Mordenizer — Home Energy Upgrades | mordenizer.com
A cost-versus-savings ranking of sealing, attic insulation, duct work and thermostat settings, so you know which cheque to write first.
Weatherization means improving a building's insulation, air sealing and energy systems to cut energy use, and the order of those three is not arbitrary. Seal the envelope first, because insulation over an unsealed envelope performs below its rating and hides the loss instead of stopping it.
Weatherstripping doors and windows sits at the top of the ranking: it is the cheapest air-sealing measure and typically pays back within one heating season. The absolute saving is smaller than attic work, but the return per dollar is the fastest on the list.
The attic comes second because warm air rises and escapes through the top of the house. Seal the attic floor bypasses, then lay insulation over them — the sequence that the federal programme applies house after house.
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Duct work ranks third: leaky ducts can account for about 20 percent of heat loss, and the fix is fiber-reinforced mastic on joints, boots and air-handler connections, not duct tape. This step addresses the largest single loss but costs more than weatherstripping, so it follows the cheaper measures.
The thermostat is last because a setback only pays when the envelope holds the recovered temperature. A 7 to 10 degree Fahrenheit setback for 8 hours a day is the standard US Department of Energy guidance for cutting heating and cooling costs by around 10 percent a year — on a sealed house.
By February 2018 over 7 million US homes had been weatherized under the federal programme, saving about 2.6 TWh of electricity and 7.9 TWh of fossil gas per year. Those homes also avoided about 3.2 million metric tons of carbon dioxide emissions per year, which is the programme-level evidence that the ranking holds at scale.
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