Learn more about the Amish heater and EdenPure space heater

The calendar indicates that heating season is  upon us, but the Home & Garden blog team doesn't need to look at a thermometer or watch the Weather Channel to know it's starting to get colder here in the New York City metro area and elsewhere around the country.

Nope, all we've got to do is look at the traffic to and comments about heating appliances on the Home & Garden blog and ConsumerReports.org. Specifically, readers are looking for information about the Heat Surge Roll-n-Glow Electric Fireplace (aka the Amish heater), EdenPure space heaters, and pellet stoves.

• If you're considering the Heat Surge appliance, read our review of the Amish heater as well as our post about some consumer complaints to the Better Business Bureau. And remember, although Heat Surge claims its heaters will help you save on your heating bills, the only way to do so is to employ zone heating. (Note: According to a customer-service representative at Heat Surge, heaters made in 2009 were updated with a stronger blower and other changes affecting heat distribution. The company also says it plans to add a thermostat on future versions, possibly in 2010. The model we purchased and reviewed early this year might have incorporated some or all of the updates.)

• If you're pondering buying an EdenPure space heater, read "Are EdenPure Space Heaters Just a Lot of Hot Air?"
 
• If a pellet stove seems like a viable heating option, learn more about these appliances in our October 2009 report and our previous buyer's guide to pellet- and wood-burning stoves.

Essential information: "Don't Let Energy Savings Go Up and Out the Chimney" covers proven ways to save energy during heating season. And learn about space heaters, programmable thermostats, and weatherizing your attic. If you're in the market for new heating equipment, get up to speed on the $300 million State Energy Efficient Appliance Rebate Program, aka cash for clunkers for appliances.

Tip of the Day: Find the right caulk for your home project

As you might have already encountered in the caulk aisle at your local home center, there's a dizzying array of caulking products in tubes, cartridges, and aerosol cans. All those choices could make finding the right caulk for the job a hassle. The chart below covers the major categories of caulk and can help you find the best material for your project.

Why use caulk? When the right type of caulk is applied properly, it can protect your home from the elements and make it more energy efficient or prevent leaks from the shower or tub. What's more, our stories on five key home repairs and smart ways to cut your energy use reveal how important caulk can be.

Modern caulk formulations are relatively inexpensive and many are easy to apply, simple to paint over, and a snap to clean up. Althogh the 30 percent federal tax credit on purchases of weatherization materials doesn't apply to caulking, state incentives are often available.

Ed Pollack, a team leader for residential-energy-efficiency research at the U.S. Department of Energy, recommends you use water-based foam sealants since they're easier to clean up. And he urges you to start caulking from the outside first. "You want to seal openings in your home's exterior that could allow water and cause mold or ruin the caulking you've done to interior spaces."—Gian Trotta | e-mail | Twitter | Forums | Facebook

Essential information: Consider weatherizing your attic to save money and boost comfort at home year-round. Our Energy Saving & Green Living guide offers many ways to weatherize your home and make it more efficient. And the Complete Guide to Reducing Energy Costs provides illustrated instructions for key do-it-yourself weatherization projects, and with the purchase of the book you get a free 30-day trial of ConsumerReports.org, including access to the ratings.

Type of Caulk	Best Use(s)	Pros	Cons	Price
Acrylic tub and tile	To seal kitchen and bathroom fixtures.	Flexible; mildew resistant; cleans up with water.	Not paintable; not as durable as 100% silicone.	$4 and up per tube
Butyl rubber	To seal and fill around windows and skylights and around flashings and in gutters to seal dissimilar materials (glass, metal, plastic, wood, and concrete). More flexible (can stretch in multiple directions) than silicone. Good in areas that experience high temperature variations. Formulations with with asphalt are best for roofing repairs.	More flexible (can stretch in multiple directions) than silicone; can be painted after curing one week. Good in areas that experience high temperature variations. Formulations with asphalt are best for roofing repairs.	Does not adhere well to painted surfaces; shrinkage varies; might require two applications. Can be toxic; precautions must be taken and requires solvent cleanup.	$3.50 and up per tube
Concrete and mortar repair	To repair cracks in concrete and damaged masonry and mortar.	Can be shaped to fit before drying; remains flexible, cleans up with water, dries to color of concrete mortar or can be painted.	Not recommended for horizontal surfaces where water could accumulate.	$4.50 and up per tube
Latex	To seal gaps in exterior walls and plug holes and fill gaps in interior walls and woodwork before painting.	Inexpensive; takes paint well;, can be sanded; easy to work with; cleans up with water.	Will crack eventually where temperatures vary greatly (acrylic latex formulations are more durable); needs to be painted when used outdoors; won't adhere to metal.	$1.50 and up per tube
Oil or resin-based	To seal gaps in exterior walls.	Inexpensive; will bond to most surfaces.	Cracks after a few years; much less durable than elastomeric (silicone, latex, or acrylic) caulks.	$1 and up per tube
100% silicone	To fill around pipes and vents and building structures made of nonporous materials and plumbing fixtures. Not as effective on wood or masonry.	Very durable and flexible; doesn't crack.	Expensive; limited colors; can't be painted or sanded, gives off strong odor when curing; solvent required for cleanup.	$4.50 and up per tube
Siliconized latex	Same uses as 100% silicone, except not on plumbing fixtures.	Very durable and flexible; rarely cracks, many colors available; cleans up with water; less expensive than 100% silicone.	Can't be sanded.	$3.50 and up per tube
Spray foam (polyurethane-based)	To seal around window and door frames or to fill cracks and holes.	Expands more than latex and fills a greater area than caulking alone.	Expands after application, so it can warp door and window frames; can't resist UV light; must be painted for exterior use; very difficult to clean up after use.	$5.40 and up per can (but one can fills as much space as many tubes of caulking)
Spray foam (water-based)	Around window and door frames or to fill cracks and holes.	Does not expand as much as polyurethane foam; can be shaped while wet; easy cleanup with water; will not cause windows or doors to bind.	Does not adhere as tightly to materials as urethane; takes longer to cure (up to 24 hours).	$5 and up per can (but one can can fill as much space as many tubes of caulking)

For one eco-friendly paint, it's apparently not so easy being green

"We didn't consider this. More and more, you make a decision that's good for the environment, but there are results that you don't expect. The cities will have to issue a (recycling) directive on this."—Mario Clermont, General Manager, Société Laurentide Inc.

That quote—referring to a plastic-and-metal paint bucket used for Canadian paint brand Boomerang—jumped out at me from "Eco-Paint Container Isn't That Green," an engaging read by Ellen Moorhouse, who writes the Trash Talk column for The Toronto Star.

Moorhouse's story details some of the problems associated with being green (in an environmentally aware way, not as Kermit the Frog bemoaned about his color): Boomerang is made from recycled paint—does the name make sense now?— but the manufacturer recently switched to a black plastic (polypropylene) bucket with a metal handle. Problem is, according to Moorhouse, empty steel paint cans are accepted by municipal recycling programs in Ontario but plastic pails aren't yet. Read the rest of Moorhouse's article.

As for greener paints themselves, knowing which finishes have the lowest level of volatile organic compounds isn't a cinch either, as we found for our March 2009 report on interior paints. Our tests uncovered some surprising information on the VOC levels touted by paint makers and what's in the can.—Steven H. Saltzman | e-mail | Twitter | Forums | Facebook

Essential information: Read our coverage of the statewide recycled-paint program in Oregon and efforts to establish paint recycling in Minnesota.

When it comes to showerheads, some Americans don't go with the (low) flow

Americans are adopting some green behaviors, but according to this recent Wall Street Journal report, they aren't going with the flow when it comes to water-conserving showerheads.

That news jibes with a survey by the Consumer Reports National Research Center on green behavior, which found that 83 percent of Americans run their dishwasher only with full loads but only 27 percent of Americans have installed a low-flow showerhead.

The WSJ story notes that many Americans are removing flow restrictors from showerheads to circumvent the 2.5-gallon-per-minute (gpm) federal limit on showerheads. There's also a reference to the celebrated Seinfeld episode in which Kramer and Newman buy black-market unrestricted showerheads. Other Americans are getting around the federal regulations by installing multiple-fixture shower towers that use more water even with each showerhead meeting federal standards.

Almost four in five states anticipate water shortages by 2013, which could lead to steeper rates and penalties for excessive use by consumers in those states. Enduring drought conditions are leading municipalities to weigh tighter rules. Florida's Miami-Dade County is capping showerheads flow rate at 1.5 gpm, and residents of San Antonio will face a 2-gpm restriction when they shower.

You can save water without having to endure a feeble flow. Here's how:

• Buy a quality low-flow fixture. Our August 2009 report on showerheads found models that meet the 2.5-gpm flow rate and provide a satisfying shower; one American Standard model also stood out for its stimulating flow (ratings are available to subscribers). Check out available incentives for low-flow toilets and faucet accessories.

• Use a model with a shutoff button. A U.S. Environmental Protection Agency-commissioned study showed that retrofitting a home with a 1.75-gpm showerhead or a 2.5-gpm handheld unit with a shutoff button led to a 28 percent reduction in water use.

• Take showers instead of baths. And limit your shower to 5 minutes or less. Several water companies are even offering customers free shower timers.—Gian Trotta | e-mail | Twitter | Forums | Facebook

Essential Information: Remember, if you install a multihead shower tower, it could tax your water heater. See our water-heater calculator and reports on storage-tank, tankless, and solar water heaters for more details. And if you're concerned about news reports on a harmful bacteria that can build up in some showerheads, read this blog post.

Can newfangled utility bills persuade Americans to use less energy?

You've swapped out your old thermostats for programmable models, replaced inefficient incandescent lightbulbs with the best compact fluorescent lightbulbs, followed our advice for saving energy at home, weatherized your attic, and taken advantage of tax credits and other incentives for energy-related home improvements.

There are still other ways to squeeze some more energy savings out of your home, and your utility company might be able to help—not by giving you an energy audit or lowering your rates (like that'd ever happen!). Rather, some utilities nationwide are sending out new bills that show your energy use compares to those of your neighbors, with a goal of getting you to keep up (or is that down?) with the Joneses. See the image below for some of the detailed information customers receive.

National Grid is sending 50,000 of its Massachusetts customers bills (shown) with data showing how their gas and electricity consumption compares to the 100 nearest and 20 thriftiest households of similar size in the area, according to this Boston Globe report. "There's obviously a little bit of a competitive aspect to it, to see if you can one-up your neighbors in terms of energy savings,'' said Monica Ibrahim, program manager for the National Grid program, told the paper.

The bills also contain energy-saving tips to spur energy hogs to consume less. A nationally representative survey by the Consumer Reports National Research Center found that 55 percent of respondents had done very little to conserve energy in their homes.

The technology for the consumption comparisons in these bills comes from Arlington, Virginia-based software company Opower, which has established partnerships with 21 utilities nationwide, including the Sacramento Municipal Utility District and Puget Sound Energy. "We're best known for use of behavioral science to show people how their energy usage compares to that of their neighbors," says Opower CEO Daniel Yates, whose company's software draws upon psychologist Robert B. Cialdini's theories of persuasion. National Grid hopes Opower-assisted bills will persuade customers to cut household energy consumption by 3 percent a year over the next decade. (Learn more about how the billing is designed to work.)

If your own utility still isn't using such high-tech bills, you might want to look into Google's PowerMeter or Microsoft's Hohm services or one of the watt meters we tested to ferret out energy-wasting appliances and practices.—Gian Trotta | e-mail | Twitter | Forums | Facebook

Essential Information: Our Energy Saving & Green Living guide offers other advice, including updated coverage of the $300 million State Energy Efficient Appliance Rebate Program, aka cash for clunkers for appliances.

 

By the Numbers: Federal funding for weatherization eclipses cash for clunkers for appliances money

$4,728,750,000

Money allocated to the U.S. Department of Energy's Weatherization Assistance Program under the 2009 Recovery Act. To date, the program has doled out about half of its multibillion-dollar funding for a variety of weatherization projects, such as properly insulating an attic.

New York tops the WAP recipient list with $394,686,513, followed by Texas ($326,975,732), Pennsylvania ($252,793,062), Michigan (243,398,975), and Illinois ($242,526,619).

The nearly $5 billion is a boatload of money, but if spent wisely it could go a long way toward saving millions of Americans money and helping the environment. A recent report from Harvard University's Joint Center for Housing Studies estimates that residential energy use would decline by 22.5 percent if the roughly 120 million homes built before 2000 were made as efficient as those built since then.

Perhaps that potential significant impact explains why federal weatherization money so far exceeds that given to the $300 million State Energy Efficient Appliance Rebate Program, also known as cash for clunkers for appliances. Visit the Energy Star Web site for information on special offers and rebates for appliances, heating and cooling equipment, water heaters, and the like, and find out how much money your state has available for rebates, weatherization programs, and more.

You'll find more information on other federal and state energy-efficiency programs on the Database of State Incentives for Renewable Energy Web site.—Gian Trotta | e-mail | Twitter | Forums | Facebook

Essential information: Our Energy Saving & Green Living guide can help you cut your carbon footprint and save money. Follow our overall advice for using less energy at home, and remember that some projects might qualify for federal tax credits.

By the Numbers: Energy Star homes reach major milestone

1 million

Number of Energy Star-qualified homes built nationwide since the program debuted in 1995. These homes have saved Americans $1.2 billion in energy costs, reduced greenhouse-gas emissions by 22 billion pounds, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. The top 10 markets for Energy Star homes are Houston, Dallas, Las Vegas, Phoenix, Los Angeles, New York City, Tucson, San Antonio, Sacramento, and San Diego.

To qualify for Energy Star, says the EPA, a new home must be at least 15 percent more efficient than homes built to the 2004 International Residential Code and include other features that make them 20 to 30 percent more efficient than standard home, such as effective insulation, high-performance windows, and efficient heating and cooling equipment, appliances, lighting, and ventilation. (The image below, from Energy Star, shows typical locations of air leaks in a home. Check out our recent Weekend Project on weatherizing your attic.)

"This is an amazing achievement for the Energy Star program, but the real winners are the 1 million American families who have the chance to save money and keep harmful pollution out of the air. That's great news for anyone who wants to cut costs and protect our planet," said EPA Administrator Lisa P. Jackson in a press release. "We're going to keep the number of Energy Star homes growing, because every new Energy Star home is a step towards lower costs, cleaner air, and communities that are environmentally and economically sustainable."

To boost the energy efficiency of your home and save some real money, start with these simple, inexpensive steps and follow our overall advice for using less energy at home.—Celia Kuperszmid Lehrman | e-mail | Twitter | Forums | Facebook

Essential information: If you haven't done so already, get your heating system tuned up and install a programmable thermostat. Also refer to our buyer's guides to furnaces (more details here), water heaters, pellet stoves, and solar water heaters, and find the best compact fluorescent lightbulbs. Remember, some projects might qualify for federal tax credits. If you want energy-efficient appliances, stay up on the news related to the $300 million State Energy Efficient Appliance Rebate Program, also known as cash for clunkers for appliances.

 

Save money by replacing incandescent holiday lights with LED versions

If your holiday lights have seen better days, you might want to replace incandescent versions with more-efficient and more-durable LED lights.

Our tests of mini, C7, and C9 holiday lights showed that while incandescent versions did burn more brightly than LEDs, the LEDs were much more durable, ran cooler and posed a lower fire risk, and cost less to operate. While the initial cost of LEDs is higher than that of incandescents, we found that LEDs used 1 to 3 kilowatt hours of energy compared with 12 to 105 kWh for incandescents, generating savings of $1 to $11. Watch the video for more details.

Home Depot is offering an added incentive to trade in your played-out strings. For each string of used or broken incandescent holiday lights you turn in through November 15, Home Depot will give you $3 off any new LED lights you buy. The retailer says it will recycle any lights you turn in.

Remember, LED lights are not foolproof, as evidenced by this March 2009 recall issued by the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission. The lights presented a fire hazard and lacked an easily verifiable label from Underwriters Laboratories or any other recognized testing laboratory indicating that the product had met all safety and construction standards. To keep things safe at your home, follow these precautions for holiday lights:

• Buy only products certified by a recognized testing laboratory, including UL, ETL, or CSA. For UL-listed products, look for the silver- or gold-foil UL label on the cord itself. Labels with the green holographic UL logo indicate the lights are for indoor use only, while those with the red holographic UL logo can be used indoors and out.

• Before you hang them, inspect light strings carefully for loose connections, bare or frayed wires, missing bulbs, and cracked sockets.

• Don't use indoor string lights for more than a 90-day season without inspecting. Don't use outdoor lights for more than three holiday seasons.

• Don't connect more than three strings of push-in bulbs or up to 50 screw-in bulbs together. There are no specific limitations for LED light strings.

• Since the lights' electrical cords might contain lead, refrain from eating while hanging lights and wash your hands after handling them.—Gian Trotta | e-mail | Twitter | Forums | Facebook

Essential information: Save money on lighting elsewhere in your house by using Energy Star-qualified compact fluorescent lightbulbs. Read our latest report on CFLs and check out the ratings of these energy-saving bulbs (available to subscribers).

By the Numbers: Where electricity prices are highest, Energy Star shines

38 percent

Market share of Energy Star-qualified appliances in Connecticut, Hawaii, and New Hampshire, according to the U.S. Department of Energy. As we reported yesterday, consumers in those states pay some of the highest electricity rates in the country.

“Market share for Energy Star qualified appliances is generally higher than average in states and regions with longstanding or very active energy efficiency programs (e.g., California and Vermont) and those with particularly high electricity prices (e.g., Hawaii, Connecticut, and New Hampshire),” reads the U.S. Department of Energy’s Refrigerator Market Profile: 2009 (PDF).

The state average market share for Energy Star-qualified appliances is 30 percent, but the share in West Virginia, Louisiana, and Kentucky is the lowest in the country, ranging from 23 to 25 percent. Residents in those states pay about 4 cents less per kilowatt hour than the national average of almost 12 cents and about 15 cents less than consumers in Hawaii.

If you’re in the market for new appliances, read up on the U.S. Department of Energy’s $300 million State Energy Efficient Appliance Rebate Program, aka cash for clunkers for appliances, and find the best places to buy appliances.—Daniel DiClerico | e-mail | Twitter | Forums | Facebook

Essential information: “Energy Star Has Lost Some Luster” details some issues we found related to the Energy Star program.

Getting Their Goats: Another town turns to four-legged creatures for outdoor cleanup

The Men Who Stare At Goats, the new comedy starring Jeff Bridges, Ewan McGregor, and George Clooney (shown below holding a cast member), is about a secret U.S. Army unit. But based on some news reports we’ve seen since spring, it could be a tale about landscapers who use goats instead of gas-powered equipment ton the job.

The latest town to go goat is Andover, Massachusetts, which has accepted one resident’s offer to use her goats to control weeds and undergrowth at a local nature preserve, according to this Boston Globe report. The six goats could handle a half-acre of grass, brush, and other growth every three days. Another benefit is that what the goats leave behind “will help the grass, as long as it doesn’t smell so bad that people won’t use it,” as one resident observed.

The news comes on the hooves, er, heels of the town of Hempstead, New York, and Google also deploying goats and some property owners in England using wallabies for landscaping work.

Goats might not be for you, but if you’re hoping to minimize your involvement in yard work, note that our tests have shown that some robotic mowers aren’t good performers. And if you’d like to go greener when tending to your property, keep in mind that some reel lawn mowers have not shined in our tests, though the top-performing electric lawn mowers and string trimmers  can rival some gasoline-powered models in performance and also produce no exhaust emissions. If you’d like to replace your gas-powered mower with an electric model, take advantage of a mower-exchange program.

At this time, we have no plans to test goats or other herbivores for next May’s report on lawn mowers and tractors.—Gian Trotta | e-mail | Twitter | Forums | Facebook

Essential information: Tap into the yard-care tips in our Fall Cleanup Guide.