Remodeling Your Home with EnergyStar

Long Islanders planning to remodel their homes stand to gain significant benefits from direct rebates and long-term savings with an innovative program from the Long Island Power Authority to improve energy efficiency on their remodeling projects.

The side benefit? Healthier homes and less waste of natural resources. Some Long Island contractors estimate that homes can reduce their energy use from 20- to 40-percent with relatively few improvements. So when you factor in major improvements during a renovation, that number rises dramatically.

LIPA is the first utility in the country to partner with the United States Department of Energy’s EnergyStar division, offering the remodeling element of its Home Performance with EnergyStar program. This partnership is currently between LIPA, the U.S. Department of Energy, the Environmental Protection Agency and the Towns of Southampton and Babylon, but LIPA indicated that other parts of Long Island would soon be eligible.

Through the pilot program, participating contractors will provide a comprehensive home assessment, requiring about two hours work, and then give homeowners an energy efficiency score. The contractor and a remodeling expert will look for projects that meet government standards in the existing home or through remodeling. Customers using electric heat or central air conditioning are eligible for the program; rebates for gas and oil customers are available on a national level, but not from LIPA.

Contractors will provide a cost estimate to make various improvements that could range from adding insulation to the attic or changing heating or cooling systems.

In total, homeowners can claim up to $5,000 in rebates. According to LIPA, the goal is to achieve “net zero” energy use for the renovation, meaning that there is no increase in energy use even when a home is expanded. So homeowners can get more bang for less bucks, adding space but not cost.

John Barrows of the Long Island Builders Institute Green Homes Council said that energy conservation efforts now are about “making the building envelop perform better, that includes changing the windows and making the home tighter so it doesn’t leak energy. It also involves changing the heating equipment to one with a higher efficiency rating. You have to make sure you test the house for things like carbon monoxide, because by making it tighter, you need to pay more attention to proper ventilation,” says Barrows.

To verify existing conditions, Barrows recommends hiring a company that uses a HERS — Home Energy Rating System—inspector to check existing homes. “These are independent, third-party inspectors who perform a couple of tests that determine air flow, how tight the ducts are, for example, and then run a computer program which models energy use,” he said.

Blower door tests place a high-powered fan inside the front door that depressurizes the house to measure for leaks. Small puffs of smoke show inspectors where voids are present, which can then be sealed with expanding foam.