Energy audits provide information that can help homeowners improve the energy efficiency of their homes. (iStock image)
Harpswell’s Energy and Technology Committee continues to weigh changes to improve the energy efficiency of the Town Office. LED lights have already been installed. Last winter, professionals conducted an energy audit using funds provided by the Governor’s Office of Policy Innovation and the Future. They did it in the winter because heat leaks are easier to find and measure in cold weather. Energy can escape through windows, doors, and poorly insulated walls. Auditors also can look for systems, like furnaces and water heaters, that might be wasting energy — and money.
Similarly, home energy audits can identify ways your house is squandering energy. And just as the town received financial help, you can, too. A 30% federal tax credit, up to $150, is available toward the cost of a home energy audit. This credit applies to existing principal residences.
The website for Efficiency Maine walks Mainers through finding registered residential auditors. Within 10 miles of Harpswell’s ZIP code, 04079, four are listed. Efficiency Maine provides questions for you to ask prospective auditors and their references. Search online for Efficiency Maine vendors.
With the information from an energy audit in hand, you can plan improvements. There are tax credits and rebates for insulation, windows, doors, heat pumps, heat pumps for hot water systems, solar panels and more.
Efficiency Maine provides charts on its website to give you information about financial assistance. For example, for insulation and for sealing leaky windows or doors, people who qualify for Maine’s Home Energy Assistance Program, MaineCare, the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, and others can earn rebates of 80% of costs, up to $8,000. Individuals with an adjusted gross income of less than $70,000 can receive a rebate of 60% of the cost, up to $6,000. For couples, the income limit is $100,000. All others can recover 40% of the cost, up to $4,000.
The Efficiency Maine website provides examples of how the rebates play out for different incomes. Search for “Efficiency Maine insulation rebates” and “Efficiency Maine insulation.” Maine homeowners whose income qualifies them are also eligible for Efficiency Maine unsecured loans of as much as $7,500.
Because Efficiency Maine’s website offers so much information, it can be a challenge to navigate. If you would like someone to walk you through the site, please email the Climate Resiliency and Sustainability Committee at climate@town.harpswell.me.us or call the Town Office at 207-833-5771 and a member will call you back.
A completely different local program also can reduce energy loss: WindowDressers volunteers build custom insulating window inserts. Volunteers measure your windows so the inserts fit snugly on the inside of a window, but can be removed in the spring and reinstalled in the fall.
WindowDressers’ cost depends upon ability to pay, from free to $65.30 for a 44-by-68-inch pine frame. Perhaps best of all is the warmth generated during the group’s community builds, when recipients and others gather to mass-produce inserts for a day. Search for “WindowDressers Maine.”
