Beauty. Isn't nature amazing? What a pretty picture, and a gorgeous setting! O, I experienced another beautiful thing, I was right. Don't you just love it when that happens? In case you do not remember, it has always been my contention that green is good, but only within sensible economic parameters. And now the data agrees with me. One of the latest "Green" surveys finds that 70 % of stated home buyers "more or much more" inclined to buy a green home. And of owners that currently live in green homes, 85 % said they were more satisfied with their new green homes than with their previous, more "traditionally built" homes. But here is the telling truth, 63% of green home buyers said their green purchases were motivated by lower operating and maintenance costs. PAYBACK!!!! Green home purchasers understand the concept of life time costs as opposed to first costs. The really important cost of something is what it will cost you over it's life time of usage. Just think about it, what are investments paying now? Banks, close to nothing. Wall street, less than nothing. You can, right now, invest money in your home and make a 5 - 20 % return on that investment. Really.
In addition to saving money through more efficient use of energy, there are federal tax credits available, and state tax credits, and Keystone Help low interest loans and grants, and coming soon, utility company rebates. You heard correctly, Utility company rebates. Pa Act 129 mandates that the utility companies reduce energy demand. And the consensus is that they need to incentivize their customers in order to meet the Act's requirements.
I am working on a checklist for your home, to help think of ways to make your home greener, i. e., use resources and energy more efficiently. And the list is not in any particular order, but here it is:
I like to refer to the list as a Systems Assessment. We need to look at each item and analyze how it fits into the system that we call a house.
Window and doors
HVAC and ventilation
Electrical and lighting
Solar orientation
Geo thermal orientation
Plumbing and water systems
Appliances
Energy Audits
Insulation and sealing
By looking at each of these items individually, and fitting them into the house, we can determine the over all efficiency of the home. Then we can determine which of the items needing upgrading will make the largest and quickest return of monies invested.
And the amazing thing is, it works for both new homes, and old homes.
