Get Comfortable with Saving Energy and Money

Marin Mommies Presents a sponsored article from the Bay Area Regional Energy Network and Energy Upgrade California® Home Upgrade.

Energy Efficiency Improves Your Living Space and Pays You Back

With the holidays fast approaching and temperatures getting colder, many Marin families are looking for ways to make their homes more comfortable. What a lot of families don’t know, is that a home improvement project designed to make their home more comfortable in the winter months can also make their home more energy-efficient all year round, and qualify for rebates through Energy Upgrade California® Home Upgrade.

Energy Upgrade California® Home Upgrade offers rebates for energy-efficient home improvements such as air sealing, duct sealing, attic insulation, wall insulation, and high-efficiency furnaces, cooling systems, and water systems—all designed to enhance indoor comfort and air quality, lower utility costs, add value to your home, and protect the environment. Energy Upgrade California® Home Upgrade is funded by PG&E and the California Public Utilities Commission, with additional funding from the Bay Area Regional Energy Network and Marin County.

Marin homeowners are eligible for incentives of up to $6,800 to offset the cost of an upgrade project.

Home Upgrade takes a “whole-house” or systems approach to energy efficiency. The whole-house approach considers the house as an energy system with interdependent parts, each of which affect the performance of the entire system. For example, older homes can have air leaks and lack proper insulation, which cause the furnace to work harder than it would otherwise need to. When you take the whole-house approach, instead of replacing the furnace with a bigger, and most likely over-sized unit, the first step is to make sure that the ducts and building envelope aren’t leaking the precious hot air coming from the furnace, and that the walls, ceiling, and floors are properly insulated so your home stays at the desired temperature.

In addition, a free Home Upgrade Advisor can provide direct one-to-one assistance to help homeowners through every step of the upgrade. Home Upgrade Advisors are Building Performance Institute certified energy efficiency professionals who can explain energy efficiency options, help you select an appropriate participating contractor, and help you navigate project installation and financing processes. The Home Upgrade Advisors are sponsored by the program and are not affiliated with any company selling products or services.

You can contact a Home Upgrade Advisor by calling 866-878-6008 or by submitting a brief form at BayAreaEnergyUpgrade.org. This site also features a list of participating contractors in the Marin County area. Homeowners who are ready to begin their upgrades can contact a participating contractor directly.

Upgrading inefficient homes not only helps individual homeowners improve their comfort, air quality, and utility bills, making your home energy-efficient also benefits surrounding communities and larger regions as a whole. When homeowners reduce energy consumption, they help reduce overall greenhouse gas emissions and pollution, improve economic competitiveness (less money spent on utilities means more money for consumers), and foster local job creation.

You can read more about the energy-efficiency programs Marin County is working on here: www.marincounty.org/energyupgrade.