Over the last few years, I’ve made many improvements to my studio space including taking over a quarter of the garage, and finally, this last year, expanding into another half of the garage. After expanding we updated and reorganized much of the space to serve us in better ways.
As we thought through all we needed as we expanded our business, we knew we wanted to make progress toward being a more sustainable ceramics studio as well. This post will focus on three key areas we made improvements in to make us a more energy-efficient and sustainable studio.
First, any time you add space for making, you must consider lighting. Our lighting was sparse in the garage to begin with, but as we opened up another 50% of the space, it was even more so. We knew we needed to add lighting, so we started looking for lighting that not only reduced our energy consumption, but that was also easy to relocate in case we needed to make changes once we started fully utilizing our space. This led us to 4-ft LED Shop Lights that could be linked together. Not only do the lights produce bright daylight (5,000k), each light also has a pull chain so that we do not have to have every light on, but only the areas we are working in. In addition, these lights do not use a ballast, so they produce less heat and noise pollution as well.
After we took care of our lighting, we needed to consider our energy consumption in terms of heat and air conditioning loss. Since our space is a garage with a 20-foot double garage door, there is quite a bit of energy loss that takes place. After researching a few possible solutions, I landed on Rigid Insulation Board. I needed the insulation to be light enough that the garage door was still usable, but also durable enough not to fall off or get torn up as we used it. I started with ½” insulation board in the recessed panels. Once I had these trimmed and attached to the garage door with liquid nails, I then covered each section of the door with ¾” insulation board as well. This gives an approximate R-Value of 8, which greatly reduced cold and heat transfer from the outside. This was especially helpful during the hottest summer months when the sun shone directly on the garage door from early in the morning until lunchtime.
While the insulation board has helped, we also need to insulate our attic, which I hope to do this winter after making some electrical upgrades and repairs.
Our final consideration was types of electrical usage plans. We are both blessed and cursed to live in an area where energy has been de-regulated. Our choice of energy providers is off the charts, which can cause quite a bit of confusion. However, it also means that energy prices stay somewhat competitive throughout the year. Throughout our time in Texas, we’ve generally gone with some form of natural energy production, such as wind or solar. That hasn’t always been true but as we came upon another renewal at the same time we were thinking through our studio upgrades we decided it was time to stick with 100% renewable energy.
Overall, our energy cost per kwh is more than we would pay for non-renewable energy, but our use is down thanks to added insulation and LED lighting. We believe this is a win for us as well as for the environment.
These upgrades were not big changes, but every step we take to a healthier, happier planet helps us become more aware of other choices we can make to keep our impact on this earth as minimal as possible.
When you think about sustainability in your own life, first think about simple changes that are easy to implement but once they are done they are automatic. Once you start making these choices, it will then be easier to make more difficult choices that require more intentionality and follow up to learn new rhythms.