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How might this program affect me?

Goals of the Program

The overall goal of the Weatherization Assistance Program is to reduce the burden of energy prices on the disadvantaged. Weatherization is a priority for the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), and it was recommended to Congress that it authorize budgets sufficient to weatherize 1.2 million homes between 2002 and 2010.

Possible Improvements for your home

Add insulation to the attic, walls and/or floors. If insulation is added, holes may be drilled in the siding and vents may be added to the roof.
RESULT: The amount of heat loss through the walls, ceilings and floors will be reduced.

Perform an efficiency inspection on natural gas, propane and fuel oil furnaces, boilers and water heaters.
RESULT: More heat will be gained from the same amount of fuel used.

Replace broken glass in primary windows.
RESULT: The amount of cold air coming in will be reduced.

Install or adjust door weather stripping, thresholds, and/or door sweeps.
RESULT: The amount of cold air coming in will be reduced.

After the improvements are made, you should notice the following:

An increase in comfort — reduced drafts and a more even temperature throughout your home.
Your heating and cooling bills should be reduced.
You should need less energy to heat and cool your home.

Weatherization: What to Expect

The Weatherization Trust utilize "whole house weatherization." Under this approach, providers evaluate the house as a single energy-consuming system, rather than a loose collection of unrelated systems. This approach finds the best combination of methods for reducing total energy consumption in a house.
The first step in whole-house weatherization, and perhaps most important one, is to evaluate a house. Trained technicians use advanced computer software and diagnostic equipment to identify the most cost-effective energy-saving improvements for a particular home during an energy audit.

Air Leakage Control

Reducing the leakage of cold outside air into the house in winter — or hot outside air in the summer — is the most common type of weatherization improvement made in a home. Typically, work crews add caulking and weather stripping around windows and doors to reduce drafts. Old, drafty homes are not only uncomfortable, but they are also very costly to heat and cool.

Tests using blower doors reveal more precisely the holes in the building envelope where outside air infiltrates into the house. Such holes often occur near the base of the building and near the roof and are unobservable to the naked eye.

Blower Door

The blower door is one of many tools that is used to assess a home for health, safety, durability and energy efficiency. With the assistance of a blower door, air leakage tests are conducted to measure and quantify the air tightness of a house. The blower door will depressurize the house, sending air out through a fan and bringing air in from leaks in the building’s exterior.
With the readings from the gauges and house volume calculations, how well a home is ventilated can be determined. At this point, technicians walk around and look for the leaks in the building envelope. Sealing leaks to the exterior of the home — and blower door testing after the leaks have been sealed — will quantify the results and assess the need for additional sealing.

Insulation

Weatherization Trust Inc. can reduce your home's heating and cooling costs through proper insulation and air sealing techniques. These techniques may also make your home feel more comfortable.

Any air sealing efforts will complement your insulation efforts, and vice versa. Proper moisture control and ventilation strategies may improve the effectiveness of air sealing and insulation, and vice versa.

Therefore, a home's energy efficiency depends on a balance between all of these elements:

Air sealing
Insulation
Moisture control
Ventilation.

A proper balance between all of these elements will result in a more comfortable, healthier home environment.

Adding Insulation to an Existing Home

Unless your home was specially constructed for energy efficiency, you can usually reduce your energy bills by adding more insulation. Many older homes have less insulation than homes built today, but adding insulation to a newer home may also pay for itself within a few years.
To determine whether you should add insulation, you first need to find out how much insulation you already have in your home and where. A qualified home energy auditor will include an insulation check as a routine part of a whole-house energy assessment. An energy assessment, also known as a home energy audit, will also help identify areas of your home that are in need of air sealing. (Before you insulate, you should make sure that your home is properly air sealed.)

Our Insulation Products

Weatherization Trust inc. currently uses green fiber insulation. GreenFiber is the largest manufacturer of natural fiber insulation (cellulose) in North America. Manufacturing facilities are strategically located throughout the United States allowing us to source our raw materials locally and optimize our transportation costs. GreenFiber products are sold to building supply retailers/distributors, weatherization programs, insulation contractors and manufactured housing in the U.S. and Canada. GreenFiber Insulation forms a monolithic blanket of protection blocking air infiltration and convection currents that are both primary causes of energy loss.

Imagine heating your home in the winter or cooling your home in the summer and then leaving the front door open. If you add up all the possible air leaks in a typical home cracks at the joints in the frame; small spaces around windows and doors; areas around pipes, ducts, vents and electrical outlets it can have the same effect as an open door or window. When batt insulation is cut or forced to fit around irregular shapes, gaps can result that enable air to pass right through. That's called air infiltration or air leakage, and it can account for as much as a third of heat loss in a home.

GreenFiber Insulation, however, is blown or sprayed into place, preventing gaps and stopping air leaks better because of the way it's applied. And GreenFiber Insulation is two to three times more dense than comparable fiberglass batts. That means heated air can't transfer through dense GreenFiber Insulation as easily as it does through typically installed fiberglass. Installing insulation properly is the first step in making sure your home is more comfortable and energy efficient.

One important component of any home is the pressure barrier. The pressure barrier is defined as a continuous plane that separates the conditioned area of the building from the unconditioned area. Drywall is the most common pressure barrier in construction today. Insulation should always be in direct contact with the pressure barrier of the building. This standard of effective thermal installation means that the insulation has no gaps, no voids, no compression, no misalignment and no wind intrusion.

Heating Efficiency Improvements

In some cases, furnaces may be replaced because of cracked heat exchangers or severe malfunction. Removing such hazards from homes reduces fires, injuries and health problems for occupants.

A safety inspection of the heating system is performed first, including:

Test for carbon monoxide in the air in the living space and in the combustion appliance zone.
Check for fuel leaks using a combustible gas detector.
Inspect the wiring to the appliance.
Check the vent connections and clearances.
Inspect for safety devices

A combustion test is performed to collect information on safety and efficiency. The system is also tested to make sure it does not backdraft in adverse conditions, such as when all the ventilation fans are operating in the house. Fans can have an impact on the how well a heating system vents.

Heating & Cooling

Heating and cooling account for about 56% of the energy use in a typical U.S. home, making it the largest energy expense for most homes. A wide variety of technologies are available for heating and cooling your home, and they achieve a wide range of efficiencies in converting their energy sources into useful heat or cool air for your home. In addition, many heating and cooling systems have certain supporting equipment in common, such as thermostats and ducts, which provide opportunities for saving energy.

When looking for ways to save energy in your home, be sure to think about not only improving your existing heating and cooling system, but also consider the energy efficiency of the supporting equipment and the possibility of either adding supplementary sources of heating or cooling or simply replacing your system altogether.

Limitations When Replacing Existing Heating Systems

In an existing home, it's important to consider the impacts of replacing your current heating system with a different type of heating system. The easiest route is simply to replace your furnace or boiler with an updated model of the same type. Currently weatherization Trust uses Goodman furnaces and air conditioners.

Goodman Manufacturing Company, L.P.

Goodman has become one of the largest manufacturers of residential and light commercial air conditioning, heating, and indoor air quality products and systems by focusing on just one thing building the most reliable and refreshingly affordable indoor comfort products in the market.

The complete line of Goodman brand products are built on the principals of founder Harold Goodman, a former air conditioning contractor.
Harold goal was to manufacture air conditioning and heating equipment that:

Provides industry leading product warranties
Offers greater reliability and longer-lasting performance than competing products
Is designed for quick, trouble-free installations
Makes reliable cooling and heating as affordable as possible

Building products to Harold standards, and protecting those products with some of the best limited warranties in the industry, has helped to make the Goodman brand widely recognized as a leading brand Â in the residential and light commercial heating, ventilation and air conditioning industry today.

Window

Windows provide our homes with light, warmth, and ventilation, but they can also negatively impact a home's energy efficiency. Weatherization can reduce energy costs by installing energy-efficient windows in your home. Some energy efficiency improvements to existing windows can also help.When properly selected and installed, energy-efficient windows can help minimize your heating, cooling, and lighting costs. Achieving improved window performance in your home involves three steps:

Design

Consider your home's design and climate in relation to the energy performance of windows.

Selection

Find windows that meet your energy performance requirements. Currently Weatherization Trust uses Gerkin and Gorell windows.

Installation

Ensure proper installation of windows to maximize their energy efficiency.

Improving Health and Safety

Weatherization work crews always examine energy-related health and safety issues in the home. This is especially important when dealing with heating equipment because faulty equipment can be hazardous to those who live there.

Client Education

An important component of the weatherization process is client education. Client lifestyle choices can play a big role in determining the amount of energy and money actually saved. Clients are provided with tips on saving energy and information on how to maintain the energy efficiency improvements that have been made.

Typical weatherization procedures

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 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 fiber-reinforced 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 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