New Orleans Launches Home Energy Efficiency Retrofit Program For Parish Homeowners

New Orleans Mayor Mitch Landrieu has launched a new partially-federally funded program called NOLA Wise to help local homeowners make energy efficient retrofits to their homes.

Diagram courtesy of energyauditinstitute.com.

The program will be available to all local homeowners and will be a one-stop-shop for the process from evaluation to the completion of the renovations.

NOLA Wise is one of the Department of Energy’s Better Buildings Neighborhood projects and it will be managed by the environmental nonprofit Global Green USA.

The nonprofit expects the program to give “homeowners the opportunity to reduce their utility use by 15 percent or more.”

Special financing will be provided to homeowners depending their needs, and free assistance to those eligible.

NOLA Wise says that “there are no income requirements for the program” and final upgrade costs, after incentives are applied, will either be paid out of pocket by homeowners or through special low income loans provide through the program. Loan application approvals will depend on credit scores.

The program will take a holistic “a house-as-a-system approach,” explaining that “if one system has a problem, it impacts the other systems’ ability to function properly.”

High energy bills can result from issues such as uneven temperatures from room-to-room, drafts, pest infestations, and premature deterioration of building materials, according to experts at NOLA Wise.

For qualified homeowners, the program will send a nationally certified home energy auditor to “perform an initial inspection of each home, including a blower door and a duct blaster test to check for air leaks and inefficiencies in the building.”

Further tests might be used as part of a more in-depth inspection, which could include:

• A ‘crawl through’ inspection of an attic or basement, looking for areas where cooled or heated air can escape.
• An infrared camera to search for hot and cold spots inside walls, around windows and below baseboards.
• Safety testing of a homeowner’s furnace and other combustion appliances for carbon monoxide levels and other problems.

Homeowners will then be given a list of recommendations for their homes, including: adding or improving insulation; maintaining or replacing air conditioning or furnaces; stopping leaks; installing energy efficient lighting; or maintaining or replacing large appliances.

Contractors for the renovation jobs will be selected from the local area, but must have Building Performance Institute (BPI) certifications. Green Coast Enterprises – a NOLA Wise partner – will supervise the work done on the houses to ensure that the work meets performance expectations.

As part of the program, 17 New Orleans contractors have already earned BPI certifications for completing training in the latest methods in creating energy efficient home environments.

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