If you read this little story long enough, you’ll find a really neat idea for making your home very energy efficient at a very small cost. The cost can be as low as $100. When I get to that part, I’ll come back and tell you how far in I’ve put it. (It's nine paragraphs down.)
As a career advocate for sustainable living and a building specialist, I never tire of encouraging friends, relatives, associates, and almost anyone else I meet, to make their homes, businesses, institutions, and tax recipients energy efficient. When asked why, I frequently answer that this is a matter of fiscal responsibility.
Now I use this answer for friends and relatives who complain about not having enough money. The average homeowner spends about $2,400 a year for home energy. Since there’s excellent data to demonstrate that at least half of this expense and energy, is wasted, my average friend or relative could have an extra $1,200 in their pockets every year for sending the kids to college, buying an energy efficient appliance to further cut their expenses, or fix the car. That’s about $100 a month or $25 a week. (I’d never turn down a raise of that magnitude.) The more important number, I think, is the ten-year total, which is $12,000 at today’s energy costs.
The cost of energy is rising, and it’s beginning to look exponential. Between peak oil (not running out of oil pseudo peak oil) and exponentially rising demand, the ten-year cost outlook could be more than $15,000; according to some, $20,000. This is the argument that I used on myself, or, that my wife encouraged me to consider when we decided to try to prepare for retirement by getting off the “grid”.
Funny though, when I used this line of reasoning with others, like a county commissioner I tried it out on once, or with township supervisors more interested in the theoretical political appearance of cutting energy costs, it doesn’t work. It also doesn’t work well on my friends, relatives, and associates who either have a lot of money or not enough money. They seem to have their reasons.
It’s my friends with too little money that pains me most in that conversation. I’ve tried diatribe, cajoling, mega-data downloads, humour, and other strategies rarely with the desired effect. I’m a trained home energy analyst and have occasionally offered my services without charge, which is often helpful to them. But I usually find more remediation than they can afford to remediate.
As measured by the limits imposed by programs established in other places, somewhere between $3,000 (a figure that I find ridiculously low in this region) to as much as $35,000. I said that I’m a trained analyst and know that you can probably get a lot of work down for $15,000., assuming that there isn’t a lot of deferred maintenance. You can probably get to a 60% reduction in costs or better with that kind of investment.
In the past, when doing an audit or evaluation, I spent a lot of time coaching my clients in how to parlay the savings from an investment in compact fluorescent light bulbs into $10,000 worth of energy work. It’s not too tricky to do that but requires exceptional discipline and a lot of time. Of course, there are quite a few who understood the benefits and were able to make that investment without my help.
So, on November 10, last year, along comes EnergyWorks, (http://ecasavesenergy.org/energyworks) an outgrowth of the Pennsylvania Keystone Help program (http://www.keystonehelp.com/). Although not highly publicized, and unknown to most consumers it is the best thing going that I’ve found in this region. (Please let me know if you know of something better.)
“EnergyWorks is a comprehensive energy solutions program for home and commercial or industrial building owners. It is a program of the Metropolitan Caucus, a coalition of Commissioners and Council members from Bucks, Chester, Delaware, and Montgomery Counties, and the Mayor of Philadelphia, supported by a $25 million grant from the US Department of Energy's Better Buildings Program. EnergyWorks helps owners find ways to reduce their building's energy use, and EnergyWorks' below market, low-interest loans help them pay for the upgrade.”
“The initiative aims to generate more energy efficient upgrades in existing homes and buildings as well as new construction and hopes to issue more than 2,000 loans in the next three years. The program will also create new jobs for building auditors and inspectors and increase opportunities for local contractors with expertise in green building/energy efficient installations.” (P.R. Newswire)
Keystone Help gives you 2.99% through 8.99% financing for a variety of different measures. Not bad, but I can do better than 8% these days on the open market. So can many of my clients. I’m not knocking Keystone Help because there is a lot that can be done with 3% financing, but there are way better programs out there like Long Island Green Homes (ligreenhomes.com).
EnergyWorks, although imperfect, is a program with 0.99% financing and has made my job much easier. First of all, I can enter a clients home for an hour or two, educate them, get them started and charge them less than $100. I don’t have to lug a blower door and duct blaster, buy $10,000 worth of infrared equipment, and another bunch of testing gear. I don’t have to buy a hybrid SUV to ferry it around. And the client can get very good service with known source of low-cost financing and a minimum of cost.
So much for my investment in becoming a RESNET HERS auditor, but I do understand the process well enough to teach a client about it. In fact, although I hesitate to say it, with knowledge of the program a client doesn’t need me at all. Not that I can’t provide valuable services. But you don’t need me to call EnergyWorks at (888) 232-3477 [AFC-First, ECA’s lending partner]. By the way, ECA, the Energy Coordinating Agency, is a non-profit and, as far as I can tell, no-one there is getting rich on this.
EnergyWorks for commercial buildings and non-profits, including municipalities, is accessible through TRF, The Reinvestment Fund, with offices in Philadelphia. http://www.trfund.com/misc/index.html
OK, so, how can I help YOU? If you want me to make a presentation to your large extended family and friends, to your church, social group, your workplace, or your municipality, give me a call, send me an email, or go to: http://www.sustaianabletransitionsus. I have been doing public education programs, with a variety of fascinating and thrilling videos and power point presentations for years. I have about a hundred and there’s surely one for you.
If you are a do-it-yourselfer who can make most of the improvements I can be your coach and guide dog. If you’re a self-starter with a desire to learn and an appetite for the assignments and homework, an hour of my time and the ability to call me back if you get stuck will probably be useful.
I’ve been college-trained, graduated from that, and I’ve passed a national certification exam as a Sustainable Building Advisor. (NaSBAP: sbainstitute.org and, check out: http://www.bucks.edu/academics/coned/sust-bldg-advisor/ if you want more information or want to be one. Check it out: www.youtube.com/watch?v=nUo-3Cz8p0g. Be the first to see it.
If you are too far away from me to make it worthwhile, I can put you in touch with others who won’t waste any fuel coming to visit you. It’s getting expensive, as you may have noticed and we all want to do our part.
By the way, we all know how advanced they are on the West Coast, don’t we? The NaSBAP was started there and came east to Bucks County straight from there. By the way, I work with other professionals who are expert on the Passive House and Net-Zero standards as well as the unparalleled Living Building Challenge. If your interest is as wide as ours, we can satisfy your need to know.
Sustainable Transitions US is not just another home energy company. Through my association with the Delaware Valley Green Building Council http://www.dvgbc.org/) and other local and national groups like The Association for the Study of Peak Oil and Gas (ASPO) (aspo-usa.com) and the Post Carbon Institute (http://www.postcarbon.org/) I can provide a wide variety of fascinating programs on energy, the environment, and the economy. I’m also a trained Transition Town facilitator and can help you start one: (http://www.transitionus.org).
According to the US Department of Defense, in a stunning report, (http://www.jfcom.mil/newslink/storyarchive/2010/pa031510.html -) (see page 29), the Department of Energy, NASA Goddard, and other highly credible sources, the next ten years will make us or break us. I do what I do because I take their advice seriously. If you doubt that, see The Crash Course, (http://www.chrismartenson.com) and argue what’s left of your point with Dr. Martenson.
When it comes to fiscal responsibility, I know that my energy costs will determine whether I can retire with a modicum of comfort or become a ward of the state. If my sources are wrong about energy and the environment, at least I’ll have the comfort of knowing that I’ve managed my finances pretty well. To me, that’s the best immediate reward.
And if my sources are correct, I’ll be able to look my great-grandaughter in the eye and tell her that I did my best to make her world a better place.
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