Three Oak Park homeowners recently opened their homes to share sustainability measures that are making a difference in their lives and in the way they consume energy.
The second of Oak Park Climate Action Network (OPCAN)’s spring open houses on April 6 featured OPCAN volunteers as well as industry experts, detailing what has been done in these homes – and how others might take steps to improve their energy efficiency.
Wendy Greenhouse, the organizer of the walk, said that this educational component is one of the benefits of OPCAN that she likes to tout. “Our Climate Coaches can answer questions or tell you what it’s like to install or use a product. They can offer real life experience from a neighbor,” she said.
On Gunderson Avenue, homeowner Macey Majkrzak shared her home’s green improvements. She and her husband, Lee, purchased their home in 2021 with an eye towards a sustainable renovation. The 1910, American Four-Square stucco home is finished on four levels and is now completely electric.
“We were looking for a project,” she said. “I had started doing sustainability work. Both my husband and I were motivated.”
Their house needed a new HVAC system, so they decided to dig out their basement and add a geothermal heating and cooling system with Advanced Geothermal Plumbing and Heating. The house is now heated and cooled with a geothermal system.
In the basement mechanical room, the geothermal system, as well as the water-to-water unit that fuels the radiant-heated flooring in the basement, keeps the temperature level and comfortable year-round. Majkrzak said that the family doesn’t even need an account with Nicor anymore.
Mark Villareal with Ailey Solar spoke about considerations in putting solar panels on older homes. Ailey Solar typically provides a technical review for customers, during which they consider whether the rafters of the house need to be reinforced to support the solar panels and whether the electric system can handle the load. Villareal said that the 200-amp service is ideal for solar installations.
In the kitchen, a volunteer showed off the family’s induction stove top. Nearby, Joe Konopacki, president and CEO of Insight Property Services, demonstrated the blow test performed on the home’s doors to test the building’s airtightness.
Blow tests are essential to addressing actual sources of leaks in a home in order to target insulating where it will make the most improvement.
Village Trustee Susan Buchanan was one of OPCAN’s many volunteers at the Majkrzak home. Her own interest in sustainability drew her to OPCAN. “Everyone is on their own path to sustainability,” she said. “Everyone is learning what they can do in their homes.”
At a 1927-era brick house on Linden Avenue, a heat pump system replaced a traditional forced-air furnace system. OPCAN volunteer and Oak Park resident Mac Robinet noted that heat pump systems are two to three times more efficient than gas-powered furnaces.
Robinet is passionate about the need for sustainability. “Over time, we’re not going to have a choice,” he predicted. “People in Oak Park shouldn’t be buying new gas furnaces. That’s going backwards.”
He practices what he preaches. Robinet has had a ground-source heat pump since 2011 and said that it has paid for itself many times over.
Matt Nickels, one of the founders of Oak Park’s Energy Matters, was on hand to discuss heat pump insulation. Matt and his brother, both OPRF and Purdue grads, started their business 11 years ago.
Together, the brothers work on energy efficiency and heating and cooling solutions for local customers. “It’s a fun challenge for me as an engineer,” Nickels said.
Most projects are unique given the older housing stock in the area, and Nickels said Energy Matters can act as climate coaches to walk through homes and multi-unit buildings to provide assessments and recommend individual solutions.
The third home on the walk was the recipient of a Green Award from the Village of Oak Park. Homeowner Derek Eder fully electrified his 1916 brick bungalow with rooftop solar, heat pump HVAC and hot water heater and electric appliances. The process is detailed in a video produced by the Village: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4NmpOUFS590.