After eight years of ridiculous rent prices, laundry tokens and jumping from one apartment to another, I moved into my first house exactly one year ago.
As any homeowner can attest, once you’re in the new digs, you feel like everything has to be done at once.
Once boxes are unpacked and all your clothes, shelves and knick knacks are put in place, you want to buy cans of paints and shop around for contractors (or in my case, friends willing to work for free pizza and liquor).
You can’t get to all your projects right away, so you paint a few rooms here and there, change out the light fixtures when you get around to it and remove the previous homeowner’s tacky taste little by little.
I found out from others that this was normal, and I thought I had made peace with all of it.
Then, the East Peoria Green Team dropped by my house Friday, and kickstarted my mind with new projects I’m itching to get to.
The Green Team was started last year after East Peoria was declared a Cool City by the United States Mayors Climate Protection Agreement.
Their efforts include finding new ways for people who live and work in East Peoria to save energy and money through programs that will eventually reduce global warming pollution levels.
Some of their accomplishments include encouraging East Peorians to start recycling (currently 54 percent of households in East Peoria recycle) and providing energy-saving equipment to the police department and EastSide Centre.
Green Team members Bob Jorgensen and Robert Cole, armed with a heat-sensitive infrared camera and their own keen eyes, made their way through my home to find ways where I can cut down on energy costs during an energy audit they agreed to do for this East Peoria Times-Courier column.
In the threshold which leads to the living room, they said the door sweep is letting lots of air out at the bottom.
For the room’s windows, they recommended caulk at the edges or spray foam.
The fireplace — which has been used maybe three times since the move — has lots of heat and a loss of air infiltration.
The walls and crown molding also offered little insulation, with lots of air escaping.
Granted, the living room is the one room which still seems unfinished in the house — no curtains or new paint as of yet — but they had only been through one room and there were this many problems?
Possibly the most disturbing find was in the basement, where I keep a dehumidifier running at all times.
“You really need to leave this off when the air conditioning is running,” Cole said.
Cole then plugged in one of their load testers to give a digital readout of how much electricity is being consumed by it.
More than 600 watts, which is the equivalent of six 100-watt lightbulbs.
“It just defeats the purpose of running the air conditioning when you have this running too. I’m sweating just standing next to it,” Cole added.
That explains why I’m always sweating when I come upstairs from doing laundry in the basement.
I would be curious to know what my monthly power bill would be without the dehumidifier running 24/7.
After Jorgensen tested items in his own home, he said he found ways to cut costs and reduce power and now has utility bills which sometimes run less than $40 per month.
By the way, those load testers can be checked out for free at Fondulac District Library.
What I liked about the visit is I didn’t ever feel like they were judging me, but were really offering helpful suggestions on how I can save energy.
I’ve always wanted to try to be more “green,” but thought it would be too hard.
They made it seem very simple and didn’t once talk over my head, which has never been wired to think in terms of Home Depot or Save the Planet.
Seeing my house through their eyes and through the very cool screen of the heat-sensitive camera helped me plan for both the future of my home and my checkbook.
In the state of this economy, that kind of free advice is invaluable.
For more information about the Green Team, call East Peoria City Hall at 698-4715.
East Peoria, Ill. —
