Energy Efficiency: It’s a Money Problem
When we bought our current money pit, erm, house, we expected to get pretty good energy efficiency due to it being a concrete and Styrofoam construction method, think adobe style with 1’ thick walls. Yes, 1 foot thick (0.3 m) walls that provide extra wind resistance to over 300 mph (allegedly), better fire ratings, and definitely better insulation properties than a traditional built home. When we replaced our furnace and AC unit last year, we opted for a more efficient system because it costs less to operate, uses less resources to run, and we thought it would go well with the rest of the energy efficiency aspects of the house. What we didn’t realize is that the home was built with the concrete walls because the previous owner was terrified of tornadoes… Um, maybe move out of tornado alley? IDK… Just a thought.
Beyond that fear, they didn’t care at all about energy efficiency. We’ve been making some efficiency improvements around here and even during these past 2 cold spells, our downstairs has stayed above 62 F WITHOUT the heat coming on all day! This was during a 3 day cold snap with temps around the 30’s F and the latest cold spell with temps of 26 F and 30 mph constant winds with 50 mph gusts. The inside temp finally got down to 62 F by 5pm, but again, this is without the heat coming on ALL DAY! How did we pull this off? By throwing money at it of course!
