Before, during, and after our move to the homestead Matt and I added to a list of upgrades and changes we wanted to make to the new property. Some were obvious, like putting in the new garden or changing out items that weren’t functioning well, others though, were to further our desire to live a more sustainable and environmentally-conscious lifestyle. This post will address some of the changes we have made to make things a bit greener here at Emerald Moon.
Two of the first changes we made were simple, yet made a huge impact. Our cabin has two and a half bathrooms – all were dated, so Matt replaced all three toilets with new dual-flush toilets. Then, we copied a move that we made at the old house by replacing all incandescent light bulbs with more efficient options. The cabin now has all LED bulbs in its fixtures, whether they are regular light bulbs or unique vintage-style Edison bulbs. Because LED technology has decreased in price and is available in more styles, we have no reason to not use these for all of our lighting to increase energy efficiency. If you are making repairs or upgrading items, you may as well replace them with high efficiency options when available.
In June 2016, after many quotes and meetings, we decided on a local company, Longhorn Solar, to install solar panels on the backside of our roof. The company helped us estimate how many panels we would need to generate approximately 85% of our power from the sun based on our historical usage. It was a bit tough to determine this since we had only been in the cabin for about six months, so we worked with usage at our previous home, too. We may add additional panels at a later time to cover all of our electric usage and continue to research integrating a battery storage option as they decrease in price down the road, but we are currently tied into the energy grid. When we produce more power than we use, typically in the winter months, it is “banked” for us by the electric company to use toward future usage.
The upside to being “tied in” is that if we need more power than we can produce we can still use electricity from the electric company, The downside is that we still have a monthly bill (even if we produce over what we use for the month, our electric company has a minimum fee per month) and if the power is out we lose power too, even if our solar is producing. We did finance the panels and installation, but the cost of the loan payment, plus our minimal electric bill is really no different than if we were not using solar. The benefit is that when we finish paying the loan we would only have to pay any overage used instead of a full electric bill. Plus, solar panels are an asset for resale value if we were to move to a different homestead site in the future.
A tip when shopping for solar – Matt met with four different companies before committing to Longhorn. Several of them were quite pushy with their sales tactics. They wanted both of us to be home to discuss the options and pressured us to make a decision and sign an agreement the same day to “get the best rate”. One even balked when I asked him to give us the weekend to discuss the financial implications, offering to step outside for a few minutes. (NOT the way to win my business, sir.) Many also offered “packages” that included a lot of extra high efficiency upgrades for significantly more money, but when you broke it down you were paying a lot more for things you could do yourself (or that we already had), like putting in LED light bulbs. Or, they would limit you to high cost options instead of giving you choices – we were interested in getting our HVAC replaced at the same time to do a one stop finance option and they only gave us the choice of a $10k unit – um, no thanks we will shop around or do things ourselves. Not saying you shouldn’t use one of these companies, or go with a package if it suits your needs, but we were much happier with the choice we made.
The following month Matt rented a blower and we blew in a thick layer of recycled cellulose insulation into our attic. It was a super sweaty endeavor that involved walkie-talkies so that poor Matt sweating in the attic could communicate to me as I filled the blower for him outside. This insulation has definitely helped to keep our home cooler in the summer months to help with the energy drain from the air conditioner – we can see in the reduction in amount of power used on our energy bill during the blistering summers.
We have also made smaller changes throughout the house by changing the types of products we use for cleaning, pest control, and how we utilize water. Stay tuned for Part 2 for more details!
Are you considering some “green” upgrades at home? Please let us know if you have questions about any of our changes, or if you have stories about your experience to share!