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Green Renovations: Numbers You Need To Know

By: Matt Grocoff , Contributing Writer
In: Old Houses, Home Improvement Tips, Green Renovations, Technology

Energy Bills

$2,800 Cost of the average annual utility bill for an old house.

58 million - Number of homes built before 1972 that are poorly insulated or don’t have any insulation at all.

> 50 - Minimum R-value rating of insulation you should have in your attic.

$10,000 - amount of money you will lose over the next 10 years if you don’t insulate (assuming energy costs won’t rise . . . but when was the last time you paid 50¢ a gallon for

gas?).

Windows

$800 - $1200 - cost per window to install average quality replacement windows.

25 - number of years until you will need to replace your replacement windows.

$400 - cost per window to have a professional restore your old windows and add high-quality weather proofing.  (check out my previous story on weather proofing historic windows.)

500 - number of years until you will need to replace historic windows if properly maintained.

Water

36 - number of states that are expected to experience catastrophic water shortages by 2013.

11,000 - number of gallons of water a family of three will save by installing an efficient 1.5 gallon per minute shower head.

$60 - approximate cost of a new generation high efficiency shower head

$100 - amount of money you will lose in water heating

costs every year if you don’t install a 1.5 gallon per minute shower head.

Home Comfort & Performance

$0 - $500 - cost of an extensive home energy assessment to find ways to improve the comfort and efficiency of your home. Many utility companies are offering rebates that make an audit essentially free.

30% - amount of the Federal tax credit for installing solar electric or geothermal heating & cooling.

Lighting

705 - number of of the world’s 2,670 coal‐fired power plants that we could close by switching to energy efficient lighting technologies.

Mission Zero

0 - Amount of carbon emissions your house should be creating by 2020.  That’s less than ten years away . . . So, set your net-zero goals now and start saving.

$0 - Amount my family pays for monthly utilities in our net zero energy house which produces more energy than it consumes.  www.MissionZeroHouse.com

Facebook & Twitter

3000 - number of GreenovationTV fans you can share your green renovation stories with on

Facebookand Twitter. (and don’t forget Old House Web).

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