How will this make my home more energy efficient?

Question

Please look at this item and tell me precisely how I might use it to make my home more energy efficient. Can you address each claim?

Answer 1

You can do lots of things, some don't cost anything, others cost a little and save a larger amount and some are not cost effective.

Things that don't cost anything, are reducing your consumption/recycling:

i.e. lower the thermostat, wear an extra layer of clothes/ warmer clothes, reduce your waste, recycle your waste.

Things that cost a little but save you money.

draft excluders/ under door strips, brush cover for letterbox

low energy light bulbs (halogen is 2nd best)

using a water butt to catcg drain water for the garden

recycling kitchen sink drain water for garden (called grey water)

putting a jacket on your hot water cylinder

cavity wall insulation

putting loft insulation in the loft (and between floor boards)

Moving on to the expensive items

Changing to a combi boilder

Double glazing

passive solar heating

solar panels to heat water

wind turbine to generate electricity

Answer 2

The product is a solar relflective material.  It is intended to reflect sunlight away from the house, reducing your solar load in the summer.  

If this material is installed on your roof it will reflect sunlight away, keeping your roof cooler.  However, if you have an insulated attic I doubt that you will actually realize any savings, as proper insulation will reduce the heat load more than enough on it's own.  

As far as your windows are concerned, you solar heat load would be reduced by putting this material on your windows that face south.  The southern facing windows are what gets the majority of sunlight etc.

This material will not make your house warmer in the winter since it will be reflecting the sunlight away from your house.

If you are looking to improve your home's energy efficiency there are better ways to do it.  Enusre that your attic has insulation with a total value of R50, and make sure you have good windows.  I would reccomend at least double-pane with 1/2" gap, argon filled.  

But since I know nothing about your house, call your utility provider and request an energy audit.  They will usually perform the audit for free, and the audit will identify the best places for improvement in energy efficiency of your home.  They also may have some rebate programs available that will lessen the cost to you for improving the energy efficiency of your home.

In general, don't buy something on ebay that claims to be a wonder product, and don't ask yahoo answers if you should buy it.  Calling an HVAC company in your town, or calling your utility provider will get you better advice since they are professionals.  I would hate to see someone waste $300 buying 10 rolls of this stuff when they could have improved something else on their home that will save much more energy.

Hope this helps and good luck.

Answer 3

If you bought enough to cover the complete attic area it could help because it is added insulation and it has a reflective side which adds insulating value. Same for Basement or crawl space. Remember you would need to buy a lot to cover the whole area for it to do much good.

You can buy this at your home depot or Lowe's or other stores selling insulation. Check prices