Keep Your Energy Dollars From Going Up in Smoke

You know it's coming. This winter's heating bills are going to be stupendous, whether you burn oil, natural gas or kilowatts. If you're going to do anything to minimize those bills, time's a-wasting, beach bum.

For the first three months of 2009, people in the Washington area can expect heating oil and natural gas prices nearly 35 percent higher than they were during the comparable period this year, according to an Energy Department forecast released last week. Electricity could be 10 percent higher. (Virginians have already overshot that forecast; Dominion Virginia Power recently raised electricity rates 18 percent.)

Michael Bullinger, an environmental test engineer, isn't waiting for the cold weather to snug up his ranch-style house in Bowie. Last month he hired contractors to install new, airtight ducts for his heating and cooling system, blow in insulation in the attic and insulate a crawl space under a kitchen addition.

All told, the work cost a little more than $2,000. He expects the savings to kick in with next month's air-conditioning bill and to continue through the cold season, when he uses the furnace's fan to distribute heat from the wood stove that is his primary source of warmth. It should be more comfortable, too. "When you walked on the kitchen floor in wintertime, you got cold feet," he said.

Through the rest of the year, there's an ample list for you to tackle. Start with the cheaper tasks that bring immediate payoff through lower cooling bills. Take advantage of warm, dry weather to caulk around windows and doors. Make sure your home has enough insulation, especially in the attic. Home Depot offers a handy online calculator to estimate the amount you need. Find it under the "know-how" tab at http://www.homedepot.com.

Ginny Cameron, president of AC&R Insulation in Elkridge, said it costs $1,200 to $1,600 to add blown-in insulation to a typical attic. That kind of expenditure could be recovered in just a couple of years, given rising fuel costs. But she said business had been flat lately. "It's surprising, but I think that people are afraid to spend the money. That initial outlay of cash is difficult under the current economic situation."

One explanation for the flat demand might be that do-it-yourselfers are laying bats of fiberglass over their attic floors. Either way you go, proper insulation is practically mandatory given these energy prices. Caulk for window and door frames costs only a few dollars per tube, so that's another job that should be high on everyone's list of things to finish while the weather is warm and dry.

Another affordable approach is to engineer your landscape to minimize energy use. Plant evergreens to block cold winds in winter and leafy, deciduous trees to shade the house during summer.

Susan D. Day, research assistant professor in urban forestry at Virginia Tech, said it's best to plant evergreen wind breaks in the fall. "The optimum months are as soon as the rain starts in early October through December. Deciduous trees you would want to plant after they go dormant and have lost their leaves."

She said to plant the evergreens on the side of the house hit by prevailing winds. Although some experts say the north-to-northwest is the source of these winds in the Washington area, the breezes come at my house from the southeast, which is less sheltered by hills or other houses.

"They don't need to be that close to the house to prevent wind," Day noted. But if you plant farther away from the house, taller trees will be most effective.

Sandra Y. Clinton, owner of Clinton & Associates landscape architects in Hyattsville, recommended using a combination of fencing and trees or planting a small grove of several rows of trees and shrubs. "Any time materials can be layered, more protection will be afforded," she said. Depending on a tree's size, she said, costs could range from $150 to $1,000 each.

Before launching more expensive replacement projects such as heating systems or windows, you need to weigh whether the cash outlay will be worth the energy payoff.

Window replacements are about the most expensive home improvement you can undertake. You might be able to put off the project by adding insulation or heavy draperies. Back in my college days, my roommate and I used plastic window film, shrunk taut with a hair dryer, to cut drafts from cheap single-pane windows. It was hardly attractive, but it helped. You can still get those kits in hardware stores for about $15.

There are other advantages to new windows, of course. They can update the whole look of the house. They're easier to open and close -- and to clean. In normal times, they add value to your home, but because that can't be counted on these days, you need to be sure you will live in the house long enough to enjoy the ambiance -- and to recover at least some of the investment through lower energy bills.

Time is the one thing you're almost certain to save by acting before the first cold snap of fall. Contractors can get to your job more quickly, and they might be more willing to negotiate on price.

Mark Russow, president of Hodges, a window contractor in Falls Church, said good-quality replacement windows with important energy-saving features such as "low-E" glazes and argon-filled space between two layers of glass cost about $500 each, installed. ("Low-emissivity" glazes lay a nearly invisible layer of metal on the glass to keep heat from radiating away.) Triple-pane windows are usually recommended only for climates far colder than ours.

Russow said his firm can get windows ordered and installed within about four to six weeks during the summer. If you wait until fall, its busiest season, Russow said the wait lengthens by about two weeks.

Upgrading your furnace to a more-efficient model or less-expensive fuel can be particularly complicated. Even if you want to get away from expensive oil deliveries, switching to gas or an electric heat pump could be difficult if your home doesn't have the proper ductwork. Jim Walton, president of Krafft Service, an Alexandria heating contractor, said removing the old oil tank can be a problem, especially if it's underground. Walton said most furnace replacements cost from $4,000 to $6,000, depending on the fuel.

However, you can't always install the most-efficient furnace, even if you would like to. For example, a few years ago I had to settle for a less-than-top-efficiency gas furnace because there was no room to safely vent the exhaust outdoors.

Again, you'll save time by launching such a project between late August and September. Once the first cold snap hits, you will be fighting the crowds who have suddenly realized they face a long winter of high heating bills.

E-mail Elizabeth Razzi atrazzie@washpost.com