I wanted to make my leaky little Seattle bungalow more energy efficient. Really, I did. But my desire to lower my carbon footprint, save money and keep my toes warm in winter was overwhelmed by the same thicket of problems and misaligned incentives that keep many homeowners from doing the right thing.
Fortunately, Seattle is the latest Northwest city to roll out a smart program making that process much easier. It will help home and business owners make improvements that save energy and money over the long haul, and create family-wage green-collar jobs needed to do the work. The Community Power Works program – which officially launched today – is now available to homeowners, apartment building owners and small businesses in Central and Southeast Seattle. It helps people choose the most cost-effective projects, connects them with pre-approved contractors, offers assurances that the work will be done correctly, lays out financing options, and allows the loans to be repaid on their electric bills.
To illustrate why that’s so important, here’s a brief description of my own energy efficiency odyssey:
Two years ago, I first called the conservation hotline when Seattle City Light was advertising rebates to replace electric baseboard heaters – an offer I was told might end in a few months. So I got quick bids from three contractors, who all gave me conflicting advice. And my attempts to vet these companies on my own did not produce much reliable intelligence about whether they’d do a good job or leave gaping holes in my walls.
I also knew the the city was planning to offer homeowners discounted energy audits (which would save me about $400). I wasn’t eager to rip out my heaters until I’d gotten a more thorough analysis of my home’s energy use and the fixes that would lower my electricity bills. But since the audit program wasn’t up and running yet, I got on the waiting list and stuffed the paperwork into my bookshelf, never to be seen again.
Last year, I did get that energy audit. But the total bill for adding insulation and sealing cracks and upgrading my heating system was many thousands of dollars. My family makes too much money to qualify for low-income weatherization programs but not enough to plunk down that much cash at one time. The city couldn’t point me to any energy-efficiency financing programs for middle-income homeowners. My auditor recommended I seek out a bank loan, which is about as high on my to-do list as getting crown work done or power washing my garage.
In short, it consumed a fair amount of my time and resulted in no energy savings at my house.
Seattle’s Community Power Works for Home follows Sightline’s recommendations to make the process much easier for homeowners (and is similar to ones in Oregon and Vancouver). They’ll have access to:
- An energy expert to set up appointments and guide them through the process.
- A deeply discounted home energy assessment (cost: $95) to determine which improvements will be most cost-effective.
- Bids from pre-approved contractors that bundle together all applicable energy efficiency rebates and incentives.
- Information about financing options.
- Affordable loans from Enterprise Cascadia, a non-profit community lender, which can be paid back on the home’s electric bill.
- A followup audit to make sure the work has been done correctly and that the energy savings are being realized.
Seattle also put a lot of thought into the program’s job creation aspects. All 13 contractors on the city’s approved list have been vetted according to a Community High Road agreement, which requires them to pay family-supporting wages, offer training opportunities for diverse job candidates and provide career pathways for their employees.
And from someone who’s been through the process, here are the things that Community Power Works offers that would have made a big difference in my interest and ability to upgrade my house:
First, simply being able to reliably reach someone on the phone who was familiar with my situation and could answer my questions would have been a huge help. Knowing that my contractor would be accountable for the work would have made me less nervous about choosing one and pulling the trigger. And finally, the ability to a) locate a lender without having to do legwork and b) pay the loan off through savings on my electric bill would have made the whole thing possible.
Selfishly, I’m sad that my neighborhood isn’t within the Community Power Works program boundaries. But with limited seed money coming through a $20 million American Recovery and Reinvestment Act grant, it makes sense to focus on Seattle neighborhoods with the greatest needs.
And for those of us who don’t live in the program’s initial target area, the city plans to add resources to the Community Power Works site that will help make the process more transparent. Maybe I’ll give it another try.
A celebration of Community Power Works for Home on May 3 at 6:30 p.m. at South Shore School, 8825 Rainier Ave. S., will offer food, children’s activities and information on affordable ways to increase the energy efficiency of people’s homes.
Lisa Stiffler
Great post! For people outside of the program area, does the city of Seattle still offer energy audits? Do you have a link to info on that? Thanks!
Jennifer Langston
I believe they still do. Here’s the Seattle City Light link to sign up for a $95 home energy audit (which otherwise costs around $500.)http://www.seattle.gov/light/Conserve/hea/default.asp
Clyde
Well, I’m glad that the City program is finally up and running and I look forward to seeing the results. But a few thoughts in response to your article:1. For at least the past two years, the federal government had generous tax incentives for energy efficiency home improvements that were available to middle income families. With your audit in hand, you could have taken advantage of those substantial financial incentives.2. I wonder how it is that when there is a new bathroom or bedroom to be added or the kitchen is to be remodeled or the plumbing needs to be repaired, we manage to get through the process of making decisions, arranging for financing and hiring a contractor without having to depend on a government or utility program (except for permitting and inspection.) But somehow a home improvement project involving energy efficiency is insurmountable?3. Because, while, yes, energy efficiency is a valuable resource to utilities and the environment, and they play a critical role in improving energy efficiency over the long term, you, the consumer also get substantial benefits. A more comfortable home that is more affordable to own – as well as feeling good about doing your part to avoid more greenhouse gas emissions. 4. It’s also really important to recognize that the kind of program you’re talking about here is expensive and likely not affordable over the long term; this one is being funded largely by one-time ARRA grants. Utilities can pay only for energy conservation that is cost effective to them – and, reasonably enough, they (i.e., City Light and Puget Sound Energy) can only afford to pay for a certain amount of technical assistance, contractor oversight, as well as the financial incentives for the conservation measures themselves. And single family homes don’t generally have a high savings to cost ratio (our homes are newer, we’ve had pretty good energy codes for a couple of decades, we have a milder climate than other parts of the country, etc.) And the liklihood that more government grant programs can pick up the difference – well, we know the answer to that. (Beyond this small program, who is supposed to pay for those “deeply discounted” audits?) 5. So what am I saying? Yes, absolutely, energy efficiency programs can be improved to be more customer friendly – ideally, someday, we won’t even have to think about it because all of our homes and appliances will have energy efficiency built-in. But for now, I think the argument that “I really wanted to make my home more energy efficient but didn’t because of a thicket of problems and misaligned incentives” is a bit worn. Those barriers exist throughout our economy and our lives and we manage. The real barrier is the perception that solving the energy problem is up to utilities and the government even when we energy users can do so much ourselves.
skye
Excellent article. Clyde, I think it’s actually important to look at systemic solutions – even if they’re politically difficult in the current climate. Telling people that the excuse of barriers is “worn” will likely get 0 people to make the change. You’re right – it is. But how can we achieve the change we want?You can tell people to do the right thing all you want; if you really want people to do the right thing, align the incentives the right way and make it easy. “Making it easier to do good” was an old rallying cry of the early Catholic Worker movement I think (or the IWW?) – either way, I think it’s right on, and appreciate this program as one step in the right direction.
Jennifer Langston
Those are points well taken, Clyde. But even though I could have taken advantage of tax incentives and more thoroughly vetted contractors myself and taken all the steps to embark on upgrading my home and paying for it, the bottom line is that I didn’t. (I also never managed to get it together to add a bathroom or remodel a kitchen!) And I suspect there are a lot of people just like me.It will be interesting to see how much of a difference these wrap-around service programs make. I was simply trying to make the point that having a streamlined way to get this done would have upped the odds that I would follow through on something I know to be a good idea.