Warm Homes for Underserved Families

Cost-burdened households in north Alabama will save 20% or more every year on home energy bills thanks to the 2015 Comfort Project, a community partnership between Top of Alabama Regional Council of Governments (TARCOG) and the non-profit Nexus Energy Center. The project utilizes the Home Performance with ENERGY STAR program to identify the most cost-effective strategies to permanently lower household utility costs.

The Comfort Project was launched by Nexus Energy Center as a community response to help low income households save energy and reduce energy costs after significant funding cuts in two federal programs — the Weatherization Assistance Program and Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program. These programs were created by the Dept. of Energy after the first energy crisis in the late 1970s to help low income families deal with high energy costs and make homes more efficient.

The Comfort Project is making energy-saving upgrades to ten homes in north Alabama this year.

Most home energy is wasted because of poor insulation, drafty construction, and outdated, inefficient heating and cooling systems. “This unnecessary energy waste worsens poverty because it forces families to spend more of their limited budget on energy costs, rather than food or medicine,” wrote Rory McIlmoil, Energy Policy Director for Appalachian Voices.

Poverty in the southeast US has been on the rise since 2000, according to a 2014 report by Appalachian Voices, which cites increased housing and energy cost burdens as a critical problem confronting lower income families, a problem compounded by rising home energy costs. The average annual costs of heating and cooling a home in the southeast ballooned from $1500 in 2001 to $2000 in 2009.

Simple home energy upgrades pay for themselves in just a few years, making them one of the best investments a homeowner can make. However, lower income households don’t have access to credit and cannot afford the upfront cost for a comprehensive home energy assessment, attic air sealing and insulation, duct sealing and HVAC tune-up, which typically cost less than $3,500 for an average size home. Lower income households typically live in older homes that are much less energy efficient than a home built after 2006.

A certified building analyst performs diagnostic testing to identify which energy-saving home improvements are most cost-effective.

The Home Performance with ENERGY STAR program is available to any homeowner through AlabamaWISE, a network of certified heating, cooling and insulation contractors in Alabama. It starts with a comprehensive whole-house analysis of all energy related systems, including windows, walls, crawl space, attic, duct system, furnace and heat-pump to identify the most cost effective improvements to not only reduce energy costs, but improve indoor comfort, too. Most homeowners are motivated by comfort problems to hire a Home Performance with ENERGY STAR contractor. AlabamaWISE offers access to certified contractors, TVA Energy Right rebates, and low-cost financing.

The Comfort Project is funded by community partners and donations to deliver the benefits of the Home Performance with ENERGY STAR program at no cost to households most in need. The process begins with a comprehensive home performance analysis that uses building science concepts to evaluate the home as a system of interrelated components.

Diagnostic testing with a calibrated fan, called a blower-door, is used to quantify the building air leakage and duct leakage. Air leaks in the walls, ceilings and floors waste energy and make homes drafty in the winter and humid in the summer. After air sealing, more insulation can be added to the attic.

Once the work is complete, the home is re-tested to verify the quality of work and calculate annual energy savings from the home improvements. The results are documented in a detailed Home Performance Score report for the homeowner along with a Home Performance with Energy Star label to permanently document the energy saving improvements for future homeowners. Of course energy savings will be documented for the current occupant every month when the bill arrives from Huntsville Utilities.