Weatherization

The primary goal of the HopeSource weatherization program is to help households reduce their energy costs.

There are two ways to reduce your energy costs: energy conservation, and housing retrofits.

Eligible households can receive an in-home energy conservation education visit from the HopeSource weatherization team. Weatherization retrofits for the home may also be installed after a full energy audit, if it can be done safely and cost effectively.

It is important to note that building rehabilitation is beyond the scope of the weatherization program. Incidental repairs necessary for the effective performance or preservation of weatherization materials can be made. Most repairs or improvements made to a home must be able to pay for themselves in energy savings.

Building + Behavior = Bill $$$

Our in-home energy conservation education can help households understand where their energy dollars are going, and find simple no cost and low cost ways to lower their bills right away.

Where does all my energy money go? (via EnergyStar) This chart can give you an idea, your actual mileage may vary.

Here are two quick and easy things you can do right now!

Here are some commonly installed HopeSource Weatherization retrofits:

Duct sealing and repair
Air sealing
Insulating heating ducts
Adding insulation to attics and walls
Repairing and adding insulation to mobile home bellies (This insulates the ducts, plumbing, and floor at the same time)
Adding pipe insulation

These retrofits must be able to pay for themselves in energy savings. This means we do not replace a lot of windows. To quote the June 2008 issue of the Journal of Light Construction, "Replacing old single-pane windows with new double pane low-e units certainly saves energy. But the cost is so high - and the amount of energy saved is so low - that window replacement is almost never cost-effective." Replacing windows usually does not provide enough bang for the buck.