New Incentives For Rendering Homes and Commercial Buildings More Energy Efficient.

Ever since my husband and I have been married (25 years) we have bought, retrofitted, improved and sold homes. It was instinctive to improve our first home when I felt the cold air transfer at my window in the first house we bought.

We replaced the doors and windows and instantly enjoyed a much warmer house. After then adding insulation in the floors, walls, basement, and attic, our heating costs lowered by 72%! (There turned out to be NO insulation in the sub-floor in a home in Colorado high country. WHAT?!?!?) We have been buying, retrofitting and selling homes in this way ever since.

Yesterday, President Obama turned his attention to this topic in his talk at Home Depot. Click play beneath the video at the top of the article to watch what President Obama said (12/15/09) about the Recovery Act Funding and retrofitting houses.

Here is a table of what’s been allocated and what’s been spent to date in Government Grants for Energy Efficiency (click here) listed state by state.

Quick Facts:

* $5 Billion for low income home weatherizing in the US: insulation and replacing old heating/air with energy star heat pumps, replacing and sealing doors, windows and insulating walls, floors and roofs.

* Homes built prior to 1950 use 50% more energy than homes built today to achieve the same (heating/cooling) results.

* American homes and offices consume 40% of energy we use and contribute 40% of our carbon pollution.

Now: quick notes for help on retrofitting your homes.

1) There are funds for some Americans right now to weatherize your home. WHICH Americans? The Recovery Act funds each state for this. Each state then decides how to disburse these low income home weatherizing government grants. Click on your state to find contact info on Weatherization Programs in your state. .

Also you can look for government grants through your state in the Girlgrants’ article “Links to TANF in your state” ( go to TANF article). I clicked on Maine in the TANF article, and found out who is eligible.

“Am I Eligible?
You may be eligible to receive Weatherization or CHIP assistance if your total household income falls within 230% of the federal poverty guidelines or 75% of the state area median income, whichever is less. Eligibility for …” (for more go here).

2) There are jobs in this field and the field is quickly expanding. You can become a Certified Weatherization Technician, certified by the US government.. who then feed you customers through their programs that they fund. The people interviewed inthis video tell that they are ambushed with work and have people needing their labor on waiting lists! Imagine having a waiting list of clients in this economy.

Watch video of people who have been trained and are now working as Certified Weatherization Technicians (click here). It’s actually really exciting. Check it out.

To find out more about Government Programs For National Weatherization Training and Technical Assistance Plan, click here. .

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