Is your house drafty with air coming in around windows and doors? Many homes built 40 years ago were built with minimal insulation, which has settled and compacted over time to be less effective. We built a well insulated solar and wood heated home in 1980. What was left after mice and flying squirrels tunneled in the walls of our solar home and the insulation settled wasn’t preventing heat loss 40 years later. Air leaks into houses around doors, windows, poorly insulated basement, walls, and attic.

The first step to save money on heat loss is to get an energy audit from a thorough contractor who looks at whole house air movement, who will use a thermal camera to look inside the walls and roof. Many contractors also use blower door tests to measure how tight the building envelope is. and where the leaks are. Because you can only see heat leaving your home with an infrared detector, most homeowners don’t realize how much cold air is coming into their home.

A quality energy audit will identify heat loss areas and provide several options to make your home more energy efficient, rating them with the most effective and lowest cost items first. Depending on your income, Efficiency Maine gives 40% or 80% rebate on a maximum of a $10,000 insulation project for implementing one recommended improvement. Homeowners who get Maine Care, or Temporary Assistance for Needy Families can get a rebate of 80% for adding insulation and support completing the process from staff at Efficiency Maine.

When the boiler that provided both space heat and hot water in our well insulated ranch house in Topsham started leaking, we replaced it with a heat pump in our living room and continue to use the wood stove. We added a highly efficient Heat Pump Water Heater, which produces hot water faster and more reliably and will continue to save residents $500 each year for an estimated 20 years. Efficiency Maine will install and pay full costs for a heat pump hot water heater for Maine Care recipients. Go to efficiencymaine.com to learn about the free heat pumps, 80% rebates for insulation and weatherization and free heat pump water heaters. Phone the EM’s Call Center at 1(866)376-2463 to ask questions about all programs, and check eligibility, then be assigned a contractor for a heat pump water heater.

If you live in Sagadahoc County, weatherization and heating assistance is provided by Kennebec Community Action Program in Augusta. Apply soon by calling 207-622-4761 to ask questions and find out what information you need to apply over the phone. After applying you will get on wait lists for all programs and qualify for 80% of the costs of insulation or 80% of the cost of a heat pump. The low-income energy assistance program (LIAP) gives credit on electric bills for your primary residence to those without a housing subsidy. If you get electricity from the standard offer, your electric bills will average about 20% less than the same electric use last year. Annual application for HEAP energy assistance starts in July of 2024, and since funding is limited, it is wise to apply early next July for the 2024/2025 heating season funds.

An alternative way to get your house assessed for energy improvements is a very thorough program provided by Maine Housing. However they only have funds to complete 250 to 300 homes annually. If you get annual fuel assistance through Maine Housing’s Heating Energy Assistance Program (HEAP), your home also will get on a wait list to be evaluated for a whole house energy audit and assistance to insulate or replace doors and windows. To maximize health benefits, priority is given to families with children under 6 years of age, seniors and homes with a handicapped member.

In 2018 I developed a training program with Habitat for Humanity 7 Rivers for volunteers in Phippsburg to weatherstrip windows and doors, measure and install plastic window inserts. Habitat paid for the materials, and us volunteers put in insulation in basement sill joists, sealed doors, rebuilt unsafe stairs, added a hand rail and installed carefully measured window inserts.  Habitat for Humanity 6 Rivers has moved from Topsham to Bath where it runs the Restore at 1 Chandler Dr. in the Bath shopping center. Habitat continues to weatherize and make critical repairs to senior and low-income homes in the Harpswell, Brunswick, Sagadahoc and Lincoln County region. Go to habitat7rivers.org to read about their programs, or call (207)504-9332 for more information on their services.

I volunteer on the Energy Committee for the Town of Topsham, which has recorded online educational programs on Weatherization, Solar options and Beneficial Electrification. Go to TownofTopsham.com and search for Energy Committee Webinars to select one of these three programs. Weatherization includes Efficiency Maine programs, measuring for window inserts with Window Dressers, and Solar Options which includes Revision Energy home solar installation and purchasing solar electricity.

For mobile homeowners receiving any state assistance, Efficiency Maine has some space in a pilot program to convert your heating source to an electric heat pump. With the cost of electricity dropping from $.167 per kilowatt to $.106 this year, replacing kerosene fuel with electricity will save a lot of heating money. Call 1(866)376-2463 and ask to join the electric heat pump program for mobile homes.

Nancy Chandler studied Animal Behavior and Anthropology at Stanford University, then received her master’s in biology education in her home state of North Carolina at U.N.C. Chapel Hill. She is passionate about teaching energy conservation and hopes to get you thinking about how to use energy use efficiently to save both money and reduce greenhouse warming gases.

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