One of the Duggan’s top motivators in scheduling a Home Energy Audit was to save money on their energy bills, and they were comfortable with the possibility of spending short-term money for long-term gain. Using a blower door test, their home energy audit identified and diagnosed a fairly major air attic-to-basement air leak which they described as a wind tunnel in their laundry room. From Xcel’s monthly tracking report they saw they had seasonal inefficiencies that are costly in the long-term. “In our home we saw pattern of higher-than-expected gas usage in winter months only; this identified for us an area to investigate where strong savings might be possible,” said David. The Home Energy Audit also uncovered a need to upgrade their attic insulation.
Since the Duggan’s had multiple energy efficiency upgrades they wanted to correct, the Home Performance Rebate program made the most sense for them. “The rebates were definitely a motivator and greatly increased the probability we would follow through on the NEC’s recommendations. The rebates also allowed us to come out ahead in a shorter period of time,” said David.
Although though they had been HOURCAR members for two years, David and Alice Duggan heard about the Neighborhood Energy Connection mostly from neighborhood sources, including the Saint Anthony Park Community Council’s (SAPCC) Green on the Screen and neighborhood workshops on composting and raising bees and chickens.
It wasn’t until Alice saw the Home Energy Squad van pull up to the neighbor’s house across the street that they decided they needed to find out more about this Squad phenomenon. It just so happened at about that same time they saw a notice for a home energy workshop sponsored by the Home Energy Squad, Clean Energy Resource Teams and the SAPCC and decided they should go. Having a workshop to introduce the Home Energy Squad services helped mobilize the Duggan’s and others who might have an idea of energy savings in the back of their mind. “When you have an occasion where a bunch of people are getting together to sign up, it mobilizes you to not put it off anymore. Peer pressure is a real motivator,” said Alice.
“Using the Xcel Home Energy Report provided by the NEC, we can now track our year-to-year results in comparison to similar neighbors,” said David, “We applaud the energetic crews doing this work of saving energy for all, and dollars for neighborhood homeowners!”
