09 Sep How Efficient is Your Home? These Folks Want to Help You Find Out

The US government wants you to improve the energy efficiency of your home. And, to make this as easy as possible, they’re deploying an army of trained professionals to cities across the country, all with one mission in mind – to give Americans a Home Energy Score.

Kind of like a car’s miles per gallon rating, the Home Energy Score is an indicator of a home’s energy efficiency. Developed by the US Department of Energy, the Home Energy Score program was piloted in 2011 in 10 areas across the country and now is being rolled out to dozens of additional cities, including Austin.

The program in Central Texas is being run by the local Spirit Foundation, which is partnering with the DOE to bring the Home Energy Score to Austin.

Jim Mikel is the chairman of the Spirit Foundation and this Home Energy Score rollout has been a longtime dream of his.

“I do believe that we need to do things at my age, for this younger generation, when I won’t be around,” Mikel said.

He sees the Home Energy Score as a great way to accomplish several things – help the environment by conserving energy, provide good-paying jobs for Americans, and offer homeowners a way to save money on their electricity bills.

Here’s how it works:

• Over the next several weeks, hundreds of Spirit Foundation Home Scouts will be fanning out over the streets of Austin, aiming to knock on the door of every single-family home in the city.
• After knocking on your door, the scout will ask if you want a free Home Energy Score assessment. If you say yes, they’ll give you a phone number to set up an appointment.
• When it’s time for your appointment, a trained home energy assessor will come to your house, collect information, and enter it into a specialized computer program that will generate a score based on a simple 1 to 10 scale, with 1 being the least efficient and 10 being the most.
• In addition to the score, you’ll receive general information about the efficiency of your home, a list of suggested improvements to make your home more efficient, a list of certified contractors who can make those improvements, and an estimate of your potential energy savings. You will also be able to schedule a free solar assessment to determine if your house is a good fit for solar.

Job Creation

The Home Energy Score is also very much a job-creation program. The Sprit Foundation has been working with military bases and nonprofits, like Fort Hood and The Mission Continues, to train veterans to become Home Energy Score assessors. The goal is to ease the transition from combat to civilian life by providing them good-paying jobs and the training to go along with it. For Mikel, helping these veterans is at the core of the mission.

“My dad was a chief in the Navy and he was also a wounded warrior. He had one leg… and so I definitely wanted to help that in my life,” Mikel said.

He is also a lover of the environment. The Home Energy Score program combines both of these passions for Mikel.

In addition to employing veterans, the Home Energy Score program offers lots of job opportunities for the average American. Mikel estimates that they’ll be hiring about 200 people in the Austin area to become energy assessors.

Here’s how it works:

• Anyone interested in becoming a Home Energy Score Qualified Assessor should fill out an application online at http://thespiritfoundation.org/apply.html. The only requirements are that you don’t do drugs or have a violent criminal record.
• After that, you’ll be called in for an interview and put through a free five day training. After passing a test, you’ll start working almost right away. You will also me mentored by an experienced home energy assessor for some field training when you first start out. (For quality control purposes, 5 percent of all home assessments will also be evaluated by a third party organization).
• The starting salary is $37,000 a year, plus benefits and commission, with opportunities for advancement.

So, be on the lookout for a bunch of people in white hats and green vests walking through your neighborhood. That’s the uniform of the Home Energy Score folks. And if you’re really excited and can’t bear to wait for that knock on your door, you can also request a home visit here>>