Energy Solutions Home shows how to tighten the home envelope—keep outside air out, inside air in
August 29, 2012
For Immediate Release
ST. PAUL, MN – Tightening the home envelope—including sealing air leaks and insulating your home—is the best way to conserve energy and increase comfort in your home. This is the key message of the Home Envelope display, one of many features of the Energy Solutions Home at the Minnesota State Fair’s Eco Experience.
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Home Envelope is part of the 7,000-square-foot Energy Solutions Home at the center of the Eco Experience Building, at the north end of the Fair. It demonstrates opportunities for insulating and sealing existing sidewalls and rim joists and explains the challenges of one-and-one-half story homes and attics. Tabletop displays demonstrate the problems associated with uninsulated structures and provide guidance for a homeowner-completed approach, a contractor method, and a deep retrofit option.
Air that leaks through the ceiling, walls, foundation and other areas are significant sources of heating and cooling losses in a home—up to one third in a typical house. Stopping air leaks is the best way to conserve energy, save money, and increase comfort. If you don’t tighten up your home first, other improvements (new windows and doors, insulation, new furnaces) will not be as effective.
The Energy Solutions Home, coordinated by the Minnesota Department of Commerce in cooperation with many exhibitors and partners, is open each day of the Fair from 9:00am to 9:00pm. It is designed to help typical Minnesota homeowners improve their homes through a variety of strategies and options.
In addition to the Home Envelope display, the Energy Solutions Home includes exhibits on home performance; home assessment; home lighting options; saving water; green materials and efficient appliances; heating, ventilation and air conditioning; renewable energy siting; landscaping; and how to pay for home improvements.