The Obama administration has called on Congress to pass a new incentive program for home energy efficiency upgrades called Home star. Created to help bolster the hard hit construction sector and national security by decreasing foreign energy dependence Home star will create tens of thousands of jobs and save home owners billions of dollars in long term energy reductions not to mention green house gases.  Rebates will be provided directly to the consumers and the federal government will reimburse accredited contractors and utilities for efficiency work performed. (SBS does this type of work.)

There are two tiers of the program: Gold star and Silver star.   Gold star is a two-year program that will provide between $3,000-$8,000 for 20%+ modeled savings for home owners.  Homeowners will need an audit by a RESNET HERS Rater or BPI Building Analyst Certified Professional to assess energy savings through improvements before work begins.  Work must be performed by a Gold star accredited contracting company.

Silver star is a one-year program which will qualify homeowners to receive between  $1,000-$1,500 for each qualified efficiency measure, $250 per appliance, with a cap of $3000or 50% of project costs whichever is less. Qualified measures include: air sealing, attic, wall, and crawlspace insulation, duct sealing or replacement, replacement of existing windows, doors, furnaces, air conditioners, heat pumps, water heaters, and appliances with high-efficiency models.  When this bill passes through congress (expected in the next few months) there will be a huge demand for audit and efficiency retrofit work.

The Retrofit for Energy and Environmental Performance (REEP) Program Act has been submitted to the House Energy and Commerce and House Financial Services Subcommitees.  This bill Requires: (1) the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to develop and implement standards for a national energy and environmental building retrofit policy for single-family and multifamily residences; (2) the Secretary of Energy (DOE) to develop and implement standards for a national energy and environmental building retrofit policy for commercial buildings; and (3) the program to implement such policies to be known as the Retrofit for Energy and Environmental Performance (REEP) program.

Requirements of the REEP program: (1) facilitate the retrofitting of existing buildings to achieve maximum cost-effective energy efficiency improvements and significant improvements in water use and other environmental attributes; and (2) provide financial assistance to states, to be administered through the State Energy Program, for management and accomplishment of the program’s objectives at the individual building level. Authorizes states and local agencies to offer free or low-cost building audits, incentives, technical assistance, training, incentive financing, and other forms of assistance to individual building owners. Requires the Administrator and the Secretary to assist states and local agencies in establishing revolving loan funds or other forms of financial assistance.

The Caulkers Bill – or “Cash for Caulkers” has not passed the House.  We think this is good news… but the fight isn’t over yet.  Next it’s to the senate.

http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5h4pIOjTWTl06XsauqI72MEvbYgqAD9FHJ4003

After a little design and deliberation, we have some new marketing pieces… tell us your take:

This is our one page 8.5 x 11 flyer:

SBS_qualifications (click to open)

This is our tri-fold, double sided brochure:

SBS_trifold (click to open)

Thanks in advance for your opinions.

We’ve decided, in the spirit of good business collaboration, to take our relationship with ClearSky Climate Solutions one step further and really play in the sustainability sandbox together.  After dancing through the customary hoops of basic legalese, we are proud to feature ClearSky’s carbon footprint calculator on the SBS website.

Our carbon footprint friend, ClearSky Climate Solutions

(NOTE: Back in February in this blog SBS announced that it is now a carbon neutral company.  We are achieving our neutrality through carbon offset credits purchased from a fellow Missoula based entity, ClearSky Climate Solutions.)

What does this mean for you?   Well, a couple of things.

First, if you’re just curious about claculating your carbon footprint, you can now do that on our site through the ClearSky carbon footprint calculator.

Second, if you’re looking to work with SBS for an advanced home or business energy audit, some retrofitting work to your structure, and/or implementing some renewable energy (think Solar PV) sources, you are probably going to end up reducing your energy load somewhere in the ballpark of 20%-90%.  But what to do about offsetting that remaining % of energy use?  Well, now SBS can do that for you, too, through the help of ClearSky.

And finally, if you link up with ClearSky through SBS and decide to work with them directly, you get 10% off as an SBS customer.

So, without further abandon, start assessing your home or business’s energy use today, and start saving with SBS and ClearSky!  We’d love to take you “all the way” to carbon neutrality.

Hi, I’m Larry and I have been serving my internship with SBS as I work toward my AAS in Energy Technology this semester (Spring 2010).

The work here has been interesting since the company is in the process of defining its market niche.  They already have some pretty hot irons in the fire and so I was tasked with finding a viable, affordable “Home Energy Management System” to be incorporated into the stable of energy efficiency measures that SBS can tender as recommendations to clients.

The research has lead me into some interesting areas that include the use of programmable thermostats, home and small business automation, the differences between use of Radio Frequency (RF), Infrared (IR) and hard wired control technologies.  Additional work here has also involved home energy audits to assist in finding where energy is being used and where it is potentially being wasted.  Let me tell you that the people here at SBS are top notch professionals that sincerely have the interest of not just the client but also the interests of the planet at heart.  The professionals here recognize that the kilowatt save or conserved today will stave off the need to construct additional power plants for the near future.  That saves us all money, now and later our children and grandchildren will appreciate the fact that we have taken a leading position in preserving the earth for them.

The folks here at SBS have shown me that the use of both stand alone Photo Voltaic (PV) systems and the increasingly popular grid-tied PV systems can have a great impact on how to best use the suns energy sources.  The energy production is free once the system is installed and commissioned.  These folks are also heads up with the latest incentives available to the consumer.  The incentives come from the federal government, state government, and utility providers; they take the form of rebates, subsidized low interest loans and direct subsidies.  These incentives go beyond making energy systems affordable-the professional installation stops just short of being making them a piece of art.  The offset in a homeowner’s energy bill every month will wind up leaving money in their pockets for decades to come.  There is something pleasing about watching a meter run backwards!

Insulation here in the State of Montana is a necessity to keep the bite of winter outside where it belongs and during the summer to allow us to rest easy in the comfort of our climate controlled environments.  It still amazes me that more people don’t make the small investment of providing adequate insulation for their homes!  We could concentrate on talking about R-values, yet the bottom line is that we are more comfortable in a snug home and insulation coupled with draft reduction takes us to that level of comfort.

Windows and doors typically can be replaced with the ensuing comfort of living in a draft free, energy efficient home.  The costs, when off-set by the incentives and subsidies are frequently recaptured with the energy savings alone within just a few years.  In essence the homeowner may not see the savings when first repaying the borrowed monies but the financial reward comes soon when the costs of energy go up but the usage cost has gone down because of the gained efficiency.

I’ll be finished here in mid-May and am spending the last couple weeks understanding how much our state legislatures actually know about all this sort of work and what SBS can do to be a positive part of the evolution to a more sustainable and energy efficient world.

Larry “the Intern” Keogh

Ground and air source heat pumps utilize a refrigerant cycle and the temperature differential between the ground, water, or outdoor air and the conditioned indoor air inside the building envelope, to add or remove heat from your home or business. 

Ground and air source heat pumps have made great strides in efficiency of operation and operable temperature ranges and have seen a dramatic increase in popularity with recent boosts in fuel prices.   These are a great alternative to traditional systems and can save you and the planet a bundle!