Quote:
Originally Posted by MN Renovator
Are your energy costs really that high? $13k annually in Juneau, AK?
What are they really at? The break-even costs provided seem incredibly high.
The HDD between Minneapolis, MN and Juneau, AK aren't that far off and Minneapolis has a double digit below zero heating design day and I think Juneau is roughly at zero degrees.
Your propane is about 6 times the cost of my natural gas but the electricity cost is similar to mine.
Cost of 100,000BTU of energy at $4.5/gallon of propane and $.1237/kwh.
Propane $4.918
Electricity $3.625
If you are paying that much for propane, you might want to consider at least supplementing your heat with the most efficient mini-split heat pump you can and your heating costs might drop quite a bit.
I think insulation and air sealing is more important though.
I'm a bit offended that their recommendation for air sealing is to only lose 500 CFM of air infiltration at 50 pascals. They want you to go from 1953CFM50 down to about 1500 CFM? I'd hope that they can get that down to 1200CFM, if not 1000. Air sealing is a huge deal.
Are you doing any of the work yourself or is this all being done by a contractor?
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MN,
Your right in asking about the energy costs. Mine are no where near that high. I don't know where the inspector got the numbers, but I assume it's more of an average for all of Alaska. In rural Alaska heating prices really are that high. Gas is over $8 per gallon, as is heating fuel.
As for HDD, we don't get super cold since were on the coast, but we also don't get very warm during the summer. A we might hit 75F degrees for a total of 14 days per year. It's pretty chilly here most of the time. The coldest I've seen it in 10 years is -15F but we hover around 32F for more then 4 months of the year. We basically have heating demand every day of the year.
Propane is $3.40/gallon
Heating Oil is 4.16/gallon
Electricity is around $0.12/kwh
We do not have Natural Gas Service here.
I like the idea of a mini-split. I've seen a few going in around town and looked into them online. I need to talk to the program administrator and see if they will cover any of it. The inspector mentioned it in our report, but that doesn't guarantee they will pay for it.
The other issue I found is that he called for a new propane direct vent heater but it has to meet 84% efficiency. I can't find any that use propane that can do that. From what I've read the program will not pay to change fuel sources, so I don't know how that will work.
I completely agree with you on air sealing. I'm also going to make sure I close up the crawlspace to cut down on moisture coming in the house. Indoor air quality and moisture is a huge issue in Juneau. It's still really common to have vented crawlspaces and a vapor barrier that is not vapor tight. It just gushes cold moist air into the house. This makes us the black mold capitol of the world!
I'll be doing all the work myself. Most contractors up here are not well trained or trust worthy and the ones who are have more work then they know what to do with and cost a fortune.
Erich