GREENSBORO – Since Larry and Sherral Lumsden moved into their new home in 2018, reducing their heating bills has been a priority. They have managed to cut their annual oil costs by over $1,500, over the five years since 2020 by adding a wood stove and window inserts.
The Lumsden’s 2,800 square foot home was originally a log cabin, which the previous owners had fully renovated with three bedrooms, four bathrooms, an open-plan kitchen-dining/-living room and a full basement. Heating the home in winter proved expensive with an oil furnace and forced hot water baseboard heating. For the year August 2020 to July 2021, the oil bill totaled $4,000. The following winter, with oil prices rising, the bill went up to $4,200.
In the fall of 2022, Larry added a wood stove as an additional heat source to reduce their oil usage. Wood was plentiful on their property; it just required a bit of labor to harvest, cut and stack it.
The stove cost $900 installed. That winter they managed to save $600 on their oil bill.
photo by Liz Steel
Looking for further savings, they were concerned with the heat loss around their windows, which were drafty. In the Spring of 2023, Sherral heard about the WindowDressers window insert program.
After learning more, the Lumsdens signed up to participate in the Greensboro Energy Committee program that year.
Trained community volunteers measured each window to provide the exact dimensions for the insert materials. That fall, Sherral joined a number of her neighbors to help build window inserts at the combined Craftsbury/Albany/Greensboro community build that was held at the Craftsbury Outdoor Center.
WindowDressers is a nonprofit organization bringing community volunteers of all economic and social situations together to improve the warmth and comfort of interior spaces, lower heating costs and reduce carbon dioxide pollution by producing low-cost insulating window inserts that function as custom, interior-mounted storm windows.
After installing the window inserts the Lumsden’s saw additional savings of $400 on their winter 2023-2024 heating oil bill.
This winter, despite freezing temperatures in January, Larry calculated his oil bill at $2,680, an annual saving of just over $1,500 compared to the winter of 2021- 2022.
After rebates and discounts, the cost of the 20 window inserts the Lumsdens purchased, was $900. They have already saved just over that on their oil bills in the two years they’ve had the inserts
Oil prices have risen from $1.46 per gallon in October 2020 to $3.20 in October 2024, so the energy efficiencies are more than paying for themselves.
Sherral says she has been amazed at the difference the inserts have made to the comfort of their home. “The window inserts are great, they are easy to install, don’t block the light and have made a huge difference to the comfort of our home,” she said.
“Even the bathroom wall, which was always freezing, is now warm to the touch.” Window Dessers inserts are custom-made pine frames wrapped on each side with tightly-sealed, clear plastic film, creating an airspace between the two layers for additional insulation. A compressible foam gasket around the edges creates a tight, friction-based seal on the inside of the window frame to eliminate drafts and makes installation and removal easy.
Community volunteers join representatives from every household receiving window inserts to construct each year’s inserts.
For more information, or to sign up for window inserts go to windowdressers.org/insulating-inserts/
Liz Steel is a member of the Greensboro Energy and Climate Action Committee.
