Albany Residents Can Receive Boost to Retrofit Homes

A  next week will show Albany residents ways to save energy at home, reduce utility bills and improve their home's air quality.  

The Energy Upgrade California workshop will take place Aug. 16 at 7 p.m. in El Cerrito's . Attendance is free and, while room is available for 100 people, more than 53 had already reserved a seat as of Wednesday — including residents of Albany, El Cerrito and Richmond, but also from Berkeley, San Leandro and Oakland. Residents can RSVP online.

Maria Sanders, El Cerrito’s environmental analyst, said the program introduces an innovative approach to sustainability, offering rebates designed to give homeowners an opportunity to retrofit their homes, which can typically cost upwards of $10,000.

“The old way was to give $250 rebates for a new refrigerator or a new furnace. This is a new more holistic way of saving energy,” she said. 

Participants attending the workshop will get a breakdown of the rebate options available to them and how to apply. A local contractor will describe the types of improvements that can increase the energy efficiency of a home. Participants will also hear from a local homeowner who went through the program. 

After the workshop, contractors will be on hand to answer specific questions residents may have about their homes.

To qualify for the program, homeowners must provide an energy upgrade performance assessment that details the conditions of their house. If the results of the assessment show that an upgrade will make a home 15 to 40 percent more efficient, homeowners can qualify for rebates ranging from $1,500 to $4,000 to have a contractor do the retrofit.

Thanks to a grant from the Environmental Protection Agency, residents of Albany can apply for rebates toward a professional assessment, allowing them to apply for Energy Upgrade California.

In Albany, homeowners can qualify for a $190 rebate towards an upgrade assessment, and another $590 rebate for a retrofit.

“This is aimed to help residents take that first step,” said Sanders.

According to Sanders, the more homeowners sign up for the program, the better it is for everyone. Albany's concluded that the second largest source of greenhouse gas emissions in Albany were residential natural gases. The city’s housing stock is old, explained Sanders, with the construction of most houses dating back before the 1980s — well before anyone thought of energy efficiency.

“What this tells me is that we have a long way to go,” said Sanders.

Albany has committed to reducing emissions to 25 percent below 2004 levels by 2020. Having homeowners participate in Energy Upgrade California is one way to meet that goal, she said.

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