ecobeco's
January 2010 Newsletter
ecoTips, News,
Deals, and More - And it's
Free!
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Hello,
Wind. Cold. Snow. And more
snow. All these challenges lead to the question,
"How do I know if my house has an air leakage
problem?" One obvious symptom of air leakage is
when you feel cold breezes in your living areas.
But much air leakage occurs outside the living
space. This month's newsletter, in addition to our
monthly standard sections, explores hidden air
leakage. Read on...
- ecoTip 1: Air Leakage - Up and Out of My
Chimney.
- ecoTip 2: Air Leakage - Avoiding Ice Dams
- ecoTip 3: Air Leakage - Dryer exhaust
- Deck the Halls - Fox 5 and ecobeco Team Up To Save
Power On Christmas
- Product Highlights
- Federal Tax Incentives for Energy Efficiency
- Montgomery County Residents get $250 of FREE
Energy-Efficiency Products
- Store Hours by Appointment
Only
Enjoy! |
ecoTip 1: Air
Leakage - Up and Out of My
Chimney
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Leaky
chimney flues account for over 10% of air leakage in a
typical home according to the Department of
Energy. Even when your fireplace damper is closed,
it is rarely air tight. Unfortunately, without an
Energy Audit, you don't have the diagnostic equipment to
know for sure whether your fireplace leaks and how leaky
it is. However, even without an audit, we can
recommend two products that can help most home
owners:
1.
High Heat Caulk. Use high heat caulk to fill gaps
between the fireplace and surrounding framing, brick, or
whatever materials are present. This
is particularly important if you occasionally feel air,
or see spider webs or dust in these areas.
A blower door test will help to fully determine
the extent of air leakage.You can find caulk at
your local hardware store for around $10 per
tube.
2. Chimney Draft Stoppers. At $59.99,
these devices are a great value that provide a  tight seal to keep your
conditioned air out of your chimney flue. They are
also easy to assemble and disassemble so you can remove
yours easily when you want to use the fireplace, and
replace it when you're done. So use a chimney
draft stopper instead. Click here to purchase a chimney
draft stopper from ecobeco.com.
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| ecoTip 2
- Avoiding Ice Dams |
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An ice dam is a ridge of ice that forms at the edge
of a roof or in a gutter and prevents runoff and melting
snow (water) from draining off the roof. The water that
backs up behind the dam can leak into your home and
cause damage to walls, ceilings, and insulation.
Ice dams form when some areas of a roof are heated
above the freezing point while other parts of the roof
are below the freezing point. In other words, when your
heat escapes into your attic and warms the roof, it can
cause ice dams. There are several reasons why a
roof could develop such temperature
differentials. The most common culprits are:
1. Poorly or unevenly applied insulation within the
attic.
2. Lack of air sealing between attic and
living spaces.
3. Non-weatherized attic hatches.
4. Poorly sealed exhaust systems that terminate too
close to the roof.
5. Poorly insulated hot elements
in the attic space
6. Hot, incandescent lights or
even recessed lights with direct exposure to the
attic.
Eaves, overhangs, and soffit vents will conversely
cause these lower parts of your roof to become colder
than the sections warmed by the heat in your attic,
allowing liquid water to re-freeze and form ice sheets
that block runoff.
 For an immediate fix you can use a
roof rake to remove built up ice and improve water
drainage. This should be done by a trained roofing
professional as it is extremely dangerous and can damage
your roof. In the long term, air sealing and insulating
your attic space, as well as proper ventilation to
minimize temperature differences between the attic and
outdoors, are the most effective means of preventing the
formation of ice dams.
Inspecting and properly treating your roof is an
integral part of ecobeco's Comprehensive Home Energy
Audit. Your auditor will inspect your roof and attic
area looking for penetrations in your attic isolation
and other hazards that can lead to the formation off ice
dams as well as moisture buildup and signs of water
damage. |
| ecoTip 3 - Dryer
Exhaust |
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Many of
our customers have very old dryer exhaust vents.
The most typical line is literally a hole in the wall
with a cover (to keep the rain out?). However,
without the use of dampers, a dryer vent is  one of the easiest places for cold
air to enter the home.
Newer vents all come with
dampers of varying efficacy. Malfunctioning
dampers can lead to clogging, which can create a fire
hazard or will reduce the efficiency of the dryer by
preventing the exhaust of humidity/moisture.
Recently, we had a customer install a cover over
her damper to keep out insects and animals. After
a while, she had to run her dryer  multiple times to get a load dry
because, unbeknownst to her, lint traveling out the vent
had caught on her protection grate causing a clog.
This customer saved energy by making clearing out her
exhaust vent so the damper worked properly. 
ecobeco recently added
the Battic Clothes Dryer Vent Seal to our
product list. This product provides an
effective damper while it keeps out animals and
insects. Like any dryer vent, you can caulk the
area where it touches the wall, and you can use caulk or
foam on the area inside your home where the vent
penetrates your interior wall. Finally, lint is
not your friend, so make periodic checks and clean our
your exhaust vent if it gets
clogged!
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| Deck The Halls -
Fox 5 and
ecobeco Team Up To Save Power On
Christmas |
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ecobeco has teamed up with Fox 5 Local News to
answer the question "Should I make the switch to LED
Christmas lights this year?"
To answer this problem we
compared the power used by a strand of regular  incandescent Christmas lights
with a new LED strand using a Kill-A-Watt meter. The
Kill-A-Watt meter ( available at ecobeco.com) is a tool
used to calculate the power used by any plug-in
electronic device. You can use a Kill-a-Watt to
calculate the cost to run that device over the length of
a day, week, or month.
We found that LEDs
use 80% less power than your standard incandescent bulb,
and offer even grater savings when compared to a strand
of 'classic' style bulbs. This can add up to significant
savings over several years or even for a single season
if you use a large number of lights. A strand of LED bulbs can
cost up to 4 times as much as a strand of standard
incandescent bulbs, but they also last much longer than
their incandescent counterparts AND they don't break!
The reduced energy cost and no need for
replacements more than making up for the LED's premium
price over several years of use.
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Product
Highlights
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Now that winter is in full bloom,
ecobeco is ready to fight the cold with some hot
sales on a wide range of our environmentally friendly
products.
Discounts
apply to current inventory only. No
backorders.
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Refer Your
Friends, Get $$$
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We're
very excited to introduce our Friends & Family
Referral Program. Just go to http://www.ecobeco.com/friends.asp
and give us the Name, E-mail and Phone Number of your
friends who might want Energy Audits. We'll
contact them and if they purchase an Audit or
Combination package, you'll get a $25 electronic gift
card for the ecobeco product of your choice! Now
that's green!
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Tax Incentives
for Energy
Efficiency
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The
American Reinvestment and Recovery Act included
substantial spending on energy efficiency related
items. Part of the legislation includes an
increase in the tax deductions for purchases of
energy-efficient appliances, insulation and
windows.
Please click the links below to access
the Database of State Incentives for Renewables and
Efficiency (DSIRE). Then, consult your tax advisor
for more information about whether you qualify for these
incentives.
Taxpayers can deduct 30% of
total materials costs up to $1,500 for s pecific
energy-efficient product purchases made in
2010.
Residential Energy Efficiency Tax
Credit
Taxpayers can deduct 30% of
the installed cost of solar PV, solar hot water, wind,
fuel cells, and geothermal heat pump with no maximum
limit.
Residential Renewable Energy Tax
Credit
The DSIRE database also includes
incentives specific to your state and county, so be sure
to check for those programs as well by navigating back
to the home page and then clicking on your
state.
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MONTGOMERY COUNTY
RESIDENTS GET $250 OF FREE ENERGY-EFFICIENCY
PRODUCTS
We'll show you how to claim
your Property Tax Credit!
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If you
are a Montgomery County Home Owner (you pay property
taxes), you can take advantage of the
Property Tax Credit for Energy Conservation
Devices. This credit refunds 100% of your spending
up to $250. CFLs, Low-Flow Showerheads,
Programmable Thermostats, and Smart Powerstrips are the
easiest and most essential items for any
energy-efficient home. And there are many more products
that qualify as well. Schedule your in-home visit
today and we'll help you determine exactly which
products you need today.
ecobeco will provide you
with the forms you need to fill out and will coach you
on how to fill them out to ensure a smooth claim
process.
There's no better time than now to
schedule your in-home ecoAssessment or Energy
Audit. The tax credit is limited to $250,000 of
total benefit for the entire county for fiscal year
2010, so make your purchase now and submit your
application as soon as possible to ensure your refund.
There is no income exclusion or residency
requirement for this credit.
Call us at
the store (240) 396-2141 x2 to learn
more.
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New Store
Hours - Appointment
Only
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ecobeco's
store hours are now by appointment only. Just call
or e-mail us before you come to make sure we're
there.
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Thanks,
Brian, Reuven, Curt, Mike,
Jonathan, Valerie, Dan, Patrick and
Daniela
(240)
396-2141
info@ecobeco.com
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