Durham Home Energy Savings Program

According to Duke Energy, our home uses less energy than the average similar home, which is awesome news.  In the past year or two we have upgraded to compact fluorescent bulbs for lighting and to at least one or two energy star appliances. Yet we can be doing more.

Lucky for us, the City of Durham is offering a Home Energy Savings Program to homeowners who qualify - which we did!

We just had to pay a small sum ($400) to receive a variety of energy improvements that included: sealing air leaks in heating and air conditioning ductwork; installing programmable thermostats; sealing air leaks in the attic floor and the crawlspace ceiling; installing attic insulation; installing high-efficiency showerheads and faucet aerators; and installing carbon monoxide detectors.

 View of the attic, which I have never been in since we moved into this house 6 years ago. It now contains better insulation after the upgrades.

 Our new showerhead. Slightly decreased water pressure, but hopefully it will help us save some water.

 Our new slow flow kitchen sink faucet aerator.  It really is better when you are washing dishes and veggies and such.

And our new programmable thermostat. The house temperature already feels more stable.

 
According to our energy bill history, January, February, June, and August are our highest usage months - probably pretty typical for a household in our area.

Since I assume the savings in usage won't appear until our December cycle (November may be too soon since the upgrades were just made), then we'll compare our usage to December of last year.  Looking at last year's bill, our December cycle shows we used 2,023 kWh. Now rates have increased too, so I can't compare prices, but actual usage.  I'll keep you posted! Thanks City of Durham.