Ask Gordon Howell what homeowners need to know – and do – before getting serious about alternative energy technologies and he illustrates by asking you to chose between three options for the price of a litre of gasoline: $1, 10 to 80 cents, or $2.50.

“What I’ve just described to you is the cost of electricity from the grid,” says Howell, a professional electrical engineer, principal with Howell Mayhew Engineering Inc. and instructor in NAIT’s new Alternative Energy Technology program.

In most cases, Howell points out, people pick the cheapest option: 10 to 80 cents. And while that’s where homeowners should start with electricity, they often don’t, he adds. Rather than choose the 10 to 80 cent option, which he lines up with taking basic energy efficiency measures, people want to leap from the $1, straight-from-the-grid option to solar power – the premium $2.50-a-litre choice.

“People take a very unenthusiastic view of energy efficiency,” Howell says. “And yet it costs less than the grid.”

Before moving to alternative energy, even with the long-term savings it represents, the first thing homeowners should do is spend the time and money to improve their home’s energy efficiency, says Howell. That is, they should focus on reducing the amount of energy the house uses. Here’s how:

• Add thick insulation in the walls (including in the basement), roof and underneath the basement floor
• Seal the house to make it airtight
• Install a heat recovery ventilator, which provides fresh air and recovers heat from the air going outside
• Install a drain water heat recovery unit, which recovers 50 per cent of the heat from your shower water
• Buy energy-efficient appliances – stove, fridge, freezer, dishwasher, clothes washer and dryer
• Choose energy-efficient light bulbs

“With that you can reduce your house electricity bills by 65 per cent,” Howell says.

For every $1 spent making a home more energy efficient, homeowners will save between $3 and $5 on the cost of a solar electric system, adds Rob Harlan, executive director of the Solar Energy Society of Alberta, and who, along with Howell, teaches the solar photovoltaic and solar thermal course in the alternative energy program.

Get more ideas on how to reduce energy and water consumption from our story about of one Edmonton family that has ditched its car and furnace as part of its commitment to an energy-frugal life.