Energy Concepts was a natural extension of Built By Brett, Inc. City Utilities of Springfield recently passed a gas rate adjustment in October of 2008 that will provide for increases over the next three years. Another reason for the demand is the desire to live in a "Green" home, one that is reducing the carbon footprint and will helping prevent global warming. Many people want to stay in the homes they love, but they realize that their 15+ year old home may not be as energy efficient as some of the newer homes with state of the art technologies. That is where Energy Concepts can help. We will evaluate the existing structure and components, and then formulate a plan to provide the home owner with the benefits of new technologies and products to increase the energy efficiency of their home. These improvements also make the home more comfortable, more aesthetically appealing, improve safety and air quality, as well as reduce the carbon footprint. We specialize in finding ways to do this that are financially feasible. Our rule of thumb is that the improvement should be able to pay for itself in seven years or less under normal living conditions. Even though you could add solar collectors or windmills to reduce your energy bills, we focus on more traditional components that are designed to be energy efficient yet less invasive. Some of the fixes are as simple as caulk or mastic.
Energy Concepts uses a third party to provide objective testing parameters on each individual home. The tests can give us a quantitative measurement for air leakage throughout the house. It will identify specifically from where the air infiltration or leakage is coming, whether that is the duct work, windows, doors, or a lack of insulation. We can analyze your appliances and we can also provide comparisons on different Heating, Cooling, and Water Heating systems expected performances, and provide the pay back periods for various efficiencies. Energy Concepts can also compare your current equipment to a new piece of equipment to see if it would be cost affective for you to exchange your functioning, but energy guzzling equipment, for a more efficient model.
Congress attached a bill to the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008 that provides a $500 tax credit (that means a $500 refund check) for qualified improvements done in 2009. The State of Missouri recently passed a bill for a tax deduction for similar energy efficient improvements of up to $2000. There are also rebates that are available that are up to $400 per piece of equipment installed to Energy Star standards.
With the projected energy prices going up, you really can't afford waiting to call.
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