As I begin our story of why we went solar it is important to tell you a little bit about our family. We are a family of 4 (myself, Josh, Sethe and Ethan). We purchased our home in September 2013 and have just celebrated our 4th year living here in Berkley, Michigan. Berkley is amazing and we love the city, our home and the friends we have made here. In our family I would have to say I am the most green as indicated by the fact that I am the one "garbage picking" items from our trash that should actually be in our recycle bin. Pre-large recycle bins we had 4 small bins and our neighbors joked that we recycle so much that they didn't have to. Even now we still use the small bins when we fill our large recycle bin. Personally, I always try to avoid running water, leaving lights on, have a composter and just recently purchased rain barrels. Despite the fact that we do a lot to try and be green there are still many ways we can improve. We are trying to improve our carbon footprint and we are trying to teach our children to be more energy conscious as well.
Our home was constructed in 2007, however it was constructed on top of the existing basement. So the upper part of our home and crawlspace was built in 2007 but our 600 sq foot half basement was built roughly around the 1960's. Overall, our home is 2300 sq feet with 12 rooms total, 4 bedrooms and 2.5 baths. Earlier this year we had a consumers energy assessment and identified some areas in the basement where we can add insulation and add pipe insulation to become more efficient. Another area to seal is around our entry doors. Inadequate insulation in the basement is part of the reason why our upstairs remains toasty warm and the downstairs stays roughly 5 degrees or so cooler. We already have energy star appliances, have changed out most bulbs to LED (maybe a handful remain) and installed a Nest thermostat in March of this year. Amazingly enough we have seen improvement on our electric bills due to these efforts. Ultimately, we used 6% less energy than last year according to recent DTE energy reports and this has helped keep our budget plan payment flat between last year and this year despite electricity rates increasing.
The realization that we need to do something about our power consumption comes once or twice a year via mail when we get our energy tally from DTE. It tells us "mayday, mayday your home is burning electricity! It uses more energy than 100% of homes of similiar size!" I'm exaggerating a bit but the letter kinda feels like it is saying that. Our most recent letter is attached in the photo. Despite our best efforts this statement tells us we need to do better and continue to make changes to reduce our energy consumption. Truth be told we are doing things a bit backwards...getting solar power first and eventually the basement insulation. The insulation will also help lower the heating bill win-win. Definitely something to complete in the near future.
Our solar power decision was ultimately because of our energy assessment. This set us on the path of investigating ways to reduce energy consumption and become more eco-friendly all around.
Energy assessments are important...both DTE and Consumers Energy will do either a free or low cost assessment about your homes energy consumption. They install basic low flow shower heads and sink flow limiters. They also provide some LED lights and 12 feet of pipe insulation. We found this assessment to be very helpful and keep our assessment handy and have been working on optimizing areas of recommendation. I highly recommend everyone take advantage of this program to begin your journey to make your home more eco friendly. Below you can find the links to both DTE and the Consumers Energy assessment programs. A customer can use both assessments as needed to achieve a balanced energy assessment.
Another product I highly recommend everyone install is a smart wifi thermostat. There are a number of these out there at varying price points. Just be sure to investigate and read reviews to choose the best one for your family. We chose the Nest thermostat. Honestly, I credit our Nest thermostat for a good portion of our decreasing energy and gas bill. The Nest thermostat was easy to install but it doesn't work with all heating and cooling systems. You can tell if your thermostat is compatible if it has 3 wires labeled A, B, C. If you only have 2 wires or they are labeled with numbers you have a proprietary system and these are not compatible with the Nest theemostat. On the bright side if your system is compatible and you purchase a wifi thermostat be sure to check for rebates/incentives with your utility provider. We got $50 cash back from DTE for purchasing ours.
Now that you know a bit of background on us and our home I will jump into solar investigations next time.
DTE and Consumers Energy assessment links. Copy and paste to your browser if link does not work.
https://newlook.dteenergy.com/wps/wcm/connect/dte-web/home/save-energy/residential/incentives+and+programs/home-energy-consultation?gclid=CjwKCAiAo9_QBRACEiwASknDwWn022ziqWj8zPB5yyhbTVUKa9XtENtKcLir3u6eLTLBmIfSiixiKhoC19oQAvD_BwE
https://www.consumersenergy.com/residential/save-money-and-energy/assessments/home-performance?utm_source=google&utm_medium=search&utm_campaign=Energy%20Efficiency%7CICF%20HPwES%7CSearch
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