No small number of Santa Cruz greenies wept salty tears last July when government-backed home mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac spiked an innovative plan to encourage home solar installations. But from the ashes of the California First program—which would have allowed homeowners to borrow the cash for rooftop solar systems from local municipalities, then repay it through property tax assessments—has risen Energy Upgrade California (EUC), a statewide program that is perhaps humbler but for which administrators at Santa Cruz’s own Ecology Action, tasked with managing the initiative, have high hopes.
Marketed as a “whole house” approach to energy efficiency, EUC provides rebates to homeowners who hire a participating program contractor to do relatively simple fixes: duct sealing, attic insulation, hot water pipe insulation. A spendier track involves high-efficiency furnaces and water heaters. Rebates vary depending on the energy savings achieved: a plan that saves 10 percent of energy costs nets a rebate of $1,000; one that saves 40 percent nets the maximum of $4,000.
It makes sense to plug energy leaks first before investing in, say, your own personal wind farm. But evidently Santa Cruzans aren’t going for it. Of the 1,000 California homeowners who’ve taken advantage of the program since Jan. 1, none of them reside in Santa Cruz County, the project’s administrative home. And only two local contractors have signed up for the training.
Maybe the grownup chores of maintenance and retrofitting just aren’t exciting enough for us. It certainly isn’t a shiny new solar set-up you can toast with your friends. Ecology Action spokesman Bill Maxfield acknowledges that the program may suffer from a glamour deficit. “Solar is great, and your neighbors walk by and say ooh and ahh, and they don’t do that when you put pink fiberglass in your roof,” he says.
But Maxfield and Colin Clark, program manager for Ecology Action, like to point out that Energy Upgrade California may actually be more sustainable in some ways, like jobs creation. Energy efficiency is more labor-intensive than solar installation and therefore better for the economy. “Insulation is cheap compared to the person installing it,” says Maxfield.
There’s also the combination of monthly PG&E bill savings and comfort. “Not only are you saving money, but your house is just more comfortable and it’s healthier,” says Clark. “People don’t realize how tired they are of wearing two sweaters in the winter.”
And one day, Clark says, homes could have an energy rating similar to a miles-per-gallon rating—which could come in handy when it’s time to sell.
But it’s not cheap. Clark says the average energy efficiency upgrade costs $11,000, with an average rebate of $3,000. Which may explain the real reason Santa Cruzans aren’t lining up for it. At present that remaining $8,000 has to come from a good old-fashioned bank loan, and good luck with that.
That part, however, could change if the Board of Supervisors votes to participate in the CHF Residential Energy Retrofit Program, an initiative of the California Rural Home Mortgage Finance Authority. It would allow homeowners to borrow the money for energy efficiency upgrades at 3 percent interest, repayable over 15 years. Supervisors Mark Stone and John Leopold sent a letter to their colleagues last month pressing for action.
Improved participation can’t come soon enough for the program’s administrators, who have until March 2012 to prove its viability. “It’s blazing a trail,” says Maxfield, “and it’s a big state and it’s on a fast timeline.”
For information visit http://energyupgradeca.org.
