The tagline for my business is “sage living” – be smart (sage) about going green! My favorite sage way to go green is through a home energy-efficiency retrofit. It’s the best way to make an impact with fewer dollars.
I recently learned about the “Pyramid of Conservation” which ranks green projects from highest to lowest complexity. It’s a great way to tell the story of the simplicity of a home retrofit. But I think the graphic is too complex!
So I created my own Green Grid for Sage Living (SM). It shows common green projects organized from low cost to high cost and from low savings to high savings. Retrofit sits in the sweet spot of the grid: for an affordable cost you get great energy savings. Common estimates are that $2500 worth of work leads to 10-30% in energy savings. Right now, that $2500 might only cost you $1750 with the Federal energy efficiency tax credits through 12/31/2010. And on top of that, new research in the EcoPulse survey by Shelton Group shows that buyers are willing to spend up to 10% more for energy efficient homes!
The numbers look good, huh? For help planning your own retrofit project contact me or visit www.5×10.org.
