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Welcome to United’s PowerTalk podcast, a production of United Cooperative Services. We’re a distribution co-op serving 79,000 members, 110,000 meters and more than 34,000 internet subscribers! Tune in to each episode to hear stories about service, power, and the people working behind the scenes to provide our membership with exceptional service and value. Learn more about the cooperative and how we serve our community in North Texas at ucs.net.
John Davis:
School is out for summer, and I'm walking the halls without a
pass with a team of United's energy solutions specialists as they
take on Bluff Dale ISD. They're going to find out where the
buildings are losing energy and energy dollars.
Come along with me, and we'll tell you what they find.
Then we'll discuss what this free service can do to help members
save on their energy bills.
Hello and welcome to United's PowerTalk.
I'm John Davis, and for those of you joining us for the first
time,
welcome. If you're joining us again,
we're glad to have you back.
United PowerTalk is your cooperative's new podcast where we tell
you stories of service,
power and the people behind it all.
Join us to learn more about the people at your co-op and how we
deliver exceptional service and value each day for both
electricity and high speed internet.
Well, I don't have to remind you that summer is here,
members.
And with the high temperatures outside,
come high electric usage to stay cool.
In the last episode, we talked about electric affordability with
United's CEO,
Cameron Smallwood. So this month,
we've gathered two of United's team of energy solutions
specialists to discuss how they can help our members save energy
and energy dollars.
And the best part is they give you this help totally free of
charge.
I have with me Seth Rosser, who is United's energy solutions
manager,
and Eric Compton, who is one of United's energy solutions
specialists.
Both of these gentlemen have crawled under houses and gone
through hot attics to find some of the worst ways members are
losing energy and money. Gentlemen,
thank you so much for joining us.
Seth Rosser:
Hey, John. Thanks for inviting us.
Eric Compton:
Yeah. Thanks, John.
John Davis:
I don't know if all of United's members know that we actually
have a team of people dedicated to helping them save energy.
And so, Seth, let's start with you.
When did you start doing energy audits,
and how many has United performed?
Seth Rosser:
So United was offering energy audits well before I was hired in
2008.
Looking back from 2007 to now, we've performed over 17,000 energy
audits.
John Davis:
Wow, that's a lot of homes.
Seth Rosser:
Yes, sir.
John Davis:
How many energy solutions specialists do you oversee?
Seth Rosser:
I oversee three energy solutions specialists and one energy
solutions coordinator.
In all, four of them perform home energy audits.
John Davis:
What's summertime like for you? Are you guys like slammed or?
Seth Rosser:
Yes. Typically during the summer,
energy audits increase and so do rebates.
John Davis:
What drives that?
Seth Rosser:
The weather. Definitely higher, higher temperatures lead to the
AC's running longer and
more usage.
John Davis:
Okay. And I guess people see that on their bill,
and they start wanting to know how they can stop that.
Seth Rosser:
That's right.
John Davis:
Okay. What does it take to be a good energy auditor?
What makes you and your team some of the best in the country?
Seth Rosser:
The number one requirement is you must care about people and have
empathy for others.
John Davis:
Yeah.
Seth Rosser:
So all of my guys truly care about United's members and want to
help them.
The second requirement is an energy auditor must be an analytical
thinker and a problem solver.
Every home and every tenant is different,
and they all waste energy differently.
When my guys encounter a problem at a home or business,
they will not give up until they identify the culprit,
leading to the higher than average usage.
John Davis:
Wow. That's great.
Seth Rosser:
I would say my guys are the best in the country because they're
great educators and very good at breaking down complex energy
usage and making it easy for members to understand.
John Davis:
Tell me a little bit about what happens during one of these free
energy audits.
How does it, how long does it last?
And what can a member expect, whether they're a homeowner,
and then maybe whether they're a business?
Seth Rosser:
So an energy audit typically takes about an hour to an hour and a
half.
The energy auditor will sit down with the member to start out
with,
go over daily usage, monthly usage,
bills.
They'll go around the home or business,
and they'll try to identify any way for a member to save energy.
They're looking at heating and air conditioning systems,
water heaters,
insulation in the attic, ductwork,
ventilation for the attic.
The list is long. At the conclusion of the energy audit,
they'll sit down with the member and go over their findings and
prioritize, you know, which energy saving measure they would
tackle first.
John Davis:
So I take it you've been in a good chunk of those 17,000 homes.
So throughout that time of doing that,
what are the most common ways you're seeing members are losing
money as you do these energy audits?
Seth Rosser:
I would say a lot of them are focused around heating and air
conditioning just because that's the highest driver.
Anything from mismanaging thermostats to clogged filters,
dirty outside units,
ductwork, leaky ductwork in the attic either sucking in attic air
or blowing conditioned air into the attic.
John Davis:
And I've heard this a time or two in my time here about I don't
even touch the thermostat.
Can we talk about that myth or that misunderstanding that if I
don't touch the thermostat,
my bill won't go up and down?
Seth Rosser:
Yeah. It's all weather-driven. So the hotter it gets,
you know, it's still trying to cool that house.
The hotter it gets, the difference between the temperature and
the home is greater and it runs more.
John Davis:
Gotcha. Now, I know energy audits are one way that members can
get a tailor made energy saving plan for their
residents or their business, but we've got a lot more to offer
our members,
right, than just that. What are some of the other programs and
ways our members can get ahead of the heat here and start
saving today?
Seth Rosser:
United offers many different rebates for energy efficiency
measures.
One of the most widely used rebates that we offer is HVAC tuneup.
If a member gets their heating and air conditioning tuned up,
we will offer them $75 per unit per year to get that done.
John Davis:
Oh, great. What does that do? I mean, tell me like, how does an
AC tuneup impact the unit's ability
to save energy?
Seth Rosser:
So the HVAC professional will come in there and tune it up.
They will check refrigerant levels.
You know, if the refrigerant level is low,
then it's going to be running more,
and the member might not even notice it.
A member is going to notice if their refrigerant levels way low,
but they might not notice,
you know, just a little difference.
Other things we offer are bring your own thermostat program.
During the summer months in June,
July, August and September, we try to predict when the ERCOT grid
is going to peak. If we can lower our usage during those time
periods,
then it saves us the following year,
the next 12 months.
So members can enroll their Honeywell or Nest thermostats and
allow us to try to use
their heating and air conditioning units to avoid those peaks.
We'll pre-cool their home before the peak happens,
and then we'll raise the temperature during when we think the
peak is going to happen.
John Davis:
Okay.
Seth Rosser:
The members in control, if they're home, they're uncomfortable,
they can override that
and cool the house down.
John Davis:
Okay. So it gets uncomfortable,
they're not locked into being uncomfortable.
Okay. What other programs?
Seth Rosser:
We have a program called Beat the Peak.
This is just a voluntary communication program.
If a member signs up, we'll either send them an email or a text
message letting them know that today is a possible peak day.
The members then can decrease their usage during that time
period.
Every little bit helps. You know,
if all members collectively are using less power during that
time, it saves the co-op power.
John Davis:
Oh, great.
Seth Rosser:
We don't incentivize it. It's just a voluntary
program. Do what you can.
John Davis:
So it kind of goes along with the bring your own thermostat
program,
and the idea is to save energy so that we're not paying quite as
much the next year.
Seth Rosser:
That's correct.
John Davis:
Okay. Excellent.
Seth Rosser:
Another program that we have is United's solar solution.
We started offering a solar solution to our members in 2024.
A lot of people aren't aware that we can actually install solar
for our members.
We're not salesmen. You know, we're not going to cold call you.
We're not going to walk door to door.
But if a member is interested in solar,
we recommend that they come to us,
and we can give them an unbiased proposal and let them know what
solar can do for them.
I mean, just yesterday, I had two members call me saying that
they had someone cold call them saying that the
ERCOT grid, they had given them a report that their house was
using more power than what it should.
So they were trying to get in the door,
and I guarantee it was a solar salesman.
John Davis:
I got you. I got you. So if they're not ringing your doorbell,
they're calling your phone.
Seth Rosser:
Mhm.
John Davis:
Eric, I want to turn to you now.
And I also want to say thank you to you and also to Labeth
Warren,
who's Bluff Dale ISD's new business manager,
for letting me tag along with you guys on this huge energy audit.
That was great fun.
Eric Compton:
Yes, sir. Thank you, John, for the invite today,
and I look forward to this.
John Davis:
Why was United at Bluff Dale school buildings?
How did the process start, so members can get an idea of how do I
do this?
Eric Compton:
Ms. Warren, who just became the new business manager for Bluff
Dale ISD,
she reached out to us and was just looking for ways to help the
school save on their bills,
and also look for more energy efficient ideas for the school for
the future.
John Davis:
Oh, right. Now I know you guys were in multiple buildings.
I know you guys covered about 18,000ft²,
and I know there's probably some residents who are listening to
this who are wondering, you know,
how does an energy audit at multiple school buildings teach me
anything about saving energy at my house?
Can homeowners learn from this experience?
Eric Compton:
Sure they can. When you look at just the basics of a conditioned
structure,
you have a lot of this, a lot of similar things.
You know, HVAC, water heating, air infiltration areas,
insulation.
There's a lot of common areas that compare for both residential
and commercial
spaces that both of them really need to focus on to gain energy
efficiency.
John Davis:
Okay, so the space may be bigger,
but the techniques are the same,
whether it's a home, a business,
whatever.
Eric Compton:
Oh yes. Definitely.
John Davis:
Okay, I'm going to play this clip for you and for our listeners
from the audit.
I thought this was germane not only to Bluffdale,
but also to other people from homes and businesses.
Let's listen to this real quick:
What are the big challenges with a space this size?
How do you guys find all the things that need fixed in a
relatively short amount of time?
Eric Compton:
That is key. You just got to really focus on the big things.
Like we already found out their water heating is gas,
and so they're not having to focus on that for electric.
But, you know, their next thing is AC,
and then lighting is going to be the next thing.
For commercial lighting is something we really like to focus on
because they have a ton of lights compared to a regular house,
you know, so we really want to look at like what,
you know, these bulbs might be a 45 watt bulb.
There's four of them in each fixture,
so they change that out to LED.
John Davis:
And still be just as bright.
Eric Compton:
Exactly, probably even brighter.
You can tell these kind of got that yellowish tint to them.
So they, you know, go to LED is really going to save them a lot
of money and a lot of usage down the road.
John Davis:
What kind of energy savings do folks who do this and listen to
your advice often wind up seeing?
Eric Compton:
I mean, you look at lights, period.
I mean, you look how many lights are just in this hallway.
You know, you change those out to LED, you're going to see a
significant
savings just with that. (end clip)
John Davis:
Now while this building is large,
is this the kind of advice you give everyone?
Eric Compton:
Yes, sir. This definitely is. We want our members to focus on
HVAC.
So in a commercial space or a residential space,
that is your number one focus there.
John Davis:
Really?
Eric Compton:
Controlling that and how long that HVAC runs,
you know, insulation,
allowing air infiltration, heat infiltration,
those little things control how long the HVAC is going
to run, thermostat settings, just how you live in that space,
how you work is going to control the runtime of that
unit, which is going to, in turn,
control that usage at the end of the month.
John Davis:
Let's talk about lights, because I know you had mentioned in the
clip,
there's so many lights in the business compared to lights in the
home,
but that's a fairly easy place for people to start nowadays as
far as
saving energy, right?
Eric Compton:
Definitely. LED the advancement that we're seeing in LEDs now.
You can go get a recessed LED light or even just a regular LED
light bulb that is going to
run about 5 to 8W compared to, you know,
you look at a traditional light bulb with 60W,
you know, and so that's a big savings,
just changing out one light bulb.
So when you go into a commercial space like this,
a lot of commercial space has many,
many lights. And so if they have the old school tube lights in
there,
the four light fixtures, if they can go in there and change those
out to an LED light fixture,
they're going to see a big savings.
John Davis:
Okay. There was another interesting discovery in the elementary
school ceiling.
And I thought this was interesting for two reasons.
One, it was an old building built in the 80s.
And two, it was discovered in a place where people might not
think to look,
and that's the attic space. Let me just play this clip here
because I thought I'd like to know your thoughts on the moment.
He's looking up into the ceiling of a closet,
and he discovers something as he's showing his flashlight around.
Let's listen to this:
Bryce Cavazos:
Oh, look at that.
John Davis:
What's going on there, Bryce?
Bryce Cavazos:
So that looks like, so there's missing insulation right here.
There's definitely a void in the attic where heat is going to be
able to get through this room right here, but that looks like
water heater pipes right there,
some warm water.
John Davis:
How do you make a drop ceiling like this,
which is in all kinds of schools and buildings?
How do you make this energy efficient?
Eric Compton:
Their best bet is to do metal building spray foam would be the
best bet.
But you see, like what they did is they just laid batting on top
of the false ceiling.
John Davis:
So the spray foam insulation or spray fiberglass insulation makes
a huge difference on it?
Eric Compton:
It does, especially on metal buildings,
spray foam, metal roofs.
The spray foam is the best, and usually with the metal buildings,
they only do like a three inch. I believe it is,
a 2.5in insulation up there.
And it works really good, you know,
like for shops and barns and stuff like that.
John Davis:
Gotcha.
Eric Compton:
Same, same with
these buildings here. (end clip)
John Davis:
Okay. When it comes to attic spaces,
how important is insulation,
and how much weight should homeowners or businesses give it when
they're trying to conserve energy and they're thinking,
okay, I'm going to do some investment on energy efficiency at my
place.
Where am I going to go first?
Eric Compton:
Yes, this is a good topic, John.
When you look at a space's insulation,
you think of it like a blanket,
a blanket for that conditioned space.
Parts of the year, you're trying to keep heat in. The other parts
of the year, especially in Texas, you're trying to keep that heat
out. And when you look at that blanket,
the thickness of that blanket determines how much heat it's going
to basically fight off and hold back.
You know, at United, we recommend an R38 or 17in of blown in
fiberglass.
You know, so heat exchange is a big factor,
especially in a residential space.
When you're looking at all the heat infiltration areas that we go
over on our energy audit checklist with the member,
a lot of those are easy and cheap to fix,
which in turn help keep that,
right now this time of the year,
can help keep that heat out so that AC,
that HVAC system is just not having to run as long.
You know, that does help lower the usage, just focusing on air
infiltration or
insulation at that space.
John Davis:
Gotcha. I was thinking back to that moment where we,
somebody tested the temperature of the metal roof on that
building, and it was about 140 degrees because it was sitting out
in the sun.
And there was nothing on that metal surface,
so that 140 degrees was going down through the
attic space. And the only thing between it and the classroom area
was the drop ceiling and some of the
fiberglass batting. So if they were to say,
use some of the spray foam insulation on that metal
roof, thinking about homeowners who may have a shop or something
like that,
a barn that they use and it's conditioned,
what is that going to do for them?
Eric Compton:
Yes, sir. Especially when you look at spray foam,
you think of a Yeti cup.
You spray foam an attic, when they spray foam it,
they spray foam the whole space,
you know, so like the rafters, they'll spray foam all the rafters
down to any soffit vents if they have them.
Any ventilation will be closed off.
When you look at temperatures in a spray foamed attic,
it's typically within ten degrees difference
than inside the conditioned space of the house.
John Davis:
Really?
Bryce Cavazos:
It never, you know, it doesn't fluctuate.
We're like, we were seeing that 140 degrees,
and it was only 80 something outside and that metal roof was 140.
They had about six inches of insulation up there,
and that was just not fighting all that 140 degree
temperature. Whereas if they spray foam like they did in the high
school,
it would completely block all that heat exchange that's happening
in the attic.
When we look at air infiltration areas,
we look at the supply vents.
If the supply vents are not sealed off,
that heat from the attic is just making its way into the
conditioned space. We can see that with our infrared cameras.
When the AC is blowing blue and purple on that infrared camera,
and you can see all these orange and red streaks coming out,
that heat is just heat chases cold,
and so it's just pouring into that conditioned space.
Whereas with a spray foam, it stops at all together just because
that foam is able to block all that outside
heat, so you're keeping it out.
John Davis:
That blows my mind that you can keep the attic that maybe ten
degrees warmer than
what the living space is. If anybody's ever crawled up into a hot
attic in the summertime,
man, that that is reason enough to consider that.
And, I'm sure it's going to save on the bills.
Eric Compton:
One more thing with that, John,
while I'm thinking about it.
If you think about, you know, retrofitting an attic space with
spray foam,
when you look in most attic spaces,
you in a traditional house, have their air handler and their
ducts are up in the attic space.
So if you blow insulation on the deck,
it's helping the conditioned space.
But that AC, that HVAC part of the system is up in the heat of
that attic or the cold of the
attic, and which affects some of the temperatures coming out of
the vents could affect other things.
So when you do that spray foam it,
it's basically putting it in that almost conditioned space
temperature, and you're not having to fight those high or low
temperatures throughout the year.
John Davis:
Gotcha. And your AC isn't running in a hot attic trying to cool
the space below and struggling up in the attic because of the
heat that's up there. That's kind of what you're saying.
Eric Compton:
Yes, sir.
John Davis:
Okay, cool. All right. There's one final clip that I want to play
for you guys because I know this is in a large space,
but I think this can apply to residential applications too,
as well as homes that have more than one air
conditioner, more than one thermostat.
I'll set the scene for you here a little bit.
We've just walked into the gym,
if you'll remember.
And, there's a basketball camp going on in the high school gym.
And you discovered the room has two thermostats, and there's
something
off. Let's listen:
Eric Compton:
So if this one was, you know, we recommend them be within two
degrees of each other because they
will fight against each other, you know.
And if one's blowing hotter or cutting off and the other one's
blowing cooler,
it's just going to make that other one come back on more. So we
recommend like no more than a two degree gap,
just to help keep that from happening.
You see that in a lot of houses,
two story houses, two's different and one set at 80 and the other
one set at 70, and it's just going to fight.
So. Yes, sir. (end clip)
John Davis:
Okay. How does this kind of thermostat discrepancy play out on
the bill at the end of the month?
And how often do you guys see this sort of thing going on when
you do an energy audit?
Eric Compton:
Yeah. So, you know, we found those two thermostats,
and one was set very low and the other one was
set kind of high. So we were looking at one was set to 68,
and one was set to 74 in that gym.
And there was kids in the gym having a basketball camp,
you know,
so there's bodies in this gym. But that temperature on the one
that's 68,
you know, one side of the room is 74.
That one might not be running, which is making that one,
that 68 running a lot more,
having to cool a bigger space. So if that other one's not coming
on,
it's almost like that one unit is having to cool that whole gym,
which is making it run longer.
John Davis:
Run double.
Eric Compton:
And when you look at, you know,
60%, almost up to 60% of your bill is HVAC,
that's, you know, you're using a lot more HVAC at that time,
which is in turn more usage.
In turn, you're going to see that on your bill.
John Davis:
Gotcha. So for couples, I know you're not a couples counselor or
anything,
but for couples who maybe one likes the house to be at 75 and one
likes to be 68.
What advice do you have?
Eric Compton:
Yeah. So we recommend, you know,
keeping them between, you know,
within two degrees difference if possible,
just so they're not having to fight against each other.
But yeah, that two degrees difference gives it a good cushion to
where it's not having to fight against each other.
One of them's keeping another area hotter, which is hot air is
going to cause that other one to
kick on more often.
John Davis:
All right. Well, guys, I think we're coming to the end of our
time here together,
but I want to give you the opportunity before we close to give
our members any final advice or insights on what they can do to
save energy or money. Is there anything else you'd like to add?
Eric Compton:
I just want to plug our free energy audits.
UCS provides free energy audits to our members,
and you're welcome to call in to any office near you or
go online and put in for an energy audit.
Have one of our energy solutions specialists come out,
go through your whole home.
Remember, it's completely free,
so you're not losing on this deal at all.
And in fact, you're probably gaining.
By the time we get done in the home and we go over that checklist
with you,
we have a good honey do list for you to go through and hopefully
help you save a few dollars on your bill each month.
John Davis:
Excellent.
Seth Rosser:
So I know affordability is a big deal these days.
Prices are high on everything. And,
you know, we're, as a co-op,
we keep the rates as low as possible for our members.
But if the members are looking for any ways to save,
don't hesitate to give us a call,
and we can help find ways that you can tackle your higher usage.
John Davis:
Seth, Eric, thank you so much for joining us today.
Well, that's about all the time we have for this episode.
Thank you for joining us here today at United's PowerTalk.
And I want to remind everyone that if you enjoyed this podcast,
make sure you read the full story on Bluff Dale in this August
issue of Texas Co-op Power Magazine.
It's titled "Teachable Moment." United members can find stories
curated just for them in the PowerTalk pages in the center of
Texas Co-op Power Magazine, or even on our PowerTalk online
section at ucs.net.
Okay, everyone, thanks for coming,
and we'll see you again next time.