Tag Archives: Audits

Cambridge Thermal Imaging Project

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This winter photo shows brightness where the most heat is escaping this home.

Cambridge! It’s finally here: a chance to vividly see the cool or warm air leaving your drafty home, without having to pay hefty fees to a thermal photographer. Thanks to the Thermal Imaging Project on which HEET has partnered with Sagewell Inc., Cambridge homeowners can request thermal (infrared) images of the outsides of their homes.

The images are taken with car-mounted cameras similar to those used for Google Maps street view, and taken on a “first come, first served” basis – with highest priority given to locations with highest demand.  With the slight air of a Groupon deal, Sagewell has asked for 400 requests from Cambridge before they will release our thermal images for free.

Because of fossil fuel prices skyrocketing and scientists projecting Cambridge’s summer temperatures will soon start looking more like Atlanta, GA temps, everyone’s heating AND cooling bills are only on their way up. High efficiency in your home is valid for every season.

Even better, the easiest time to work on your home’s energy efficiency is spring and summer, when the wait for weatherization services is short!

Request yours on Sagewell.com now.
It should take about a minute to do so;  just enter your address at the bottom of the home page, hit enter, and then enter your information on the next page that shows up by clicking the green “HERE” (see following photo).

This page appears after you enter your address at the bottom of Sagewell.com's home page.

There have already been over 100 requests for thermal images, so if 300 are generated in the next month, everyone will get to have this great service free of cost.  Tell your neighbors! We all want to save money and live a little lighter on the planet, don’t we?

The Extra Goods
You and other homeowners, condo owners, and landlords can access their images and an individualized report free of charge online via a password-protected account when the images are available (Sagewell will email you a link).  The individualized report shows what to work on, how much it will save you, and connects you with the needed free and rebated services. Commercial building owners and owners of more than one building will be able to view their images and analysis for a small fee.

Not all buildings can be analyzed (due to blocked views from trees, etc. or private way constraints), but Sagewell has agreed to image around 22,000 buildings in Cambridge!

The Thermal Imaging Project will enable residential and commercial building owners to lower costs while supporting our city’s climate and emission reduction goals. One more great tool to wield for average citizens and environmental warriors alike. Get to http://www.Sagewell.com now!

If you have any remaining questions, please contact Sagewell at info@Sagewell.com or HEET at heet.cambridge@gmail.com.

Meet the Interns, pt. 1: Ilona and Ben

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This is the first installment in a series of featurettes on our current interns’ summer projects.

Ilona Shmulevich in action!

At CEA, our overarching aim is to spread better energy efficiency to buildings in the city of Cambridge.   We target this goal with what can effectively be described in four steps:  First, we encourage residents to sign up for a free energy audit through MassSave.  Second, an auditor visit is scheduled and carried out wherein they perform a full assessment of a building’s energy usage, providing a list of recommended improvements.  Third, the residents learn about available rebates and decide what improvements they are willing to invest in.  Finally, a MassSave or independently-appointed contractor comes and does all the installations, leaving the residents with increased building performance and predictions for fuller wallets in months and years to come.

When the program *doesn’t* work as smoothly as all that is described above, we have a plan for that, too.  That’s where our research interns Ilona Shmulevich and Ben Baldwin step into the scene.

Ilona and Ben have designed and launched an online survey to gather feedback on the effectiveness of the program–both in terms of participation and realized energy cost savings.  If you’re a Cantabridgian who’s ever expressed any interest with us in getting audited, there’s a good chance you’ve been emailed about this survey!  Ilona is interested in uncovering where so-called  “service gaps” lie–that is, in what ways do CEA and MassSave need to be more helpful?  Ben is hunting for data from participating homes and businesses on their energy savings–information which has so far been hard to obtain. Ben is also seeking out information on peoples’ experiences with financing their energy efficiency improvements.

Ben and Ilona will present us with important findings by summer’s end and help us take our services to the next level!

Stay tuned for more Intern Featurettes in weeks to come.

Ultimate Greening Your Home Seminar

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Residents of Cambridge, MA were introduced to a new opportunity on February 8th, 2011. Energy efficiency is on the minds of renters, condominium owners, and homeowners alike as the environmental, financial, and physical benefits become more prominently appreciated. Usually when energy efficiency information is available, it is more general and further discussion with specific professionals is suggested, since the process of making home energy efficiency improvements is tailored to unique home and ownership characteristics and often entails several detailed levels of complexity. On February 8th, those professionals were brought together in one place for an evening of sequential enlightenment for curious attendees, with an added bonus of networking amongst their industry peers and less-assumed partners, Green real estate agents.

When the Cambridge Energy Alliance and Coldwell Banker Agents Amy Tighe and Robin Miller designed this new collaborative seminar, their focus was on approaching one seemingly under-served demographic: condominium owners and associations. [This group will, luckily, begin to be served more as the NSTAR 5+ unit (“Multifamily”) energy assessment program rolls out.] That said, this successful design would clearly be valuable to other demographics (e.g. home owners) in addition to condominium owners/associations.

Beginning with the simplest in-home steps and leading to discussion of assessments, retrofits, and financing of projects, Sustainable Life Solutions, Next Step Living Inc., S & H Construction, CPCU Credit Union, CEA, Robin, and Amy engaged enthusiastic condo owners and association representatives in energy efficiency learning in a way that simply made sense. Speakers explained each of their areas of expertise thoroughly in their limited time, intermittently questions were asked and answered comprehensively, sometimes by the several professionals that were in the room, and when presentations were through, meaningful inquiry-fueled conversation rounded out the evening. A happy closeout to the seminar was the drawing of the raffle winner, who took home a wonderful green-living package that was generously donated by Whole Foods.

The results of this innovative event were remarkable: A valuable seminar was put together by unprecedented collaborators in a replicable format; speakers were able to answer significant questions jointly, and see how they might work together effectively in the future; seminar attendees were able to walk out with a mental arsenal of energy efficiency tools, feeling utterly aware of a previously mysterious process, with proper contacts in hand, and ready to share with their peers. This type of event is unquestionably beneficial for all involved, so watch out for announcements of the next installment in months to come!

Boulder finds out it’s not easy being green.

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Boulder Colorado From last week’s Wall Street Journal comes news that despite the best of intentions from the local government and residents of Boulder, CO significant energy savings are yet to be realized.

Beyond the usual justifications on the whys and why-nots of any local initiative, the really interesting thing is that energy audits have not been terrifically successful in getting people to move forward on retrofits, despite understanding exactly where savings can be realized.

The obstacles include people being reluctant to change their habits and not practicing what they preach, nor following through on small changes in energy efficiency and behaviors.

The answer? “Two Techs in a Truck”

As many as 15 energy-efficiency teams go door-to-door throughout Boulder, CO. They’ll ask home and business owners for permission to caulk windows, change bulbs and install low-flow showerheads and programmable thermostats—all at taxpayer expense.

First in Music. First in Energy Audits.

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Green 10 gallon hat

Austin, Texas–which we have always considered to be a little slice of Massachusetts right in the middle of the Lone Star state–has become the first town to pass and ratify a law that makes an energy audit mandatory when you sell a home within the city limits.

Almost 400 audits have been performed under the new ordinance which was passed in November 2008 and went into effect June 1 this year. After a furious lobbying effort by the Austin Board of Realtors, homeowners are not required to make all improvements, but the results will likely be used as a bargaining chip in most purchases.

One homeowner found that over 80% of his air-conditioning was leaking through his uninsulated attic and decided to make the repair to improve the prospects of selling his house. In this depressed market, most sellers will be looking for any advantage they can get.

Of course, Austinites have to find an energy auditor and pay for the audit. Luckily, if you live in Cambridge, requesting an audit is as simple as filling out a simple form and in many cases it’s free.

Compulsory Energy Audits on the Way?

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In the last week of February, the Ontario legislature presented the Green Energy Act. The Act includes renewable energy development plans that could generate as many as 50,000 jobs for the Canadian province. Amongst the other parts of the bill is a provision that makes it mandatory homes for sale in Ontario have an energy rating attached to it.

This rating will be generated by a home inspection using standardized evaluation criteria yet to be finalized. The controversy is around what a negative rating might do to home prices throughout Ontario.

The appliances we put in our house all have energy ratings and we certainly pay attention to these when we make consumer choices. Could a ratings for the whole house be far behind? An informal survey of local real estate agents revealed that home buyers often request energy bills from the seller before putting in an offer. So the question is: Will our state or federal government make home energy ratings compulsory as part of a larger energy  efficient initiative?

Warm Home Cool Planet would like to remind all Cambridge residents and businesses they can arrange a FREE energy audit for their home or business. Why not do it while you still have the choice?

To learn about the other major initiatives in Ontario’s Green Energy Act, read this interview with George Smitherman, Ontario’s minister of energy and infrastructure at Green Inc., the New York Times energy blog.

Boston Globe reporter gets audited

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No, our local paper is not in trouble with the taxman (that’s just President Obama’s cabinet picks) but Geoff Edgers from the Boston Globe decided that his heating bills were getting out of control. So he called up his energy provider-National Grid-who sent over a Conservation Services Group auditor to perform a thorough check up on his 100 year old home. Among the pleasant suprises-free CFL light globes to replace his incandescant bulbs. Watch the video below to see what else Geoff learned while making his home more energy efficient. If you’re a Cambridge resident, you can sign up now for your own FREE home energy audit.

Dreaming of solar panels? Not so fast.

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So you’re caught up in the moment, dreaming about solar panels, a wind turbine on your roof, selling energy back to the power company rather than paying a monthly utility bill. But if we are, as President Obama suggested, to put aside childish things and enter a new era of responsibility, we must do first things first.

That means having taking a whole house approach to our energy conservation efforts. it doesn’t make sense to spend tens of thousands of dollars generating electricity you’re throwing away through inefficiency. In the end, it doesn’t matter if you generate energy or simply consume it, what really matters is your net energy footprint. 

People sometimes fixate on a single facet of a problem with the best intentions. Dieters pack on the pounds while virtuously wolfing down bags of fat-free cookies. How many times have you heard someone order the super-size double whopper value meal with a diet soda, and thought that soda isn’t really the problem?

The free home energy audit is a good starting place for rethinking your energy diet.

You’ve got to learn to walk before you can run.