Our recent client received a free Home Energy Assessment from The Environmental Center and qualified for over $15k in home energy upgrades… and he didn’t pay a cent!
Home Energy Assessments are a program of The Environmental Center where we send qualified individuals into your home to help you identify opportunities for upgrades that can improve your efficiency and connect you with financial incentives to help pay for those upgrades. While in your home your assessor will take a look at your attic and floor insulation, your water heater, and heating and cooling system. A lot of older homes lack adequate insulation or have extremely inefficient sources of heating because building codes haven’t always been as robust as they are now. In a typical house, how you heat your air and water are usually what you spend most of your energy bill on and insulation is what keeps heat and cool air inside a home. When you don’t have insulation, heat and AC escape faster, meaning you spend more money pumping more air into the house.
So enter Larry, our client in Redmond who applied for a home energy assessment. Larry is a retired veteran, and his fixed income qualified him for not just one, but two fully funded home energy upgrade projects. Larry received a ducted heat pump, which is an all-in-one heating and cooling system that uses a network of hidden air ducts to circulate conditioned air throughout your entire home. This system is 3-4x more efficient than a traditional central AC or forced-air furnace because it uses electricity to transfer heat rather than burning fossil fuels to create its own heat. In addition, Larry received a heat pump water heater, which is an electric-powered water heater that uses the same efficient technology as a heat pump to transfer heat from the outside air to keep the water nice and warm at a lower monthly cost. The total cost for both projects was $15,987, and Larry didn’t pay a cent! Larry’s power bill dropped from $410 a month to $198, making his home more comfortable, more efficient, and more affordable. Because of Larry’s income level, he qualified for free projects. All he had to do was sign on the dotted line allowing contractors to complete the work.
But how did this happen?!
Energy Trust of Oregon provides the funding and support for us to conduct home energy assessments, and then we atThe Environmental Center contact contractors in the area who can do the job. They provide all the expertise and labor, and we provide the coordination to make it happen. All Larry had to do was be home and ready to let the crew in to complete the work.
The two projects took about five weeks, and Larry’s neighbors kept saying, “Wow, you’re spending a lot of money,” to which Larry replied, “Not a dime.”
What’s the catch?
No catch — just a mission to make homes more energy efficient, reduce the burning of fossil fuels, and lower energy bills for Central Oregon households. When we save money on utilities, we build momentum as a society, because economic wellbeing is directly tied to planetary wellbeing. We can save money and help the planet, and that’s the goal at the end of the day.
Interested in getting a free home energy assessment? Sign up today! No commitment, no pressure, just let us help you find out what you qualify for, whether that’s a discounted upgrade or a free one.