The proper design and maintenance of an existing home would have a significant, positive impact on our environment, our natural resources, our local economy and more importantly, your pocket. According to the U.S. Department of Energy there are over 86 million residential buildings and nearly 5 million commercial buildings in the U.S. today. Together, these buildings use one-third of all the energy and two-thirds of all electricity consumed in the U.S.  

The challenge is to use techniques and renovation design that minimize use of nonrenewable energy, reduce pollution, and reduce overall energy costs, while maintaining or increasing the comfort, health, and safety of the people who live and work in these homes. For example, if only 10 percent of homes in the U.S. used solar water-heating systems to supply most of their hot water needs, we could eliminate 8.4 million metric tons of carbon emissions each year.

Amortization of the cost of renewable energy systems are becoming more attractive as the already reliable renewable energy systems become even more reliable and standard nonrenewable energy cost increases. Another way to conserve energy, reduce energy costs, and preserve desired comfort levels is to design and build homes and businesses that are more energy efficient through better insulation, weatherproofing and airsealing. This approach to building design is known as GREEN building, and the principles of green building design also includes reducing indoor and outdoor air pollution, conserving energy during construction, using recycled and recyclable materials, and other factors.

As you are trying to decide how to go about your home energy upgrades and /or home renovations and upgrades, the best practice is to have a master plan which should include a 10 year proposed plan, so all work is done with that in mind and no work needs to be redone in the future as another planned project gets started. Also, following a proposed plan, you can properly be prepared for the upgrades, and not caught by surprised when something goes wrong, like a damaged roof. Now you are acting on survival mode to get it fix right away without time of doing much research.

As part of our services, we help you create this working plan with a deep home inspection, considering your budget, needs and circumstances. Since winter is around the corner, it would be wise to start planning an energy savings plan for this winter. Here are some suggestions of services we provide to help you with your winter energy savings plan.

For this coming Holiday season, consider giving a long lasting impacting gift to someone dear to you with a gift certificate for any of our services that could make your love ones more comfortable and save them energy.