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A Response to Reiss's Pieces Column re: EnergySmart
A Response to Reiss's Pieces Column re: EnergySmart
Please don't shoot the messenger! If you're not a little bit frightened about the skyrocketing cost of home heating, you aren't paying attention. But lashing out at folks who are providing straight talk on the issues is counter-productive.
This is what Judy Reiss did in her June 25th Reiss's Pieces column. Like Judy, I wasn't at her home the morning she scheduled an energy audit, but I won't try to give a second-hand account of the conversations that transpired. However, I do apologize to Judy and Malcolm if they took offense at the way information was communicated.
As the operators of EnergySmart of Vermont and the local Community Action Weatherization Program, we conduct energy audits in roughly 400 buildings each year. We recognize the personal attachment homeowners have to their houses. We strive to differentiate between the social environment of oneŐs ŇhomeÓ and the combination of systems that make up the physical structure we call a ŇhouseÓ. We appreciate that some exceptionally lovely homes in Vermont occupy some very deficient houses.
Our job is to conduct energy audits (diagnostic testing and inspection) and complete energy related renovations. But our first priority is actually the health and safety of the occupants. Our second priority is the durability of the structure. Our third priority is the energy profile of the structure. We will not violate priority 1 and 2 in pursuit of energy savings.
Judy described the building to me as an early 1900s "summer house" with a "trout stream" running though the cellar. There are many houses in Vermont like JudyŐs and MalcolmŐs Đ houses that were not built as year-round residences and have not had essential upgrades to make them safe and warm. The generation after us will look back on the last forty years and ask, "what were they thinking" - burning oil to heat a building without proper insulation? Many of us know we need more insulation in our homes. But it can be terrible to face that reality all at once, and to find out the building you thought might need some repairs really requires a massive overhaul.
From a technical perspective, Judy's solution - "to 'shrink wrap' all the windows, finish insulating the basement, hang quilts in between each room and put a wood stove in the dining/work room" - is partially good, but fails to address a critical factor - moisture.
For folks facing a desperate situation, decreasing the comfortably heated space to a few interior rooms is a good move. However, and this is very important, you must have moisture under control. A damp basement generates water vapor that will waft upwards through the building. When this humid air comes in contact with cold surfaces in an unheated space Đ like an unused second story bedroom Đ it can condense on the surfaces and cause mold to grow. We've all seen this condensation turn to frost on windows. Condensation on walls and fabrics produces mold spores that harm the heatlh of the occupants and damage structural integrity, eventually rotting the building. A home is a system, and itŐs important to consider the interaction of all the components as you try to lower energy costs.
When you purchase an energy audit, you are inviting someone to give you an honest assessment of your situation. While the auditor should be sensitive to the owner's situation, it should not deter him from delivering the truth. We offer testing, not guessing. In many cases we are delivering unwelcome (although not unexpected) results. At least you have facts to inform your decisions. If in very rare circumstances the building can not (or should not) be insulated, we'll say so. Sometimes it is uncomfortable for both advisor and listener, but it would be a disservice to simply tell people what they want to hear.
We want all of our customers to have a good experience with our Weatherization and energy renovation teams - because we are passionate about making Vermont homes livable and energy efficient. There are flaws in the financing model which, as Judy points out, make paying for energy renovations a challenge for middle-income families. But in most houses, we deliver energy renovations that will pay for themselves quickly. As for Judy and Malcolm's house, major structural issues come first, so considerable investment is required before pursing the solutions that produce the 30% savings attainable in most homes.
I share the anxiety of fixed income and middle income homeowners facing doubled heating costs for the coming winter, and I understand that sometimes fear gets expressed as anger. But we all need to come together to work on solutions for heating our homes this winter, and we need honest information. We regret that the logic and sensitivity in what was said to Malcolm was lost in translation for Judy, and bears little resemblance to her re-telling in ReissŐs Pieces. But please, donŐt shoot the messenger.
Paul Zabriskie
Mr. Zabriskie is Director of the Central Vermont Community Action Council Weatherization Program, and General Manager of EnergySmart of Vermont
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