JAMAICA — “This is a real passion of mine,” says Keith Abbott, of Thermal House in Jamaica, who turned his combined love of the environment and New England's old buildings into a profession.
“I was born and raised in Vermont, and the environment is part of our lives on a daily basis. Part of the beauty of the area is not just the land, but the villages and the architecture.”
“Thermal House is a building performance company that focuses on improving the energy efficiency and indoor air quality of new and existing structures,” Abbott says. “We're doing our best to help people from an environmental and financial standpoint, helping to reduce people's carbon footprint and helping people by reducing the amount they spend on energy.”
Abbott says the best way for people to conserve energy is not using new technologies like biodiesel, or using wind or solar energy.
“They sound really sexy, but regardless how we produce our energy, it doesn't come completely free of any impact or cost,” Abbott says. “However we produce our energy, the best approach we can take is to be as efficient as possible,” Abbott says.
Abbott says when people confuse the concepts of efficiency and conservation, “they think it means doing without.”
“We're not talking about that,” he says. “We do rigorous diagnostic procedures to allow us to determine where problems exist and remediate those problems.”
Getting comfy
“The problem with a lot of the buildings we have is that they were built in a different time, when the use of energy was completely different and our perception of comfort and cost was completely different,” Abbott says.
When oil was inexpensive, all Vermonters had to do was turn up the heat, but “when oil is $3 a gallon you cringe and you're still not necessarily comfortable,” he says. “The fact of the matter is there is a lot that people can do to be comfortable.”
“We're not going to tear down every old building and rebuild these into energy efficient modern homes,” Abbott adds. “The idea is to make these older buildings as efficient as possible.
Abbott's clients' average return on investment is 20 percent, and their investment “will pay for itself in five years,” he says.
Likening his services to automotive maintenance, “It's like giving your house a tune-up,” he says. “If your car is running crappy, people have no problem calling a mechanic, but there aren't really any house mechanics out there. We are that person. People don't know you don't have to suffer. There are people who can actually help you with this.”
Addressing lack of insulation - or old insulation that is not effective - and air leakage is key.
“For every leak people can feel in their homes, there are probably 30 times [as many] they can't see,” he says. When you add up the leaks, he notes, “you might as well have your door wide open.”
“The only way to find them is with diagnostic equipment like infrared cameras and blower doors,” Abbott says.
Local solutions to global issues
Fixing these problems has not only environmental but also financial advantages.
As an incentive, Efficiency Vermont, an independent, non-profit organization under contract to the Vermont Public Service Board, will help people make these improvements on their homes more affordable by buying down the interest on loans to allow people to recognize immediate net savings.
A homeowner taking such measures could eventually help change America's foreign policy, which is driven by our need for oil.
“Most people understand that, but some people would like to turn a blind eye to it,” Abbott says. “We're not going to find a magical solution overnight. The best thing we can do is to be as absolutely efficient as possible and use less."