Program Available for Natural Gas and Fuel Oil Users
The Town of Belmont, through its Energy Committee and the Belmont Municipal Light Department (BMLD), is offering Belmont residents free, comprehensive home energy assessments to save energy and money. Audits can now be obtained whether you heat your home with natural gas or with oil.
The Belmont program involves no ordinary home energy assessment. The Belmont program uses exterior thermal images to pinpoint exactly where heat is leaking to make the most effective improvements possible. The “thermal imaging” shows where the outside walls of a home are “hot” (yellow/orange coloring), meaning that heat is escaping through the walls due to the lack of insulation. When heat in a home escapes to the outside, the air inside the home must be reheated, costing the resident money and putting more emissions into the air. Installing wall insulation will thus reduce a resident’s home energy bills in addition to being good for the environment.
Home energy audits can now be obtained in Belmont whether you heat your home with natural gas or fuel oil:
- If you heat with natural gas, you can access no-cost energy audits through the Better Homes Belmont program offered through the Belmont Energy Committee.
- If you heat with fuel oil, you can access similar no-cost energy audits through a program supported by BMLD that mirrors Better Homes Belmont.
The natural gas Better Homes Belmont program gives Belmont residents access to substantially discounted energy efficiency products and services, including a 75% insulation discount (up to $2,000) and access to 0% interest loans for qualified improvements (such as single pane window replacement and heating system replacement). Natural gas customers have already fully paid for the in-home energy assessment through natural gas utility bills.
The BMLD program for homes heating with fuel oil gives Belmont residents access to the same in-home energy assessment. The auditors will also help residents access natural gas company rebates should customers wish to convert their fuel oil heating system to natural gas; access a BMLD rebate for customers seeking to reduce their fuel oil dependency through the installation of mini-split heat pumps; and access low-cost financing for wall and ceiling insulation.
According to Roger Colton, co-chair of the Belmont Energy Committee, the audits provide substantial financial benefits to Belmont residents in addition to improving the environment. “My wife and I insulated our home at a cost of $1,400 out of our pockets,” Colton said. “Our natural gas heating bills are expected to be reduced by $600 a year. We get our money back in just two-and-a-half years. After that, all the bill reductions are profit to us.”
Join your neighbors and save energy today. Visit www.sagewell.com and enter your address in the “find your home or building” box. For more information, contact Sagewell at support@sagewell.com or call 617-963-8141.
| HOW TO SIGN-UP FOR A BELMONT ENERGY AUDIT |
- Go online to the following internet address: www.sagewell.com
- Enter your address in the “Find Your Home or Building” box.
- Complete the form to request thermal images and a utility-sponsored in-home energy assessment.
You will receive an e-mail with the thermal images of your home.
You will receive a telephone call to schedule the in-home energy assessment.