SANTA CLARA — The founders of a new energy efficiency company in Santa Clara are looking to shake up the insulation business in Southern Utah.
Cofounders Nathan Capps and Jen Keller combined their years of experience in the insulation business to launch Streamline Energy Solutions late last year in an effort to maximize energy savings for homeowners in Southern Utah.
Capps, who has worked in the construction industry most of his life, moved to St. George about six years ago after earning his master’s degree in business administration at Idaho State University.
“I’ve always just kind of loved working with my hands and working on homes and making them better,” Capps said.
Originally from Omaha, Nebraska, Keller also recently made the move to Southern Utah. She has over seven years of experience in the energy industry and holds a master’s degree in global energy management.
“Southern Utah is a great place to be right now,” Keller said. “We’re really trying to tap into new construction in the area.”
Both were drawn to Southern Utah in part for the region’s warm weather. But even with often ideal temperatures, Capps and Keller recognize that the Mojave Desert can run the gamut of extreme heat and freezing winter temperatures – conditions that demand a well-insulated home for optimal HVAC performance.
Streamline Energy Solutions was founded on the idea that energy efficiency is best achieved by taking a holistic approach to weatherization upgrades. The company’s full home audits pinpoint how the entirety of any given house is working to affect energy consumption.
After a whole-home audit identifies “hot spots” in the home, Streamline’s technicians are better able to offer recommendations for maximum energy savings.
Capps says these holistic audits have already helped many Southern Utah homeowners save money and achieve better indoor climate control.
Recently, the Streamline team worked on a home in the Green Valley area in St. George that was built in 2007.
“They called because they noticed that their furnace is constantly running, and so I went up and checked their attic,” Capps said. “They had about 12-13 inches of insulation, which is pretty low for this area.”
A casita on the property was also constantly running either 5 degrees cooler during the wintertime or 5 degrees warmer in the summertime.
“As I performed the energy audit, I found out the air leakage was pretty bad, and so we went up into the attic and used some expandable foam to seal up any electrical penetration that went up into the walls,” Capps explained. “And we added about 10 inches of insulation to the casita and the rest of the house.”
Capps said the result of the insulation wok was immediately recognizable.
“I got a phone call the next day from the homeowner saying that the furnace didn’t kick on because they have a small unit in their casita,” he said, explaining that the temperatures were even between both buildings.
In another recent renovation project, Capps said the company saved a homeowner thousands of dollars in repair work after an audit pinpointed a specific problem area.
“They had a leak in their roof, and so some of their insulation was damaged,” Capps said.
By the time they called Streamline, the homeowner had already had insurance auditors and a roofing contractor try to find the leak to no avail.
“They said they were going to have to spend over $20,000 replacing their roof,” Capps said.
Capps performed an audit specifically looking for air-sealings and found some PVC pipe connected to the plumbing for insulation that had become disconnected. Simply reconnecting the piping solved the issue and also saved the homeowner from the massive expense of replacing the entire roof.
In addition to retrofitting older homes, Streamline works with contractors on new home builds, having recently performed work on a new 72-unit town home development in Santa Clara.
Capps, Keller and their team of technicians and salespeople serve Southern Utah within an hour-and-a-half radius of St. George, including Cedar City and all the way to Orderville in Kane County. The company is also working to obtain business licensure to do work in Mesquite, Nevada.
Beyond offering a one-stop shop for energy needs, Capps and Keller spend some of their downtime contributing to the Southern Utah community.
Capps coaches volleyball and track part time at Dixie State University, and Keller has a special interest in Southern Utah’s veteran population.
“One thing we felt was really important when we started this company was to give back to those who serve our country,” Keller said. “We do offer a military discount.”
Visit Streamline Energy Solutions’ website for more information.
Email: [email protected]
Twitter: @STGnews
Copyright St. George News, SaintGeorgeUtah.com LLC, 2019, all rights reserved.