0:00

My name is Aaron . I belong

0:03

to the Como Cooperative

0:05

out of Tipton, Missouri. And their

0:08

service is amazing. They're

0:10

very friendly and eager to help

0:12

us anytime we need it. And the reliability

0:15

is amazing.

0:35

Well welcome everybody to the Power For Your

0:38

Life podcast, where we focus on energy

0:40

efficiency, the value of electric, cooperative

0:42

membership, and safety around electricity.

0:45

I'm your host, Harrison Waters, and today we'll

0:48

be discussing the value of insulation.

0:51

Adding insulation to your home can be one

0:53

of the fastest and most cost effective ways

0:55

to reduce your energy costs . And

0:57

with me on the phone today to talk about how you

0:59

can benefit from proper insulation is Chris Williams.

1:02

He's the Director of Energy Services here at

1:05

Ozarks Electric Cooperative. Chris,

1:07

thanks for joining me today.

1:09

Thank you for having me.

1:10

Absolutely. Well, I, I recently

1:12

came across a , uh, an interesting fact from

1:14

the US Department of Energy, and

1:17

it's stated that one of the most cost effective

1:19

ways to make a home more comfortable year round

1:22

is to add insulation to your attic. You

1:24

know, based on that, what we know is

1:27

insulation can save energy and money and

1:29

make your home more comfortable. Are there any other

1:31

advantages of insulation?

1:34

You're right, Harrison. Uh , not

1:36

only does insulation add to the comfort and

1:38

savings in your home, but it also

1:40

prevents moisture, which can cause mold

1:43

and mildew. Certain types of insulation

1:46

such as celluloses, can even prevent

1:48

insects and rodents from taking up

1:50

residents . And if you have teenagers

1:53

like I do, it will help muffle

1:55

their musical instruments and video games. Also,

1:58

an important example of proper amount of

2:00

insulation is the potential reduction in

2:02

the size of the HVAC equipment in

2:05

your home. Not only does the

2:07

correct amount of insulation save on the electric

2:09

bill , but it can also save on the wear

2:11

and tear of the HVAC equipment.

2:14

Wow, that's interesting. That's great to know.

2:16

Yeah, a lot of more advantages to adding

2:18

insulation than I would've ever thought of. I

2:21

know there's several different types of insulation like

2:23

you mentioned. Can you maybe elaborate on those

2:25

and tell me what's the most EF efficient?

2:28

Yeah, that's correct. Insulation materials

2:30

are all across the board. I

2:33

will highlight the most common for

2:35

our area from bulky fiber materials

2:38

such as fiberglass, rock

2:40

and slag , wool , cellulose

2:43

and natural fibers. All of

2:45

these articles resist conductive

2:47

and convective heat flow . There

2:50

are also rigid foam boards to

2:52

foils, which trap air to

2:54

resist conduct conductive heat flow.

2:57

We feel that you get the best bang for your

3:00

buck through cellulose insulation, which

3:02

is recycled newspaper material due

3:05

to the R value of 3.5

3:08

to 3.8 RS per inch. Foam

3:11

insulation or foam in place . Insulation

3:14

has a very high R value of seven

3:16

to eight rs per inch and

3:19

produces a strong air barrier, but

3:22

can be more expensive to install.

3:25

Interesting. Okay. And maybe tell me a little

3:27

bit more about like what's the most common type

3:30

of insulation that in this area?

3:32

Most common , uh, insulation are area R

3:35

cellulose , uh, foam phone . You

3:37

see a lot of , uh, the rigid

3:40

walls that you put up before you , uh,

3:42

add the outside material to the house.

3:45

Well, that's great to hear, Chris. Thank you. You know,

3:48

and honestly I've, I've really, I'm always familiar

3:51

with the, the pink bags, you

3:53

know, of, of insulation. Um,

3:55

is, is that something that's pretty common?

3:58

It's one that's really been marketed , uh,

4:01

really well over the last 20

4:03

years and it , it's not the

4:05

only kind out there. It's probably the most

4:07

convenient cuz you can just buy it in rolls

4:10

and just put in your attic, put in your walls. But

4:13

there are better types out there and

4:15

you can really investigate

4:17

that through the R values . If

4:19

you look, you know, fiberglass

4:22

has a , an r value of , of around

4:25

two rs per inch. You

4:27

get up into the cellulose, which cellulose

4:29

has been around since the mid

4:32

sixties, early seventies. So

4:34

it's been around a while, but you do get

4:36

up into closer to four hours per

4:38

inch on cellulose. So

4:41

definitely a lot of types of

4:43

insulation out there. Do your due

4:45

diligence and, and investigate the best

4:48

kind that you need in your home. Gotcha.

4:49

Yeah. So what you're saying is

4:52

possibly if you look at your, your

4:54

attics or, or in , uh, crawlspace

4:56

or different areas and you see those , uh,

4:59

those bags and pink, you know, insulation

5:01

in there, it doesn't necessarily mean

5:03

that you have great insulation Right. It

5:05

over the years, you know, there could be differences

5:07

there, right?

5:08

That's, that's correct. We, we often

5:11

get that question asked here and fiberglass

5:14

to us is it makes a real good filter

5:16

and uh , what you need is a conductive

5:18

barrier. You need something that'll stop

5:21

that heat from , uh, infiltrated

5:24

in your home and , and unfortunately

5:26

fiberglass doesn't do a great job

5:28

of that.

5:30

Well , great. And I know you mentioned the, the

5:32

r value when you're talking different types of

5:34

insulation and of course I've heard

5:36

that before, but I

5:38

don't really know exactly what it means. I've

5:41

heard how much I maybe need to have in

5:43

my house. Can you maybe elaborate on that and you

5:45

know , a little bit more about the R value needed?

5:48

Yeah, you bet. It's a very good question. Uh,

5:51

in an insulating materials resistance

5:54

to conductive heat flow is measure

5:56

rated in terms of its thermal resistance

6:00

or R value . The higher

6:02

the r value , the greater the insulating

6:04

effectiveness. Therefore,

6:06

if you've been in your home 10, 20 or

6:08

even 30 years, adding

6:11

more insulation will increase the

6:13

R value and the resistance

6:15

to heat flow. We often

6:18

get questions here at Ozarks

6:20

, uh, about cellulose loose fill

6:23

and what to do about settling. It's

6:26

important to note that as the installed

6:28

thickness increases for loose fill

6:30

insulation, the settle density

6:33

of the product increases due

6:36

to the compression of the insulation under

6:38

its own weight because of

6:40

this loose fuel installations are

6:42

valued, does not change proportionally

6:45

with thickness. Also

6:48

importance is to recognize the geographical

6:51

zone that your home is in.

6:54

Hmm . No, that's interesting. For sure. It

6:56

makes a lot of sense. Uh, you know,

6:58

thinking about them , our members and listening,

7:00

you know, within the associate family of cooperatives,

7:03

we could have a member as far north as southern

7:05

Iowa or as far as south as northeastern

7:08

Oklahoma. So I suppose that these

7:11

zones you're talking about, they may

7:13

differ quite a bit from the most northern

7:15

to the most southern part of our territory.

7:18

Yeah, you're correct. The farther north

7:20

you go, the higher the recommended levels

7:23

of insulation, for example,

7:25

zone five in the northern most

7:27

part of Missouri and southern

7:30

Iowa recommends a minimum of

7:32

R 49 in the attic and

7:34

a minimum of R 25 in the

7:37

floor . Zone four, which

7:39

occupies the majority of Missouri, recommends

7:41

a minimum of R 38 in the attic

7:44

and R 25 in the floors while

7:47

zone three here where

7:49

I am in Oklahoma recommends a minimum

7:51

of R 30 in the attic and

7:53

R 19 in the floors.

7:55

Wow. Yeah, that's a, that's a big

7:57

difference in a range in those r values there.

8:00

Wow. I've got another question on

8:02

R values . You've mentioned the, the

8:04

r value amount necessary for the attic, which

8:07

I think a lot of members would understand how

8:09

to measure that. Tell me about

8:11

the r value you mentioned on floors.

8:14

Is this something that's underneath

8:17

the floor itself? This isn't something that

8:19

you can see if you were to go in a crawl

8:21

space , correct?

8:22

Yeah. The , and , and that primarily

8:24

was for crawlspace is what I

8:26

mentioned. And , and yeah, you

8:29

can see , uh, any

8:31

crawl space if , if you're underneath the home,

8:34

that's primarily a , a bat type

8:36

insulation that's stapled up

8:38

underneath that crawlspace. So

8:41

yeah, that okay , that's for that recommendation.

8:43

Recommendation came in .

8:45

So if I go down in my crawlspace, which

8:47

I have done, I've looked and there's certain areas

8:49

that I can actually just see the floorboards

8:52

up in between all, you know, the different rafter

8:54

, you know, does that, that's something that I

8:56

could see an immediate benefit if I were to get all

8:59

that insulated , um, how

9:01

cold my floors are, which then I guess would just

9:03

radi into my home.

9:05

Right. Yeah. That'll benefit it , it kind of depends

9:07

on your outside wall into

9:10

that crawl space . If, if it's insulated

9:12

really well, that part of your envelope

9:15

won't be as affected , but, you

9:18

know , some crawl spaces don't

9:20

really have any, they may have

9:22

a metal sheet that's protecting the

9:24

outside air from getting underneath the home. Mm-hmm.

9:27

<affirmative>, if that's the case, you definitely need

9:29

that insulation up under the home, but, but

9:32

if your wall around the outside

9:34

of your home is insulated, well you've

9:37

got a pretty good barrier right there.

9:39

Gotcha. So if you think, if

9:41

you think that heat rises, a

9:43

lot of people are always concerned about the attic cuz

9:46

they don't want their heat to to to slip

9:48

out. But even

9:50

thinking in terms of the winter and

9:52

insulating, can you see just as many benefits

9:54

from insulating a crawl space that's not insulated

9:57

at all?

9:58

You know, that's definitely where I would focus.

10:00

If that outside air can get underneath that

10:03

house, it infiltrates right up into your

10:05

floors pretty crucial.

10:07

Yeah. I think that's where I need to

10:09

start then I , I , I've checked the r value

10:11

in my attic before and it's pretty close to

10:13

where it needs to be and maybe needs a little bit of

10:15

filler, but I go down to my crawlspace

10:17

and I see areas all over

10:19

the house that are not insulated. And so I've , I've

10:22

discussed bringing someone in and getting

10:24

that kind of started cuz I'm like, well, I

10:26

could add a couple inches in my attic, but if,

10:28

if the floors don't have anything , uh,

10:31

that seems like a a better place for me to

10:33

start, that

10:34

Really would be

10:35

Let's take a short break and when we come back we'll

10:37

talk more about how these tips from Chris can

10:40

be implemented into your home and hopefully

10:42

start seeing some savings right away.

11:01

Electric cooperatives are not like other utilities.

11:03

We know your community is important

11:05

to you. In fact, it's one

11:07

of our guiding principles, concern

11:10

for community. Your electric cooperative

11:12

is involved in the community by supporting

11:14

schools and youth and safety education

11:17

programs as well as other events. We

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live here too and we care about our

11:22

members and our community. Discover

11:26

the value of your co-op membership

11:29

visit members first dot co-op today.

11:34

Are you prepared to stay safe and warm?

11:36

If a winter storm knocks out power, ice,

11:39

wind and heavy snow can slow down restoration.

11:42

So have extra blankets and supplies

11:44

on hand to help weather a prolonged

11:46

outage safely. And before venturing

11:48

outside, be aware that ice and

11:50

snow can hide dangers like downed

11:52

power lines that are energized. Learn

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more about winter storm [email protected].

12:04

Discover the value of your co-op membership

12:06

visit members first dot co-op today.

12:15

Energy saving tip number 84, ensure

12:18

windows and doors are properly weather

12:21

stripped and used door sweeps.

12:48

All right , well welcome back to The Power For Your Life

12:50

podcast. We're visiting today with Chris Williams

12:53

from Ozarks Electric Cooperative . You

12:55

know, you've explained the benefits of insulation

12:58

and all the different types and how

13:00

to know the amount you should have. So let's

13:02

talk about how do we implement this. So Chris,

13:04

where does a member go to get started?

13:07

Yes, Harrison , this is definitely where the rubber meets

13:10

the road. I believe the best place

13:12

to start is in the attic. Prepare

13:14

yourself with a flashlight and a measuring stick.

13:17

Make sure to be safe and check the thickness

13:19

in several areas of the attic. Once

13:22

you measure the thickness of insulation, verify

13:25

the type of insulation in the home

13:27

and your geographical zone that

13:30

the home is in. If

13:32

you needed additional insulation , we

13:35

will often recommend cellulose due

13:37

to the multitude of benefits. Also,

13:41

the electric cooperatives have a , they have

13:43

a network of experts that can help

13:45

and some cooperatives even utilize infrared

13:48

cameras that detect lack

13:50

of insulation and walls and hard to

13:52

reach attic areas as well

13:55

as glor testing, which can

13:57

identify leaks and unforeseen

13:59

issues within the home. But

14:01

just check with your local cooperative for

14:03

more details. Another

14:06

DIY that a lot of members can perform is

14:08

caulking and ceiling before

14:11

you add insulation. Ideal

14:14

areas to caulk are around

14:16

canned lights, under sinks

14:19

around the plumbing cavities and access

14:21

, uh, attic access points. A

14:25

couple of cans of Cal will seal a large

14:27

area of your home. Also,

14:29

there are some great YouTube videos , uh,

14:32

on caulking where if you feel uncomfortable

14:34

performing these tasks, contact

14:37

your cooperative for help identifying a

14:39

local company. And just

14:41

please remember that if you have gas or

14:43

propane in your home, it's

14:45

important that the house receives fresh

14:48

air unlike that of total electric

14:50

homes.

14:52

Huh, well that's great to know. Do you recommend

14:55

anything here on, you know, maybe a DIY

14:57

versus a higher job? Is this

14:59

something that a lot of members can

15:01

do themselves or do you maybe recommend having

15:04

someone come out and and handle this professionally?

15:07

A lot of this, as far as ca

15:10

you know, we , we provide a do-it-yourself

15:13

kit that they can receive

15:15

a ca gun with several

15:17

cans of caulk . Most anybody

15:20

, uh, that can handle a

15:22

, you know, a a little knife that

15:24

can cut that end off can do

15:26

this type of of work. It's really

15:29

not, not that difficult.

15:31

Great, great. Um, I've got one more

15:33

question on this. Maybe tell me, you

15:35

know, I, I have several of

15:38

the can lights in my home and is it

15:40

beneficial to make sure you have the proper light in those,

15:42

like I've had a couple of the can lights have ordinary,

15:44

you know, bulbs in there. Um, is it

15:47

about filling the, the fixture

15:49

that goes into the wall or does the light actually

15:51

benefit by making it flush up against

15:53

your, your ceiling?

15:55

Yeah, and that's a good question. Can lights

15:58

, what we've always , uh,

16:00

suggested is, is to just

16:02

put a , a small bead

16:05

of talk around the flush

16:07

area of the light that connects

16:10

with the ceiling. Over the last few

16:12

years, there's been a lot of new l e d

16:14

fixtures that you can actually

16:17

pull out your existing bulb, like

16:19

you mentioned, and put in this new

16:21

l e d fixture that will squeeze

16:24

up against the ceiling and make a

16:26

barrier that , uh, prevents

16:29

your conditioned air to re uh , get

16:31

up into the attic. So there, there's a couple of

16:33

new ways to do it. The most inexpensive

16:36

is that can of co the ceiling around

16:39

the fixture.

16:40

Great. And do you recommend to

16:42

any of the members out there about possibly

16:45

insulating other, you know, outlets

16:47

, uh outlets, light switches, those

16:49

kind of things?

16:50

Oh yeah, most definitely. And that's where we

16:53

see a lot of evidence when we

16:55

perform board or testing it,

16:57

it imitates air coming in from all around

16:59

the home, 30, 40 mile an hour

17:01

wind and those are the most LA

17:05

area that people look at. And,

17:07

and you can purchase gaskets

17:10

that'll cover light switches, that'll cover

17:13

plugins and just take off the

17:15

cover plate , put a gasket in and

17:17

it prevents , uh, your conditioned

17:20

air from leaving the home.

17:22

Great. Yeah. Cuz the air is gonna find the way.

17:24

Right.

17:25

Most definitely <laugh> .

17:26

Yeah . Well that's great information. I really appreciate

17:28

that. So are there any other safety concerns

17:31

that we need to be aware of when starting to

17:33

do an installation project like this?

17:36

Yes. Uh , as with anything, safety

17:38

should be the utmost concern when

17:41

performing those DIY tasks.

17:43

Please always follow product instructions,

17:47

local building codes and

17:49

uh , safety on ladders in an attic spaces

17:52

proper protective gear like safety

17:54

glasses and face masks are very

17:56

important when performing these tasks.

18:00

Is there still an air quality issue? I

18:02

know previously with fiberglass in

18:05

that, is that something that they should be concerned about?

18:07

Yeah, air quality is , is really, like

18:10

I kind of mentioned earlier, air quality is really

18:12

important. If you have natural gas or

18:14

propane in your home, your home does

18:17

have to have a certain amount of air

18:19

changes per hour. So that's where,

18:22

you know , those local building codes are important to

18:24

follow.

18:25

Well, those are all great tips , uh, Chris

18:27

and you know, maybe you've mentioned this blower door

18:29

test a few times and I'm just curious maybe

18:31

explain to our listeners, you know, what that test

18:34

is and , and what we the benefits of having

18:36

one.

18:37

Yeah. Blow door tests are, are very

18:39

important , uh, in our area. They've

18:41

been around for quite a few years. Uh

18:44

, the , these tests, they

18:46

determine the air infiltration rate

18:49

of a, of a home or a building blur

18:51

doors. They consist of a frame and

18:54

a flexible panel that fits in

18:56

the doorway. And a variable

18:58

speed fan that sits right in that,

19:01

in that doorway, a pressure

19:03

gauge as used to measure

19:06

the pressure differences inside

19:08

and outside the home. And

19:10

an airflow, manometer and

19:13

hoses measure the airflow. So it,

19:15

it really makes , uh, your

19:17

home more efficient because it

19:20

simulates air hitting all

19:22

sides of the, of the house. And

19:25

once this fan's running, you can walk

19:27

through the house with a small smoke stick

19:30

and really see where that

19:32

air is coming into the house. You know

19:34

, walk by light switches or

19:37

electric plugs and, and you can really see where,

19:40

where that outside air is really infiltrating

19:43

or where your conditioned air is leeching

19:45

out into the, the atmosphere.

19:48

Wow, that's great. Yeah. And is this something that a

19:50

lot of our cooperative systems will, would

19:52

have for, for others or do they

19:54

need to go outside and , you know, maybe look for this

19:56

somewhere else? You know,

19:58

A majority of of the cooperatives

20:00

have b p i certified

20:03

professionals within the cooperative family

20:05

or, or they can definitely help

20:07

locate someone that can perform

20:09

these type of tests .

20:11

Great. Now, you know, we've

20:13

mentioned a lot about addicts. Is there anything

20:16

that, you know, listeners need to know about

20:18

other areas? Possibly crawl spaces or

20:21

other ways to insulate?

20:23

Yeah. Yeah, there's so many

20:26

types of homes out there and crawlspace

20:29

is, is a real big factor

20:32

in conditioned air escaping. Uh

20:34

, you've got lots of areas

20:36

where duct work can be underneath

20:39

the, in the crawl space or in the

20:41

attic. We really always focus

20:43

on how do we insulate that

20:45

duct work ? How do we prevent animals

20:48

or certain , uh, issues

20:51

from, from tearing into that duct work

20:53

. So that's something you should always check.

20:55

We've, we've had homes where we went underneath

20:58

the home and had some rodents

21:00

under there keeping, keeping warm or

21:02

keeping cool because the , uh, duct work has

21:05

, has come apart and , uh,

21:07

insulating the bottom of the , or blowing out on the bottom

21:09

of the house. So unfortunate, but,

21:12

but we see it quite a bit

21:13

<laugh>. Wow. Yeah, I never would've thought

21:15

about that. I mean, ha have things

21:18

changed over the years in how

21:20

every how energy services, what

21:23

they think of crawlspace areas and whether

21:25

they need to be insulated or the airflow?

21:27

Cuz I know, you know, everyone likely has

21:30

some of these , uh, air vents that allow

21:32

air in and out of crawl spaces . Is

21:34

that something that, you know, members need to be aware

21:37

of?

21:38

Yeah, and and I would really, I would

21:40

check with local codes cuz there are

21:42

, uh, there are certain restrictions

21:44

, uh, once you get under ho a

21:46

home and, and getting that fresh air into

21:49

that area, A lot of areas you do have

21:51

to put plastic down, make

21:53

sure there's a , a barrier from keeping

21:56

the soil from leaking

21:58

up leeching bad air up

22:00

into the home. So , uh, that's

22:02

definitely something. Check with your codes,

22:04

check with local building inspectors

22:07

for that type of in information.

22:10

Okay. That's great to know. Yeah, I've, I've

22:12

had a house previously that required a vapor barrier

22:14

and it was missing in a section and you

22:17

know, the co uh, inspection caught that and

22:19

I was required to go in and finish that

22:21

vapor barrier all the way across. But I

22:23

know my, my current residency does

22:25

not have that. So , um, I'm just

22:27

curious of, you know, like you said, making

22:30

sure that everyone follows up with that

22:32

code and knowing what their area , um,

22:34

requires. Yeah,

22:36

Very good point.

22:37

And I've had, you know, had my

22:39

last house inspected with the thermal and I

22:41

love that that stuff gets me like super

22:44

excited to see, you know, hot

22:46

cold areas, areas where,

22:49

you know, I think where they add all of the , the areas

22:51

up and they kind of give you this information. People don't

22:53

realize if you've got a little bit of air gaps

22:56

across your house, it may add up

22:58

to a size of a small window of

23:01

air loss through your house.

23:02

You're exactly right. Yeah. It's not,

23:05

not untypical to have three or four, a

23:07

three or four foot hole in the Saudi

23:09

of your house once you calculate all the leaks,

23:12

<laugh> , I mean it's like, well just open that window

23:14

and leave it open all day. That's, that's

23:16

pretty much what the leaks have added up to , so

23:18

,

23:18

Yeah. Yeah . And that's, it's, it's very

23:21

concerning when you think of it like that. If

23:23

you, if someone says you've got an inch gap

23:25

here and a small inch gap there, it's one

23:27

thing, but then to think that you could have a

23:29

three or four foot goal , you know, gap

23:31

in your house is a big, big difference.

23:34

That's so true. Yeah. Yeah. And that's

23:36

, that's what that board or will really calculate.

23:39

And like I said, that infrared gun is

23:41

so important cause like

23:44

you can't see certain, you

23:46

can't see through walls and, but you can definitely

23:48

see where, hey, that part of my roof doesn't

23:51

have insulation because mm-hmm . <affirmative> , it's such

23:53

a big and you know, cold when

23:55

it's winter out, you can really tell the

23:58

difference this time of year because there's such

24:00

a delta in that difference

24:02

in cool to to heat. So

24:05

you wouldn't see it this time of year.

24:06

Yeah. Well I certainly recommend purchasing

24:09

an infrared laser thermometer from

24:11

your local hardware store. And if

24:13

you go to certain areas in your home and you

24:15

test it from close up , you can

24:17

go from testing the wall temperature

24:20

to the floor temperature to the window and

24:22

start to see how drastic of

24:24

a difference or, or even your , um,

24:27

you know, the, your vents across the

24:29

house if your , your hvac if

24:31

the heat is, is distributing, you

24:34

know, the right amount of temperature across the house

24:36

makes a difference. Yeah,

24:37

That's right. That's right. I know even, you

24:39

know, I've got an Eco B thermostat

24:42

and we just got a little sensor that we

24:44

keep on the other side of the house and it's trying to keep

24:46

it, you know, consistent <laugh>

24:48

mm-hmm. <affirmative>, it's calls for more heat

24:51

back here. So yeah. That

24:53

, that sounds like a real good tool.

24:56

You know, I think that it's important to find

24:58

those areas of, of

25:00

air loss in your home. Is there any

25:02

concern of making your house too tight?

25:05

Is there, you know, you mentioned before if you have

25:07

propane or gas, if you've checked

25:09

to see that those are properly ventilated in

25:11

your home. I , is there an issue with

25:13

making it too tight , uh, to keep it, you know, your

25:16

air inside, you know , in

25:18

Yes. Un unfortunately you

25:21

can make a , a home too tight

25:23

if you have propane or natural or natural

25:25

gas wood heat. There's

25:28

certain , uh, toxins in, in

25:31

those , uh, types of heating

25:33

that need to escape the home, so mm-hmm. <affirmative>.

25:35

So yeah , that's very important to

25:37

check code , uh, make sure

25:40

you do have plenty of fresh air

25:42

coming into the house. Uh

25:44

, we recently in one of the communities

25:46

that we serve, the code has

25:48

been increased and it's really

25:50

pushing those, the builders in that area

25:53

to look at more electric

25:55

water, heat , electric systems or

25:58

if they don't, they're gonna have to put fresh

26:00

air fans in the homes to

26:03

actually circulate that air out.

26:06

So , uh, we're seeing a lot of, lot of changes

26:08

in, in different codes. So

26:10

something to pay attention to. Yeah,

26:13

That's great. I appreciate that. You

26:15

bet . Yeah, I wondered if that was something too, I

26:18

know that's not in the insulation, so I didn't bring anything

26:20

like that up, but I also thought about

26:23

the opposite where everyone thinks insulation

26:26

for winter, right? They

26:28

don't think insulation for summer, but you

26:30

know, when you've got heat outside and you've got cold

26:32

air inside and insulation plays

26:34

a pretty good role at that point to

26:36

keep that air condition that you're paying for inside

26:38

your home.

26:39

Oh yeah. Yep , that's right. That envelope

26:42

needs to be <laugh> keeping

26:44

that hot a hundred degree heat

26:47

out for sure.

26:48

Okay, wonderful. Well these are all great

26:50

things, you know, members should keep in mind to

26:52

stay safe when they're working on an installation

26:55

project. And you know, Chris, you've given our

26:57

listeners just a lot of great information to get

26:59

started and maybe where could they go

27:01

to find out more information if they wanna,

27:04

you know, maybe dive a little bit deeper about this?

27:06

Yeah, you bet. First thing I

27:08

always mention, you know , go to your local electric

27:10

cooperative and they always

27:12

have some great information on the website

27:16

or you can even call the , uh, electric cooperative

27:18

and visit with a member for Energy

27:20

Service representative. You

27:22

can also reference the Take Control

27:25

and Save website has great information

27:27

on there , as well as the energy.gov

27:31

Energy Savers website. Perfect.

27:34

Well thank you so much Chris for joining me today.

27:37

Uh, is there anything else you'd like to add for our listeners?

27:39

Definitely a little bit of money will

27:42

go a long ways. Uh , we get that

27:44

payback pretty quick when you start trying

27:46

to seal up your home a little bit so it

27:48

helps with that electric bill helps

27:50

with comfort and savings. So

27:53

definitely been a pleasure visiting with you today,

27:55

Harrison . And , uh, welcome to Cooperative

27:57

Family

27:58

<laugh> . Likewise. Thank you so much. Well, you

28:00

know, I hope our members can use these tips to save

28:02

energy and money to stay comfortable

28:04

in their home this winter and for years to

28:06

come. So thanks for joining us.

28:08

Thank you.

28:10

Thanks for listening to The Power for Your Life

28:12

Podcast. To learn more

28:14

about this topic and other safety,

28:17

efficiency and energy technology

28:20

information, contact your

28:22

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28:24

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28:27

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28:35

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28:45

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28:48

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28:50

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28:54

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