Cashing in on Energy Savings for your home... before it's too late!

New windows are going in at Jim Lewis’s Royal Oak Condo. He just bought the place a couple of months ago and has been hard at work renovating his new home.

“Actually windows were the last thing on my list Ii had planned to do, but with the energy tax credit, It got to looking at that, and realized time was running out,” Jim said. “And if I was going to take advantage of it, the time to do it was now.”

He’s right. The tax credit is only good through December 31st. It’s 30 percent of the cost, up to a total of $1500, for qualifying energy efficient measures like new energy efficient doors and windows, a new qualifying furnace or air conditioner, a non-solar water heater. You also qualify for the credit if you add insulation to your home or buy a new energy star metal or asphalt roof.

For Jim the tax credit is a nice bonus, but keeping the drafts out, the heat in, and lower energy bills this winter was the real draw.

Having a warmer house this winter is why Anne Shaya decided to have a home energy audit.
“I know in the last couple of years, it’s been progressively brought to my attention that it’s chillier in here,” Anne told me. “Once the kids have grown up a little bit, they’re saying mom, it’s freezing in here, and bundling up more and more.”

We were there as Pro Energy Consultants used some pretty cool things to figure out where airs coming in and going out of her house…
“We’re not guessing it’s the windows, we not guessing it’s the door seals,” owner Mike Limbers said. “We’re going to go around the house, we’re going to find the areas to fix these problems before they insulate and spend money on windows and insulation that’s not going to do any good if they’re still blowing air out of the house.”

Using what’s called a blower door test, a big fan sucks air out of the house. But simply put, if goes out, it’s got to come in, so they walk around to find out where. They use an infrared camera to measure temperature differences and they use a smoke pencil to check for drafts. Ideally the smoke lingers and doesn’t blow.

A full-house audit takes at least 2 ½ hours and the average cost is $350. But if you’re a DTE Energy & MichCon customer, DTE will give you a $75 rebate to help pay for the audit, and then send you another $75 rebate when you install qualifying energy installation measures within a year.

If you can’t afford a big audit, DTE offers all its customers the chance to perform a free online audit using MyEnergy Analyzer. Do that, and DTE will mail you a free energy efficiency kit with 25 dollars worth of stuff.

In Anne’s case, the audit found she could definitely benefit from adding some insulation to her attic, but the audit also uncovered a lot of little things, like air getting in through recessed lights, electrical outlets and a crawl space.

“Well it was explained to me, that all those little pieces together, it’s like an open window

Anne and her husband can fix many of the little problems themselves, as many homeowners can. But if you don’t know where the problems are, it’s hard to know where to start.

Click here to learn more about DTE Energy Audit Rebate Offers, including the free audit you can do online.

Click here to learn more about federal tax credits available until the end of the year.