Energy Retrofit of Older Home Will Pay Off In Lots of Ways

At House Exam Inspection and Consulting, we’ve been helping folks learn how to save money on utility bills for nearly four years now, through our association with Home Energy TuneUp. We’ve helped dozens of families save on their energy usage, by giving them fully itemized reports on the energy-related upgrades and repairs they could make in their homes, how much they could realistically expect to pay for each upgrade, and how long it would take to re-pay the expenses based on energy savings. We’ve had good feedback from these Clients, and we are expanding this service to include full-service energy audits and thermographic diagnostics over the next few months. So stay stay in touch with our website. You might even consider linking to the RSS feed in the upper right corner of this webpage, so that you keep up with the new services.

Now for the big news: We are pleased to report that we (Victor and Carolyn Sedinger) are going to put the program to use in a personal way. We are beginning the retrofit process on our own 1948 bungalow on the west side of Fort Worth. We bought this home while it was a duplex, and rented out the one-bedroom side for the first several years. But as we approach retirement in a few years, we thought it would be nice to turn it into a nicely upgraded single-family home. We have drawn up the plans for the conversion. We have received the quotes from sub-contractors. We have secured the funding, and we will be starting the work on or about January 18, 2010.

Over the next few weeks we’ll give you the basic findings from our own Home Energy TuneUp Report, as well as the RESNET Home Energy Diagnostic Survey. We will use both of these reports, so that the results can be compared and we will have a measurable way to determine the similarities and differences in the programs. We will be able to document the before and after results of the house in relation to air leakage, weatherization, and other variables for energy efficiency.

So, join in and let’s make it a dialogue. We would love to hear from you about your own energy-related questions. Ask us anything energy related. If we don’t know, we will find out for you. And share your ideas and suggestions for helping others save money on their energy costs.

Home Energy TuneUp Offers Energy Savings, Tax Savings, Greater Comfort

RIGHT NOW is the time to improve the energy features of your home. Right now through 2010, you can recover a great deal of your investment by:
• lowering your energy bills; and
• saving up to $1,500 on your tax bill.

The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 allows tax credits for energy efficiency improvements. Homeowners may claim up to 30% of the costs of all home-energy-related equipment purchased during the aggregate two-year period of 2009 and 2010, up to $1,500 total.

Tax credits for installations made in 2006 and 2007 are still limited to the previous law’s $500 provision. Purchases made in 2008 are not eligible for this tax credit. But, the legislation certainly makes new improvements more affordable. We’ve included a partial list of eligible improvements for your consideration. And, in a moment, we’ll tell you how a Home Energy TuneUp Inspection by House Exam can help you decide which improvements will save you the most in utility costs and give you the greatest comfort in your home.

Eligible Improvements
Owners of existing homes receive a tax credit worth 30% of the cost of upgrading the efficiency of their home. The following improvements are some of those eligible for the tax credit:
• Insulation materials and systems
• Exterior doors and windows (including skylights)
• Roofs (metal and asphalt)
• Electric heat pumps
• Central air conditioners
• Natural gas, propane or oil water heaters
• Natural gas, propane or oil furnace or hot water boilers
• Electric heat pump water heaters

Performance and quality standards for tax credit eligibility vary by technology. You should check out the Energy Star web site for detailed information on qualifying products.

What is a Tax Credit?
There is an important difference between a tax credit and a tax deduction. A tax credit is subtracted directly from the total tax liability. In other words, whatever tax you would have owed gets reduced directly by the specific amount of the tax credit. On the other hand, a tax deduction is subtracted from income before total tax liability is computed. Maybe you’ve heard the expression “tax bracket.” It simply reflects the percentage of cost of an expense that actually gets deducted from your income before taxes. Bottom line: a tax credit is much more advantageous to you at tax time than a deduction.

At House Exam, we are certified Inspectors for the Home Energy TuneuP program. With this “audit” we take a full inventory of all the energy related features within your home, upload the data and generate a Report which can give you a detailed list of energy-saving improvements you should consider. The Report will list recommended upgrades and improvements, give you fair-market estimates for the costs for each improvement, tell you how much each improvement will save you annually, and tell you how long it will take to PAY FOR the improvements with the projected energy saving.

The money you will save from just the free recommendations within the Report, will more than pay for the cost of the inspection. Call to schedule your Home Energy TuneuP Inspection, and start your energy savings this month.

Call (817) 797-2461