Energy Efficient Renovation

The architect and contractor that we picked for our renovation are both known for "green building". That was part of the reason why we picked them. The result of this decision is that we're going to end up having a much more energy efficient home. Unfortunately the windows are the biggest sources of energy loss and we're not going to be replacing all of them this time. But there are a bunch of other things that we are doing.

• There's going to be better insulation in the roof.
• There's going to be insulation in the basement and the unfinished parts will be seeled off better.
• The refrigerator and dishwasher will both be much more efficient.
• The toilet will be Toto's Aquia Dual Flush Toilet that uses less water for "liquid waste" than for "solid waste". It's actually pretty cool.
• Most of the lighting will be compact florescents, which have finally become useable since they figured out how make them not flicker.
• The furnace will be replaced with a >90% efficient model
• The water heater will be replaced with a more efficient model

Before all of these things were going to change I wasn't able to put much effort into reducing waste because the problem seemed so big. But the weird thing is that now I'm starting to think about a lot of other things that don't seem as crazy. Maybe it's the momentum. An article in the Seattle PI this morning got me thinking again about reducing the amount of garbage we produce. I keep on forgetting that we can put some types of food waste in our Seattle Public Utilities-provided yard waste canisters. And the other day I was complaining to my architect about the smell of trash cans and he said that his trash doesn't smell because he puts the food trash in a kitchen composting pail. It has a charcoal filter to keep the rotting food from stinking. Pretty cool idea. That got me thinking about composting in general and I stumbled upon Seattle Public Utilities' composting website. The provide guidance and subsidized composting cones and rainwater barrels.

Ever since the big windstorm earlier this winter I've been thinking about being somewhat self-reliant. I immediately bought a nice battery powered radio so I could still listen to the BBC and NPR.

I also began thinking seriously about solar electricity and solar hot water. And while solar electricity still isn't very practical, solar hot water is, even in Seattle. The federal tax credit lasts until the end of 2008 so I still have some time.