Harrowsmith Fall 2019 | 195HOME & DESIGN: OLD-HOUSE ENERGY UPGRADESfirewood, even when you buy the
wood cut, split and ready to burn.
One of the main things to
remember as you choose the
energy sources your home will
use is the inherent inefficiency
of grid electricity for heating.
We certainly need electricity
for lots of things, but you should
never use it for the bulk of your
heating needs. Go ahead and use
it to warm floors here and there,
or use it to operate a heat pump.
Since the electricity used by a heat
pump is employed to harvest heat
from the air, the earth or a nearby
body of water, energy efficiency
shoots right up. At current market
prices, only natural gas offers
a cheaper way to heat than an
electric heat pump. It’s even
cheaper than purchased firewood.
Energy costs aren’t going to
get significantly lower, and that’s
a big deal if you own one of the
many beautiful older homes in
this country. Understand the
options you’ve got for boosting
energy efficiency, and energy bills
won’t be something you fear in
the future. HInfrared Cameras
Are Now Cheap
Twenty years ago, the magic
bullet in energy-efficiency
tools was the infrared camera.
It let you see areas of energy
loss from the outside of a
building, as well as the exact
spot where this needed to
be remedied. Trouble was,
even the cheapest models
cost a couple of thousand
dollars back then. These days,
you can get decent infrared
cameras for much less money
and there are enough of them
around that you can probably
borrow one. They let you see
where heat is escaping from
your old house.