Save Your Energy Consumption for less than you would think!

Get an Energy Audit and save money!  While you may not know it, you are already paying for a program for Energy Audits and rebates.   In 2008 the MD General Assembly passed the EmPOWER MD Energy Efficiency Act.  The purpose of the act is to reduce electricity consumption by 15% by 2015 and to accomplish this; they have partnered with MD’s five utilities companies to offer many programs to save your home energy and MONEY!    The program includes lighting and appliance rebates and Home Performance or Energy Audits.  See link to the MD EmPOWER site https://energy.maryland.gov/facts/empower.html

I recently had an Audit of my house and while the Audit would normally cost $400, under this program is cost only $100.  If you look at your BGE bill you will see a charge called…EmPower MD  (the fee on my Aug bill was $10.51).  In essence, we are all paying to have available to us programs and rebates to reduce our electric consumption. 

My Audit was done by Brian of Efficient Home https://efficienthomellc.com.  Efficient Home is a one-stop shop providing energy audits and remedial repairs to improve your home’s efficiency, comfort, and safety.  Their whole house approach saves you money on utility bills, improves your home comfort, and helps you to live healthier and greener today.

While my family has plans to replacing our 17 year old HVAC systems with a more efficient one, with State and Federal rebates of over $1500, we will be doing it sooner than expected. 

Brian also suggested a number of other improvements that could save us money like:

·         Improving attic insulation

·         Replacing an old refrigerator in the basement with an Energy Star one

·         Replacing old light bulbs with LED light bulbs (while we already had them, he would of have given us a few apparently)

One test they did was an Air Tightness test that identifies how much your home leaks air and energy.  He sealed up my front door and measured the energy leakage.  My home is 1.23 times the optimal rate which is not too bad but can be improved upon.

Brian gave me a sample test he said I could share.  If you would like a copy of it, e-mail and I’ll send it to you my return e-mail.

If you do decide to do an audit with Efficient Home, their Facebook pages claims they give $100 referrals.  So, mention my name and I’ll donate the $100 it to a non-profit company of your choice.