack off when it comes to using energy-saving habits. Remember, every bit counts. Even if it doesn’t seem like much, each step you take still adds to a more energy efficient home and lifestyle. 

1. Unplug Vampire Appliances
  • ​While this is not an unknown way to save energy, it’s pretty easily forgotten.
  • Energy vampires are appliances that don’t turn off. They either remain on “stand-by” mode or they simply stay on, but regardless, they suck out energy continuously from the lifeblood of your house. Hence the "energy vampires" name.
  • Use smart power strips, which will turn off those pesky appliances for you by shutting down anything that goes into standby mode. You can also simply turn them off, or group them onto regular power strips for an easier time turning them off.

2. Keep Doors Open
  • When you keep doors in your house closed, it causes the air pressure to increase, which can possibly lead to your precious conditioned air to be sucked through any existing leaks into the attic, or even outside.
  • This is an easy fix: keep your doors open! Your house will have a single air pressure throughout and you won't lose your cold air. 

3. Change the Thermostat
  • A programmable thermostat saves energy by allowing you to control the temperature remotely, and by adjusting the temperature by itself throughout the day in order to use the least amount of energy required. Some are advanced enough to learn your habits and adjust accordingly all on its own.
  • If your thermostat has a “vacation” setting, use it! Only keep your thermostat on when you need it. 
  • Even if a programmable thermostat isn’t an option for you, there’s still something you can do- keep this rule in mind: it is better to set the temperature higher during the day while you’re gone and bring it back down in the evenings when you need it than to consistently keep it cool. 

4. How You Do Laundry
  • Use cold water in your loads- almost all of the energy required to do your laundry is just from heating up the water.
  • Wash only full loads.
  • Only run the dryer for as long as necessary. Even running it a seemingly small extra 10 or 15 minutes wastes a significant amount of energy. Try to stop it from running as soon as your clothes are completely dry- and drying full loads should help with this too.

5. Ceiling Fan Adjustment
  • Your ceiling fan should spin counter-clockwise, especially in summer. This will create a cooling, "wind chill" effect, as opposed to letting it run clockwise, which will cause the fan to recirculate warm air (which you might want in the winter, so don't forget where the direction switch is!).
  • This will allow you to cool down a bit without touching the thermostat. ​
0 Comments

    Sign Up For Your Home Energy Audit

    FIND YOUR HOME TYPE

    Ranch Homes

    Picture
    Picture

    Single Story, Spec Homes

    Picture
    Picture

    Two Story, Spec Homes

    Picture
    Picture

    Tri-Level Homes

    Picture

    Pre-1990 Custom Home

    Picture
    Picture

    Post-1990 Custom Home

    Picture
    Picture

    Don't See Your Home? Find Your City Below!

     

    Archives 

    September 2021
    August 2021
    January 2021
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    April 2019
    February 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    May 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    August 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    December 2014
    October 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    February 2014
    January 2014
    December 2013
    November 2013
    October 2013
    September 2013
    August 2013
    June 2013
    May 2013
    April 2013
    March 2013
    February 2013
    January 2013
    December 2012
    November 2012
    October 2012
    September 2012
    July 2012
    April 2012
    March 2012
    February 2012
    January 2012
    December 2011
    November 2011
    October 2011
    September 2011
    August 2011
    July 2011
    June 2011
    May 2011
    April 2011
    March 2011
    February 2011
    January 2011
    December 2010
    November 2010
    October 2010
    September 2010
    August 2010
    July 2010
    June 2010
    May 2010
    April 2010
    March 2010


    Copyright Notice

    ©2009 – 2023
    All Rights Reserved


Privacy Policy 
Terms and Conditions 
Find us on: 
  • HOME
  • OUR SERVICES
    • Solar
    • Heating & Cooling
    • Insulation
    • Energy Audits
  • ENERGY AUDITS
  • ABOUT US
  • CONTACT
    • Schedule A Service
    • Careers
  • BLOG