Climate Buddies
empowering you to include Climate Change considerations in everyday decisions
Positive Climate & Energy Improvement Action Card – Weatherize
Buildings
Thank you for volunteering to fill out this form for each Energy Action your Household (or
your Congregation) decides to implement. Your contribution is significant!
Instructions for filling out the form:
1. Please fill out all the fields. Climate Buddies will help you with the questions
highlighted in blue. You first submission will be draft only.
2. Find a friend to look over your work to complete the card and compare perspectives
and experiences. This can be within your congregation, but if the friend has not
implemented this action, please find a buddy to interview who has, for example an
EAT member.
3. Please add as many photos and pictures as possible. List who to contact (for
example at the City), relevant phone numbers and email addresses, and any other
data you might need before you begin. List all contact persons that can coach from
EAT.
If you have questions: send your feedback or questions to info@climatebuddies.org and
include your strategy card template “as-is” as an attachment. Thanks!
Energy
Action Title
and Focus:
Energy
Action
Lead(s) plus
congregation
al affiliation:
Weatherize Buildings - Overall
Most Recent
Update:
Household
or
Congregatio
n focus?
Estimated
Impact:
7-16-2012
Greg Choban - Climate Buddies
Congregation (can be adapted to Households)
5-10% of your utilities
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Impact vs.
Ease of
implementat
ion category
(refer to
Definitions
below):
Energy/Clim
ate
Challenge
Addressed:
Achieved
Greenhouse
Gas
reduction:
High impact and readily implemented
Ease of
implementat
ion:
a. How
long
to
imple
ment
?
b. Estim
ated
cost?
c.
Estim
ated
Cost
Savin
gs
over
x
mont
hs?
Energy
Action
Description:
Less than 1 month
Conservation & Efficiency
5-10% of the carbon footprint of the utility bill
$50 – 200 per building depending on needs
The costs are typically recovered in a matter of months
Weatherization is the practice of protecting a building and its interior from the
elements, particularly from sunlight, precipitation, and wind, and of modifying a
building to reduce energy consumption and optimize energy efficiency.
Weatherization is distinct from building insulation, although building insulation
requires weatherization for proper functioning. Many types of insulation can be
thought of as weatherization, because they block drafts or protect from cold
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empowering you to include Climate Change considerations in everyday decisions
winds. Whereas insulation primarily reduces conductive heat flow,
weatherization primarily reduces convective heat flow.
When you receive an Energy Audit, weatherization recommendations will be
among the outputs provided to your congregation.
Specific examples of potential building weatherization recommendations:

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Sealing bypasses (cracks, gaps, holes), especially around doors, windows,
pipes and wiring that penetrate the ceiling and floor, and other areas with
high potential for heat loss, using caulk, foam sealant, weather-stripping,
window film, door sweeps, electrical receptacle gaskets, and so on to
reduce air infiltration.
Sealing recessed lighting fixtures ('can lights' or 'high-hats'), which leak
large amounts of air into unconditioned attic space.
Sealing air ducts, which can account for 20% of heat loss, using fiberreinforced mastic(not duck/duct tape, which is not suitable for this
purpose)
Installing/replacing dampers in exhaust ducts, to prevent outside air from
entering the house when the exhaust fan or clothes dryer is not in use.
Protecting pipes from corrosion and freezing.
Installing footing drains, foundation waterproofing membranes, interior
perimeter drains, sump pumps, gutters, downspout extensions,
downward-sloping grading, French drains, swales, and other techniques
to protect a building from both surface water and ground water.
Providing proper ventilation to unconditioned spaces to protect a building
from the effects of condensation.
Installing roofing, building wrap, siding, flashing, skylights or solar tubes
and making sure they are in good condition on an existing building.
Installing insulation in walls, floors, and ceilings, around ducts and pipes,
around water heaters, and near the foundation and sill.
Installing storm doors and storm windows.
Replacing old drafty doors with tightly sealing, foam-core doors.
Replacing older windows with low-energy, double-glazed windows.
Weatherization produces many potential benefits to the occupants of the
buildings:

Improved Comfort
With air leaks eliminated and heat loss under control, the occupants of
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
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Lessons
Learned
While
Implementin
g; failures &
successes:
What/where
the biggest
hurdles to
overcome
and how
were they
overcome? :
Specific
tools
Available to
Help:
Tips for
motivation:
your building will enjoy improved temperature control, reduced noise,
and less transfer of odors — saving you from their complaints.
Air Quality Control
Having your building sealed and properly filtered/ventilated reduces dust,
dirt and excess humidity. Occupants will enjoy a more comfortable and
pleasant work or living environment with better control over indoor air
quality. Sensitive electronics and other moving parts in office and
manufacturing equipment can be damaged by excessive dirt, dust, and
humidity. Improving IAQ will increase functionality and extend
equipment lifespan.
Improved Safety
Along with lowering your risk of litigation from a sick building system or
smoke transfer illness, weatherization also slows smoke spread in the
event of a fire.
Efficient Operation & Lower Utilities
Sealing and insulating your facility keeps the elements out, and
conditioned air in, so your HVAC systems don’t have to work as hard.
And, the energy saved reduces your building’s carbon footprint.
Additional Savings
The reduced run time of your HVAC systems helps extend equipment life
to cut replacement costs. Sometimes, entire systems can be turned off
completely.
Weatherization is one of the more simple items to address when trying to
address energy savings. The types of improvements are often done in-house
while those requiring trained personnel are usually not that expensive.
Just scheduling the Energy Audit. For the more expensive improvements
such as attic insulation, HVAC duct sealing, replacing windows and doors, the
biggest challenge can be determining an exact return on investment.
Energy audits will list the various potential improvements to look for.
Weatherization improvements can often produce measurable positive results
with relatively low investment in time and money. Often, congregation
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empowering you to include Climate Change considerations in everyday decisions
members can do a lot of the work involved.
Web Sites
Applicable:
This is a good web site on specific actions that you can take:
http://www.resnet.us/energy-saving-tips
Photos &
Calculations:
This site describes weatherization assistance for low income families in
Austin:http://www.austinenergy.com/Energy%20Efficiency/Programs/weathe
rizationAssistance/weatherizationProgram.pdf
(photos with description; rough estimating calculations)
Definitions
Each Energy Action is assigned a category, according to the following (intuitive estimates):
Cat.A: High impact and readily implemented
Cat.B: High Impact, but difficult (perhaps costly) to implement
Cat.C: Low Impact, but readily implemented
Cat.D: Low Impact and difficult (perhaps costly) to implement
[Optimum Order: All Cat.A’s, the best Cat.C’s, carefully analyzed & selected Cat.B’s]
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