OUT-FOXING THE ENERGY CRUNCH

Most Americans have seen dramatic increases in their monthly utility bills over the past several years. Not Maynard and Elva Fox of Durango, Colorado. The Foxes have reduced the amount of energy used in their home by up to 90 per cent since 1975.

That is a whopping savings of energy and a big money savings too. The impressive thing about the reduction is that the Foxes have not accomplished it by "freezing in the dark." In fact, Elva says she often feels more comfortable now than she did before they started to save energy -- and money.

Let's look at the Fox house first, and then at what the Foxes have done to bring about these dramatic savings.

The Fox home is a very typical middle-class residence. The house has 1100 square feet of living area upstairs; 800 in the lower level. There are two bedrooms (one of which Maynard uses as his den), bath, living room, kitchen with dining room and sunroom upstairs. Downstairs, there is a bedroom and two other rooms, including a utility room. The house is one story on the street side; but because the lot slopes sharply, the lower level is fully exposed to the rear, making two stories on that side.

Though the roots go back a little further, the process toward energy savings really got going in 1975 when Elva bought Eugene Eccli's book, The Energy Efficient House. Both Maynard and Elva read the book and began to apply some of what they had read.

First, they started with things that didn't cost any money to do, but still saved energy: They opened and closed window drapes systematically in the summer to cut down on their home cooling bill; in winter, they opened the drapes to let the sun stream into the house and warm it, whenever the sun was available.

Next, they added insulation in the walls, beefing up the R-ll of their all-electric house. In the summer of 1977 Maynard added the insulation by putting it over the existing walls-sometimes on the outside, sometimes on the inside--and then covering it with siding (on the outside) or wall board (on the inside). He caulked cracks and added weather-stripping where needed, too. By September 1977 the job of insulating, caulking and weather stripping was completed.

Maynard installed a wood burning stove in the living room and insulated the wall between the garage and the house, as other steps toward energy savings.

With all of the above accomplished, their energy usage and thus their energy bills, were dropping. But, Maynard, who by this time had retired from teaching English at Fort Lewis College, didn't stop there. From August to November of 1978, he installed a solar domestic hot water heater on the house and a small solar room heater for his study on the southwest corner of the house.

The domestic water heater consists of three solar panels manufactured in Durango by TriTec Solar Industries. Solar heat is used to warm air; the warm air is blown through a radiator to heat water which is then stored in a tank. An electric back-up heater is used when the sun isn't around to heat the water to usable temperatures.

The solar room heater consists of a solar collector and a small closet full of water bottles. Hot air from the collector is circulated around the bottles. The water in the bottles "absorbs" the heat from the air. Later, air from the room is circulated into the closet and, because the air is cool, heat from the water is transferred to the air and to the room, as the air circulates back.

In December of 1978, Maynard built and installed insulating panels for several of the home's major windows. These panels fold up above the windows when not in use. And, when needed, they fold down tightly covering the window, to provide excellent insulation.

Three major projects still lay ahead for Maynard in 1978. Even though he had reduced the energy usage by a little over 67 per cent, he was not satisfied. He felt he could and should do more.

In 1979, he installed 10 solar panels into the roof of the house. These panels were manufactured by Bill Ringueberg of San Juan Solar Systems of Durango. To install them Maynard had to remodel the roof, but he was able to blend the panels in quite well. The panels provide 175 square feet of collector surface. A water and antifreeze mixture is circulated through copper tubing which is bonded to the back of aluminum corrugated roofing painted black. Glass covers the aluminum roofing toward the sun. Insulation on the back side helps hold the heat in until the circulating fluid "captures" that heat.

These latest solar panels provide heat for the house. Once the fluid is heated at the panels, the hot antifreeze and water mixture is circulated, through a heat exchanger, to heat water in a 160 gallon storage tank.

When heat is needed for the house, hot water from the storage tank is circulated through radiant panels into the various rooms of the house. The radiant panels represent an innovative method of heating.

The system was invented by Nairn Ringueberg, Bill's father, a retired engineer, and consists of panels of flat aluminum with copper tubing bonded to the back and, where needed, with insulation behind the tubing.

As warm water circulates through the tubing it "spreads" across the surface of the aluminum panel and radiates into the room. Unlike the old-fashioned steam radiators, these panels are effective when only warm water is used. Another plus for the panels is their ease of installation. They can be nailed, bolted or screwed to just about any wall, and can be placed just about anywhere in a room.

For example, Maynard installed one panel on the wall beneath the living room picture window; he placed a second on the ceiling of the sunroom; he put a third on the wall of the kitchen; and, he slanted one above the closet doors in his den.

Since the panels can be painted, papered or paneled to match the wall where they are installed, they fit in well with most any decor. In fact, most people are not aware the Fox panels are even there, let alone that they are the major source of heat for the house.

Maynard next built an air lock entry from the garage to the house. This was done so entry to or exit from the home could be made without introducing the usually colder garage air into the house. He recently added additional insulation to the attic.

At the present time Maynard is finishing a greenhouse. He is building this on the southwest corner of the walk-out garden level. Excess heat from the greenhouse will be vented into the basement.

Maynard says that completion of the greenhouse will signal completion of all of his projects.

A look at the Foxes' utility bills reveals the following: During the seven years prior to the time they started energy savings quest, the Foxes used an average of 1820 kilowatt hours (KWH) per month. Their highest monthly total was 4080 KWH in January of 1975. They gradually used less and less until the average slipped to 590 KWH for the first six months of 1979. From November 1979 through April of 1980, the average was 570 KWH. (Remember the house is all-electric. The 570 KWH represents the total amount of energy used for lighting, hot water, heat -- all of the energy used, except for a small amount of wood burned in the wood stove.)

The reduction from 1820 to 570 represents a 67.6 per cent decrease. However, if we compare the 4080 KWH used in January of 1975 to the amount used this past January, 410 KWH, the reduction is 90 per cent!

By the way, the Foxes January bill this year was $21.80. If they had used 4080 KWH, the bill would have been over $180. The $21.80 is 12 per cent of $180, so they are saving about 90 per cent on their bill, as well as on the energy used.

Two questions may have occurred to you: 1) What has it all cost? 2) Will the cost pay for itself?

Maynard has kept costs down by doing a great deal of the work himself. Even though he is a retired college professor, he possesses an unusually broad range of carpentry and other building trade skills. He has not kept track of the hours he has spent in the various projects since he has viewed the work as "recreational therapy."

An exact accounting is not available. But, Maynard spent about $4,000 on the solar heating system. All of the other projects probably totaled, about that much more (or will when he completes the greenhouse and the ceiling insulation). Let's say $8,000 total expense for everything. All of the expenses have been paid for from savings.

If he continues to save energy at the rate of 70 to 90 per cent, as he has the past year and a half, and if energy costs continue to rise as they have over the past few years, the entire list of projects will have about a 10 year pay back.

However, the Foxes have received tax incentives up to 40 per cent on part of the projects. And, because of recent changes in Colorado's tax laws, they will receive up to 70 per cent in incentives on the later work, including the greenhouse. The effect the incentives have is to reduce the cost of the various projects. Just how much won't be known until the Foxes file their 1980 tax return. But, the savings will be substantial, and may reduce the pay back to less than five years.

Some would say the 5-year pay back is too long. Not the Foxes. They look at the $21.80 electric bill for January versus the $l80, or more, it might have been and smile.

If the money spent on the projects were in savings, it would be earning the Foxes interest income. But, because of inflation, the buying power of the savings and of the interest income would decrease each year. The way it is, Maynard and Elva are saving and will save a lot of money on utility bills; and they are doing their part to reduce oil imports, prolonging the availability of fossil fuel reserves.

When the Foxes first began to think about energy savings through conservation and solar, they considered building a new house -- applying conservation and solar from the ground up. Elva pointed out that most people were going to have to make-do with existing conventional houses. That's when Maynard began the long list of projects described in this article. The success the Foxes have had strongly suggests that a great many other people can incorporate similar changes in their own homes and obtain excellent energy -- and money -- savings.

By the way, I don't believe Maynard when he says he will quit once he has finished the greenhouse. After all, he has only reduced his energy usage between 70 and 90 per cent. I think he will figure out some more ways to "Out-Fox" the energy crunch. Don't you?