Friday, May. 02, 2008

How to reduce utility bills' rise

The silence of Joe Gilmore's heating unit on a blustery winter day is music to his ears and money in his wallet.

Every time the unit turned on - usually several times an hour - Gilmore said he just thought about the energy and money being burned.

Last year, Gilmore had more time to think about money. His job was sent overseas just as his college-bound son entered 12th grade.

It was not long before Gilmore, an engineer trained to solve mechanical problems, turned his quest to seal drafty nooks and crannies into a business promoting energy efficiency.

"One thing we know, the price of fuel is not going down, or if it does go down, it won't go down by much," Gilmore said.

Indeed, the average Columbia-area household has seen its monthly water, sewer and electric bill increase by more than a third, or nearly $38 a month, since 2000, while natural-gas bills during peak heating months have nearly doubled by roughly $80 a month during this time.

Between 2000 and 2008, the average monthly utility bills for Columbia families have risen by:

Water from $9.74 to $13.34

Sewer from $17.51 to $24.03

Electric from $78.92 to $106.54

Natural gas from $85.25 to $165.07

At the same time, the average house is using more energy than ever before, said Dukes Scott, executive director of the S.C. Office of Regulatory Staff, the state's utility watchdog.

The typical house has several televisions, computers and a host of gadgets and appliances that are constantly using energy, even when switched off, he said. For many devices, the only way a homeowner can avoid using energy is unplugging the device, Scott said.

Even as big appliances - washers, dryers, refrigerators - grow more efficient, computers and plasma TVs are pumping up demand, according to the Edison Electric Institute, which represents most of the electric-utility industry.

Household electrical use grew 87 percent between 1981 and 2001 in the Southeast, faster than any other region and compared with 61 percent nationwide, the federal Energy Information Administration reports.

During that period, the percentage of Carolinas homes with central air conditioners doubled and those with microwave ovens increased nearly sevenfold.

Gilmore suspected his family was spending more money to heat and cool their Blythewood home than was necessary, and he didn't think he was alone.

When Gilmore, his wife, Luella , and son, Joshua, first moved into their home 15 years ago, typical gas and electric bills were a lot less. When the air conditioning or heating unit turned on, their operation was mere background noise.

This changed as the cost of heating and cooling homes soared. Then last winter, a story in The State about a woman struggling to pay her utility bill caught Gilmore's attention.

Instead of seeing the woman suffer in silence, under blankets in winter and in front of fans in summer, Gilmore sought a solution.

Utility bills reflect the efficiency of heating and cooling systems - technical systems that can always be tweaked.

Gilmore, an engineer by training, is now on a mission - to seal up all those nooks and crannies where his home doesn't quite fit together snugly.

He's even turned this idea into a business, Gilmore Consulting Services, with some planning help from Bob Pettit of the Small Business Development Center in Columbia, which receives funding from the Small Business Administration.

Using an infrared camera and an array of air-flow and temperature sensors, Gilmore is able to measure where a house is losing air and where air is seeping inside.

He charges between $250 and $300 to analyze an average home of about 2,000 square feet. The testing takes between 90 minutes and two hours, and then he crunches the data to pinpoint the biggest trouble spots that are easiest to fix.

The process spots where air leaks through gaps around vents, inside walls, ceilings, floors and even doorjambs.

"Up to 25 percent of air in duct systems could not be getting to where it's supposed to," Gilmore said. "In my case, I was losing about 10 percent of air through the ductwork."

Gilmore launched his business in the fall and has worked on a handful of houses, including performing an analysis for his sister, Undra Johnson, who said heating her 2,000-square-foot house can cost nearly $700 during the coldest months.

Gilmore found his sister's house was letting cold air in through all the light fixtures, power outlets and the poorly insulated crawl space beneath her floor. Basically, any hole punched in the wall during construction was never sealed, allowing the hot air to escape.

"I never would have thought about that," Johnson said. "It was very eye-opening."

She has already installed weather-stripping around the doors, heavier window dressings for her windows and is putting in foam insulation. She plans to seal the gaps around light fixtures gradually as they are replaced.

Ultimately, Gilmore wants to work with home builders so the common problems he finds now will be fixed during construction.

He said building more efficient homes should not require dramatic changes for developers.

"It's less and less about materials and more and more about sealing techniques," Gilmore said.