City woman uses home in special energy audit

It was a cold day to conduct an energy audit, especially in Candace Lightner's house in Alexandria. With the orange, futuristic Blower Door in place, the fan was switched on and the air was sucked out of the 1942 residence. It got chilly mighty fast and all eyes turned to Lightner, the founder of Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD). She had bad insulation.

How bad was it?

"Leaky," said Erik Lundquist, with building consultant NSpects. "Put your hand here to the window," he said, as the freezing wind crept in. "She's got duct leakage and window leakage that's for sure."

"When I got the house three-and-a-half years ago it was a fixer-upper," Lightner said.

Unfortunately for Lightner, before her groundbreaking energy audit took place, Alexandria Mayor William Euille stood in the living room and talked briefly about his own home in Del Ray. Euille said, "My windows are double-pane insulated. My home is 45-years-old which I fully gutted and rebuilt five years ago. It's fully insulated from basement floor to the attic and you never have to turn the heat on in the basement. It's perpetually 62 degrees and the air circulates perfectly."

Lightner smiled weakly and Lundquist turned on the Blower Door.

Why was the mayor at Candace Lightner's house?

Many homes in Old Town are restricted from certain energy improvements, such as laws holding homeowners back from replacing thin, old windows. Euille said that a compromise must be made with the Board of Architectural Review so that new, energy and cost efficient windows that look exactly like the old-time panes can be switched out. Euille then talked about how the city had partnered with Rebuilding Together, formerly Christmas in April, to provide the poor and elderly with free energy audits, mostly in the month of April. He said that most school buildings in Alexandria were energy efficient and that school buses would be refitted with new, more efficient mufflers. The mayor then added, "We've been doing these things with a lot of attention, but with more attention recently because of Arlington and what they're doing."

Paul Ferguson, Chairman of the Arlington County Board, has said that his "special" focus for 2007 will be the environment. Arlington County already has a renewable energy program, a tree planting program and according to Arlington County's website, "One of the nation's best known Green Building Programs."

Arlington County will also donate, to 20 winning letter writers, free home energy audits. To apply for an Arlington audit, go to: www.arlingtonva.us/climate.
Why did Candace Lightner have the press walking in and around her house?
"The first thing we do is walk around and get a feel for the house," said Lee O'Neal, owner of NSpects. "We do the blower door...follow up with an infra red camera, which will show air coming through leaks, go room-by-room, floor-by-floor."

Lightner, also a Realtor with Coldwell Banker, got a contract with the Department of Energy to promote energy audits, and she used her own home as a guinea pig. Living in the house since 2002, Lightner said, "I was hired to look at the possibility of developing incentives for buyers and sellers to implement at the time of purchase in terms of energy efficient improvements."

According to the Department of Energy website, "On average, weatherization reduces heating bills by 31 percent and overall energy bills by $358 per year at current prices."

The big news for Alexandria is that Owens Corning, the insulators, are donating 10 free attic insulation installations beginning in March. All you have to do is write a letter to:

Mayor Bill Euille, City Hall, Room 2600, 30l King St., Alexandria, VA 22314. But there will be no free energy audits, as they can run up to $325.

Tips to see about your home is energy efficient
Try shutting the front or back door on a piece of paper. If the paper can be pulled out without you tearing it, you are losing energy and money.

Get light bulbs with lower wattage.

Seal leaky window sills with caulk and weatherstripping or if that does not work, try sticking putty in the cracks.