Call Before You Dig

UDIG has been the recognized ONE-CALL NOTIFICATION CENTER for Flathead, Lincoln and the northern portions of Lake and Sanders Counties since 1979.

UDIG is administered by the Flathead Valley Utility Coordinating Council Inc. (FVUCC), which is a non-profit corporation comprised of owners of underground facilities in these areas.

Who Needs UDIG?

All private and public entities who are planning on doing any digging or excavating.

CALL: 811 or 406-755-UDIG (8344)
800-551-8344 (within Montana)

IT’S THE LAW… CALL BEFORE YOU DIG!

Insulation

Should I insulate my home?

The answer is probably “yes” if you:

• Have an older home and haven’t added insulation.
• Are uncomfortably cold in the winter or hot in the summer. Adding insulation creates a more uniform temperature and increases comfort.
• Build a new home or addition, or install new siding or roofing.
• Pay excessive energy bills.
• Are bothered by noise form the outdoors.
• Are concerned about the effect of energy use on the environment.

First check the insulation in your attic, ceiling, exterior and basement walls, floors and crawl spaces too see if it meets the levels recommended for your area. Insulation is measured in R-values, the higher the R-value, the better your walls and roofs will resist the transfer of heat. The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) recommends ranges of R-values based on local heating and cooling costs and climate conditions in different areas of the nation.

Although insulation can be made from a variety of materials, it usually comes in four types – batts, rolls, loose-fill, and rigid foam boards. Each type is made to fit in a different

part of your house. Batts are made to fit between the studs in your walls or between the joists of your ceilings or floors. Batting is usually made of fiberglass or rock wool. Fiberglass is manufactured from sand and recycled glass, and rock wool is made from basaltic rock and recycled material from steel mill wastes. Rolls or blankets are also usually made of fiberglass and can be laid over the floor in the attic. Loose fill insulation, usually made of fiberglass, rock wool or cellulose, is blown into the attic or walls. Cellulose is usually made from recycled newsprint treated with fire-retardant chemicals.

Rigid foam boards are made of polyisocyanurate, extruded polystyrene (XPS or blue board), expanded Polystyrene (EPS or bead board), or other materials. These boards are lightweight, provide structural support, and generally have an R-value of 2 to 7 per inch. Rigid board insulation is made to be used in confined spaces such as exterior walls, basements, foundation and stem walls, concrete slabs, and cathedral ceilings.

The easiest and most cost effective way to insulate your home is to add insulation in the attic. To find out if you have enough attic insulation, measure the thickness of insulation. If there is less than R-22 (7 inches of fiberglass or rock wool or 6 inches of cellulose) you could probably benefit by adding more. Most U.S. homes should have between R-22 and R-49 insulation in the attic.

If your attic has ample insulation and your home still feels drafty and cold in the winter or too warm in the summer, chances are you need to add insulation to the exterior walls as well. This is a more expensive measure that usually requires a contractor, but it may be worth the cost if you live in a very hot or cold climate.

You may also need to add insulation to your crawl space. Either the walls or the floor above the crawl space should be insulated.

New Construction

For new construction or home additions, R-19 to R-28 insulation for exterior walls is recommended for most of the country. To meet this recommendation, most homes and additions constructed with 2 X 6 walls require a combination of wall cavity insulation, such as batting, and insulating sheathing, or rigid foam boards.

Weatherization

Warm air leaking into your home during the summer and out of your home during the winter can waste a substantial portion of your energy dollars. One of the quickest dollar saving tasks you can do is caulk, seal, and weather-strip all seams, cracks, and openings to the outside. You can save 10% or more on your energy bill by reducing air leaks in your home.

Sources of Air Leaks in your

If your home has single-pane windows, as almost half of U.S. homes do, consider replacing them. New double-pane windows with high performance glass (e.g., low-e or spectrally selective) are available on the market. In colder climates, select windows that are gas filled with low-e coatings on the glass to reduce heat loss. In warmer climates, select windows with spectrally selective coatings to reduce heat gain. If you are building a new home, you can offset some of the cost of installing more efficient windows because doing so allows you to buy smaller, less expensive heating and cooling equipment.

Buying New Windows

New windows are long-term investments that have a large impact on your homes energy systems. Today, there are many new window technologies available that are worth considering, especially those with the ENERGY STAR ® label. Glazing materials now come with a variety of selective coatings and other features; frames are available in aluminum, wood, vinyl, fiberglass, or combinations of these materials. Each type of glazing material and frame has advantages and disadvantages.

Remember, the lower the U-value, the better the insulation. In colder climates, a U-value of 0.350 or below is recommended. These windows have at least double glazing and a low-e coating.

There are four ways to cut your water heating bills: use less hot water, turn down the thermostat on your water heater, insulate your water heater, and buy a new, more efficient water heater. A family of four, each showering for 5 minutes a day, uses 700 gallons of water a week: this is enough for a 3-year supply of drinking water for one person. You can cut that amount in half simply by using low-flow non aerating showerheads and faucets.

Hot Water Usage

Indoor Lighting

Use linear fluorescent and energy efficient compact fluorescent lamps (CFLs) in fixtures throughout your home to provide high-quality and high-efficiency lighting. Fluorescent lamps are much more efficient than incandescent bulbs and last 6 to 10 times longer.

Although fluorescent and compact fluorescent lamps are more expensive than incandescent bulbs, they pay for themselves by saving energy over their lifetime. Look for the ENERGY STAR ® label when purchasing these products. The Pacific Northwest National Laboratory has also compiled a list of suppliers for sub-compact fluorescent lamp.

Outdoor Lighting

Many homeowners use outdoor lighting for decoration and security. When shopping for outdoor lights, you will find a variety of products, from low-voltage pathway lighting to high-sodium motion detector floodlights. Some stores also carry lights powered by small photovoltaic (PV) modules that convert sunlight directly into electricity; consider PV-powered lights for areas that are not close to an existing power supply line.

Carefully positioned trees can save on typical households energy for heating and cooling. During the summer months, the most effective way to keep your home cool is to prevent the heat from building up in the first place. A primary source of heat buildup is sunlight absorbed by your home’s roof, walls, and windows. Dark-colored home exteriors absorb 70% to 90% of the radiant energy from the sun that strikes the home’s surfaces. Some of this absorbed energy is then transferred into your home by way of conduction, resulting in heat gain inside the house. In contrast, light-colored surfaces effectively reflect most of the heat away from your home. Landscaping can also help block and absorb the sun’s energy to help decrease heat buildup in your home by providing shade and evaporative cooling.

Shading and evaporative cooling from trees can reduce the air temperature around your home. Studies conducted by the Lawrence Berkeley national Laboratory found daytime air temperatures to be 3 to 6 degrees F cooler in tree shaded neighborhoods than in treeless areas. The energy-conserving landscape strategies you should use for your home depend on the type of climate in which you live.

Orientation of the house and surrounding landscaping has a large effect on energy consumption. A well-orientated, well designed home admits low-angle winter sun to reduce heating bills: rejects overhead summer sun to reduce cooling bills: and minimizes the chill effect of winter winds. Fences, walls, other nearby buildings, and rows of trees or shrubs block or channel the wind. Bodies of water moderate temperature but increase humidity and produce glare. Trees provide shade, windbreaks, and wind channels. Pavement reflects or absorbs heat, depending on whether it is light or dark in color.

Contact your county extension agents, public libraries, local nurseries, landscape architects, landscape contractors, and state and local energy offices for additional information on energy efficient landscaping and regional plants and their maintenance requirements.

Ducts

One of the most important systems in your home, though it’s hidden beneath your feet and over your head, may be wasting a lot of your energy dollars. Your home’s duct system, a branching network of tubes in the walls, floors, and ceilings, carries the air from your home’s furnace and central air conditioner to each room. Ducts are made of sheet metal, fiber glass, or other materials.

Unfortunately, many duct systems are poorly insulated or not insulated properly. Ducts that leak heated air into unheated spaces can add hundreds of dollars a year to your heating and cooling bills. Insulating ducts that are in unconditioned spaces is usually very cost effective. If you are buying anew dust system, consider one that comes with insulation already installed.

Sealing your ducts to prevent leaks is even more important if the ducts are located in an unconditioned area such as an attic or vented crawl space. If the supply ducts are leaking, heated or cooled air can be forced out unsealed joints and lost. In addition, unconditioned air can also be drawn into return ducts through unsealed joints. In the summer, hot attic air can be drawn in, increasing the load on the air conditioner. In the winter, your furnace will have to work longer to keep your house comfortable. Either way, your energy losses cost you money.

Although minor duct repairs are easy to accomplish, ducts in unconditioned spaces should be sealed and insulated by qualified professionals using the appropriate sealing materials.

Heat Pumps

If you use electricity to heat your home, consider installing an energy efficient heat pump system. Heat pumps are the most efficient form of electric heating in moderate climates, providing three times more heating than the equivalent amount of energy they consume in electricity. There are thee types of heat pumps: air to air, water source, and ground source. They collect heat from the air, water, or ground outside our home and concentrate it for use inside. Heat pumps do double duty as a central air conditioner. They can also cool your home by collecting the heat inside your house and effectively pumping it outside. A heat pump can trim the amount of electricity you use for heating as much as 30% to 40%. Look for the ENERGY STAR ® label when buying a heat pump.

Solar Heating and Cooling

Using passive solar design techniques to heat and cool your home can be both environmentally friendly and cost effective. Passive solar heating techniques include placing larger, insulated windows on south-facing walls and locating thermal mass, such as a concrete slab floor or a heat-absorbing wall, close to the windows. In many cases, you can cut your heating costs by more than 50% compared to the cost of heating the same house that does not include passive solar design.

Passive solar design can also help reduce your cooling costs. Passive solar cooling techniques include carefully designed overhangs, windows with reflective coatings on exterior walls and the roof.

However, a passive solar house also requires careful design and site orientation, which depend on the local climate. So, if you are considering passive solar design for new construction of a major remodeling, you should consult and architect familiar with passive solar techniques.

Fireplaces

When you cozy up next to a crackling fire on cold winter day, you probably don’t realize that your fireplace is one of the most inefficient heat sources you can possibly use. It literally sends your energy dollars right up the chimney along with volumes of warm air. A roaring fire can exhaust as much as 24,000 cubic feet of air per hour to the outside, which must be replaced by cold air coming into the house from the outside. Your heating system must warm up this air, which is then exhausted through you chimney.

Gas and Oil Heating Systems

If you plan to buy a new heating system, ask your state energy office for information about the latest technologies available to consumers. They can advise you about more efficient systems on the market today.

Air Conditioners

It might surprise you to know that buying a bigger room air conditioning unit won’t necessarily make you feel more comfortable during the hot summer months. In fact, a room air conditioner that’s too big for the area it is supposed to cool will perform less efficiently and less effectively than a smaller, properly sized unit. This is because room units work better if they run for relatively long periods of time than if they are continually, switching off and on. Longer run times allow air conditioners to maintain a more constant room temperature.

Sizing is equally important for central air conditioning systems, which need to be sized by professionals. If you have a central air system in your home, set the fan to shut off at the same time as the cooling unit (compressor). In other words, don’t use the system’s central fan to provide circulation, but instead use circulating fans in individual rooms. Look for the ENERGY STAR ® and Energy Guide labels.

Programmable Thermostats

You can save as much as 10% a year on your heating and cooling bills by simply turning your thermostat back 10% to 15% for 8 hours a day. You can do this automatically without sacrificing comfort by installing and automatic setback or programmable thermostat.

Using a programmable thermostat, you can adjust the times you turn on the heating or air-conditioning according to a pre-set schedule. As a result, you don’t operate the equipment as much as when you are asleep or when the house or part of the house is not occupied.

(These thermostats are not meant to be used with Heat Pumps.) Programmable thermostats can store and repeat multiple daily settings (six or more temperature settings a day) that you can manually override without affecting the rest of the daily or weekly program. When shopping for a programmable thermostat, be sure to look for the ENERGY STAR ® label.

• It’s electricity supplied from renewable energy sources, such as wind & solar (sun), geothermal, small hydropower, and various forms of biomass.

What’s in it for me?

• Green Power is an earth friendly form of energy that is produced by the planet’s renewable natural resources.

What are we doing for Green Power?

• Right now, we’re purchasing one-tenth of a megawatt of power through Bonneville Power Administration’s renewable resource program.

If Green Power has been around for 10 years, why are we pushing it?

• Because of recent supply problems in California a couple years ago, there’s a big demand to develop alternate new energy sources and renewable resources.
• More than 300 utilities in 32 states now offer some form of green power that allows consumers to support electricity production from renewable resources.

What’s the catch?

• New technology costs more to produce energy.
• Biomass production involves construction of facilities to convert certain kinds of waste products (from dairy and pig farms for example) into electricity. These are costly.

What’s in it for me in Montana?

• We all need to be aware of the global level of depleting resources.  The ripple effect of the heavy demand of populated areas of the west & east coasts effects Montana.
• Development of alternate power sources is in progress now & Montanans will benefit from the final outcome.

So, What can I do to support Green Power effort?

• If you want MVP to commit to supporting more Green Power, we need your commitment for extra dollars. We’ll then buy more Green Power.  Contact one of our offices to learn how you can help support Green Power by your contribution.

More information on Green Power can be obtained at the following sites:

• www.grassrootsmontana.com
• www.montanagreenpower.org
• www.eere.energy.gov (This is the U.S. Dept. of Energy & Renewable Energy)

Appliances account for about 20% of your household’s energy consumption, with refrigerators and clothes dryers at the top of the consumption list.

When you’re shopping for appliances, you can think of two price tags. The first one covers the purchase price—think of it as a down payment. The second price tag every month is your utility bill for the next 10 to 20 years, depending on the appliance. Refrigerators last an average of 20 years; room air conditioners and dishwashers, about 10 years each; clothes washers, about 14 years. Every appliance has two price tags a purchase price and the operating cost.

When you do have to shop for a new appliance, look for the ENERGY STAR ® label. ENERGY STAR ® appliances have been identified by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and D.O.E. as being the most energy efficient products in their classes. They usually exceed minimum federal standards by a substantial amount.

To help you figure out whether an appliance is energy efficient, the federal government requires most appliances to display the bright yellow and black Energy Guide label. Although these labels will not tell you which appliance is the most efficient, they will tell you the annual energy consumption and operating cost for each appliance so you can compare them yourself.

Dishwashers

Most of the energy used by a dishwasher is for water heating. The Energy Guide label estimates how much power is needed per year to run the appliance and to heat the water based on the yearly cost of gas and electric water heating. When it is time to buy a new unit look for the ENERGY STAR ® label.

Refrigerators

The Energy Guide label on new refrigerators will tell you how much electricity in kilowatt-hours (kWh) a particular model uses in one year. The smaller the number, the less energy the refrigerator uses and the less it will cost you to operate. In addition to the Energy Guide label, don’t forget to look for the ENERGY STAR ® label. A new refrigerator with an ENERGY STAR ® label will save you between $35 and $70 a year compared to the models designed 15 years ago. This adds up to between $525 and $1,050 during the 15-year life of the unit.

Laundry

About 80% to 85% of the energy used for washing clothes is for heating the water. There are two ways to reduce the amount of energy used for washing clothes—-use less water and use cooler water. Unless you’re dealing with oily stains, the warm or cold water setting on your machine will generally do a good job of cleaning your clothes. Switching your temperature setting from hot to warm can cut a load’s energy use in half.

When shopping for a new washer, look for an ENERGY STAR ® machine. These machines may cost more to buy but uses about a third of the energy and less water than typical machines. You’ll also save more on clothes drying, because most remove more water from your clothes during the spin cycle. Look for the ENERGY STAR ® label.

When shopping for a new clothes dryer, look for one with a moisture sensor that automatically shuts off the machine when your clothes are dry. Not only will this save energy, it will save wear and tear on your clothes caused by over drying.

The ENERGY STAR ® label is the government’s seal of approval. It was created by the U.S. Department of Energy and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. These agencies set the criteria to help shoppers for large and small home appliances identify the most energy-efficient products on the market. ENERGY STAR ® labeled appliances exceed existing federal efficiency standards, typically, by 13% to 20%, and as much as 110% for some appliances. Customers can be assured that the appliance being purchased is a high-performance product, which will reduce the operating cost of that appliance or product every month during course of it’s lifetime.

• Air-Source Heat Pumps – Look for the Energy Guide label that contains the SEER (Seasonal Energy Efficiency Ratio) and HSPF (Heating Seasonal Performance Factor) for heat pumps. The SEER measures the energy efficiency during the cooling season and HSPF measures the efficiency during the heating season. The ENERGY STAR ® minimum efficiency level is 12 SEER or higher.
• Central Air Conditioners – Look for the Energy Guide label with an SEER (Seasonal Energy Efficiency Rating) for central air conditioners. The ENERGY STAR ® minimum efficiency level is 12 SEER. ENERGY STAR ® central air conditioners exceed federal standards by at least 20%.
• Room Air Conditioners – Look for the Energy Guide label with an EER (Energy Efficiency Rating) for room air conditioners. The higher the EER, the more efficient the unit is. ENERGY STAR ® units are among the most energy-efficient products.
• Programmable Thermostats – For minimum ENERGY STAR ® efficiency, thermostats should have at least two programs, four temperature settings each, a hold feature that allows users to temporarily override settings, and the ability to maintain room temperature with 2 degree F of desired temperature.
• Water Heaters – Look for the Energy Guide label that tells how much energy the water heater uses in one year. Also, look for the FHR (First Hour Rating) of the water heater, which measures the maximum hot water the heater will deliver in the first hour of use.
• Windows – Look for the NFRC (National Fenestration Rating Council) label that provides U-values and SHGC (solar heat gain coefficient) values. The lower the U-value the better the insulation.
• Refrigerators and Freezers – Look for the Energy Guide label that tells how much electricity, in kilowatt-hours (kWh), the refrigerator or freezer will use in one year. The smaller the number, the less energy it uses. ENERGY STAR ® labeled units exceeds federal standards by at least 20%.
• Dishwashers – Look for the Energy Guide label that tells how much electricity, in kilowatt-hours (kWh), the dishwasher will use in one year. The smaller the number, the less energy it uses. ENERGY STAR ® dishwashers exceed federal standards by at least 13%.
• Clothes Washers – Look for the Energy Guide label that tells how much electricity, in kilowatt hours (kWh), the clothes washer will use in one year. The smaller the number, the less energy it uses. ENERGY STAR ® clothes washer’s uses less than 50% of the energy used by standard washers.