…add live music, games, and energy efficiency, and you’ve got yourself quite an event! The weatherization block party that took place at St. Albans Church on April 18th was an excellent combination of good food, good music, good vibes, and good information.
There was a great mix of people in attendance. Kids tossed beanbags and families ate frozen yogurt. Anthony Clark, 16, was so stoked about the event that, only an hour after his own arrival, he was signing in newcomers and handing out t-shirts.
For me, the highlight of the afternoon was a tour of the weatherized St. Albans rectory. Jacob Weiss, an energy auditor from Ardently Green (WeatherizeDC's first home performance partner), was giving tours every half hour to DC homeowners hoping to learn more about weatherization.
We walked through the building and Jacob pointed out some of the improvements that had been made. Jacob told us that most houses are about two to five times as leaky as they should be, and many of the inefficiencies have relatively easy and intuitive fixes. For example, the Ardently Green team air sealed a fireplace on the first floor that had been letting energy escape through a chimney with no flu.
Next, we headed up to the attic.
I learned a lot about the way that home insulation works, and how smart decisions about defining a building envelope—a continuous line that separates the inside from the outside—can save money and increase energy efficiency. In this particular building, the attic was used only for storage, so the owners of the building had no use for keeping it temperature controlled. Rather than devoting resources to sealing up the attic, Ardently Green defined the attic as “outside space,” allowing them to focus on creating a well-sealed building envelope around the rest of the house. Jacob also took us into the basement and showed us where they had used expanding foam to seal air leaks, and prevent cold air from coming in through the basement.
I was interested to learn that Ardently Green uses eco-batting, an insulation material that is more environmentally friendly and takes much less energy to produce than fiberglass insulation. They also use a product in floors called cellulose insulation that is made out of recycled newspaper and treated to be fireproof.
Jacob was honest, knowledgeable, and open to answering the countless questions thrown at him by DC homeowners (and by my inquisitive parents who are visiting from California and came with me to the block party). After telling us about the numerous improvements made in the rectory, I was shocked to hear that the whole weatherization process only took about four and a half hours. In less than five hours, Ardently Green had improved air filtration by 36%, and reduced the building’s energy use (and energy bills!) by 20-25%.
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