As the cold winds of winter bellow through our homes and offices, it’s all too easy to finally identify all the drafts that plague our buildings. What we may not realize as we shimmy and shake is that not only are these drafts freezing us, but they are also raising our energy bills as our expensive hot air escapes through them. Luckily through the process of weatherization, home and building owners can minimize the substantial costs of their heating and energy bills, and even reduce their impact on the environment which can help when facing up against regulations like Local Law 97.
Weatherization is the process of protecting your building from any outside elements. This is done in a multitude of ways depending on what conditions the building in question tends to experience. There are steps that owners themselves can take to help fortify their buildings from the elements, such as identifying any possible cracks or gaps that may be present on their walls and exterior doors.
Several simple measures can be taken to help increase their weatherization efficiency. One simple fix is insulating your building’s water heater with a water heater insulating blanket, which can easily be applied with some tape and a friend. This can reduce heat losses by 25-45% and 7-16% in water heating costs. Another quick fix would be resealing points of entry to your building, such as exterior doors and windows. By removing the existing caulk and paint, and then reapplying fresh caulk, you can expect to see a 10-20% increase in energy savings.
Although, the process of finding every single gap in an entryway or performing repairs throughout the building can be daunting and difficult for someone with no experience in what they are looking for.
This is why many professionals offer energy assessments, where they conduct industry-standard tests to identify any possible weakness in the building’s defenses. A very popular test nowadays is the blower door test, where a blower door is temporarily installed on an exterior door of the building and blows air throughout the building which is monitored to detect where exactly air is escaping in the building. This method and many others help analysts target where exactly your high energy bills are coming from.
While this might be common knowledge to some, what you may not know is that some states are offering direct assistance when it comes to weatherizing your building. New York, for instance, has the New York Weatherization Program (NYWAP), which will help you locate a nearby analyst to come to perform weatherization tests and repairs. These programs often provide financial incentives to utilize these programs, with households in certain income brackets being able to take advantage of them for free.
There are dozens of different ways that a building owner can best prepare for the changing seasons and keep money in their pocket. A deep dive into the process of weatherization could drastically change what a building’s bills look like at the end of the month and add up to massive savings.