Doing solar backwards and whats next to conserve energy

[nomadh]

Well I got my solar installed and its doing well. Its 5.7kw and will offset about 1/2 my current bill. I went ahead and did it to get under the net metering 1.0. So now I'm looking at conservation and insulation. Totally backwards, I know. I hope to eventually make my usage match my PV system. It probably seems strange but I think this isn't such a bad plan for me. First my PV project woke up the household and especially my wife to how wasteful we can be. And now that we have a monthly payment to make on the system we need to make up more of that payment with lowered power bills where ever we can. Also our predicted power use is a crapshoot. I have 2 older children that could leave at any time, or not. I have a father in law that is very out of it and can leave his tv on, fridge open, heater or AC on or sometime all of them without notice. But then he also gets us a medical baseline discount. With his health he could be gone at any time also. Then I also have my basically homeless sis in law and her 2 kids that could certainly be gone at any time. So my PV system was sot of a leap of faith. Its been nice and I'm seeing my bills cut in half and on some giddy days 90% and one blessed day we actually had a net credit for the day of 2 kw. Woohoo!
But this is about what to do next.
I have older but good dual pane windows on most of the north side. Old 60's junk on the south side and no windows east or west. I have a new ac heater system and its a tri level home. I know I certainly need attic insulation and am planning on blown in cellulose in at least the upper floor above the bedrooms. I also have a whole house fan upstairs that works fair when the outside temp drops. Except its overpowered for the attic venting so it takes tooo long to run the fan. Also I can tell its pumping some of the hot smelly attic air back into the house. So that's not good. I definitely want to put in some more venting probably a gable louvered vent that kicks open when the fan is on.
So the venting and attic insulation are my sure bets I think. One think I'm considering is air sealing my attic or in my case attics being a tri level. And if I do that it should certainly be before I add insulation. If I do air sealing I'm thinking of doing it myself with a handyman I have some prepaid labor already covered.
So what is the opinion on air sealing? Also cooling the attic during the day with active vent fan, maybe a solar one. Also crawl space insulation?
What will be worth the effort and cost to help cut energy usage or help comfort.


Been doing some reading and ran into some nice info I though I'd share. Lots of experts saying attic venting is bunk. I just had a home improvement contractor saying air sealing isn't worth the hassle. I think while I'm up there I should spend some time on my ducting and at least check it all out. I'm hoping if I put the insulation all over the ducting it will help with the attic heat or cold that must invade them when in use.
If anyone else has good links or comments please let me know.
Thanks




Air sealing attics
greenbuildingadvisor.com/how-air-seal-attic-introduction

Attic hatch sealing
greenbuildingadvisor.com/blogs/dept/guest-blogs/how-insulate-and-air-seal-attic-hatch

Ducting
greenbuildingadvisor.com/blogs/dept/musings/keeping-ducts-indoors

New windows only save a few %
greenbuildingadvisor.com/blogs/dept/musings/what-should-i-do-my-old-windows

PV attic fans
fsec.ucf.edu/en/publications/html/FSEC-GP-171-00/

attic venting
greenbuildingadvisor.com/blogs/dept/musings/all-about-attic-venting

Whole house fan
greenbuildingadvisor.com/blogs/dept/musings/fans-attic-do-they-help-or-do-they-hurt

Whole house fan guy
wholehousefanguy.com/

Energy upgrade for beginners
greenbuildingadvisor.com/blogs/dept/musings/energy-upgrades-beginners

Unvented crawl space
greenbuildingadvisor.com/blogs/dept/musings/building-unvented-crawl-space

Duct Sealing
greenbuildingadvisor.com/blogs/dept/musings/sealing-ducts-what-s-better-tape-or-mastic


Duplicate thread. Continue here: https://www.solarpaneltalk.com/forum...onserve-energy

[DanKegel]

Me too. I have a house with no insulation, lots of leaks, and I just put solar on
At least I did replace an old failing fridge and the incandescent light bulbs, and stopped using a space heater; that really helped cut power use.
How old is your fridge? And have you got rid of all the frequently-used incandescents already?

Looks like you've been reading some good sources (except maybe for wholehousefanguy, who looks like more of a booster).
I'm not a fan of whole house fans or powered attic vents after reading up on them, I doubt they pay off.
Air sealing and insulating is definitely on my to-do list, as is fixing or replacing the nasty leaking air ducts.

I suspect a motivated DIY person could make a big dent in air leakage, and cut AC bills, but I don't know how to quantify it.
An energy audit might help, if you can get one without paying much. Sometimes utilities offer them. (And even offer rebates on things like insulation.)

And then there's Mr. Money Mustache, who has a thing or two to say about energy efficiency. You might enjoy his site. (The guy I sit next to at work likes him a lot.)

[Wy_White_Wolf]

Look through 1/2 plan at builditsolar.com and that may give you some ideas on how to get your usage down. Surprising how the little things have the biggest return.

WWW