Home Owner Info

With Spring arriving already, people have begun the annual ritual of spring cleaning. While you are performing a full house cleaning it is the perfect time to go over common health and safety issues in your home and make sure that your home is as safe as it should be. This is especially important for anyone with children living at home.

Appliance Safety

As part of our home energy audit we test the safety of all the gas appliances in the home, such as furnaces, water heaters and stoves. It is not uncommon for us to find serious health hazards due to issues with these appliances. This is one of the out-of-site and out-of-mind issues that may never be an issue until something changes in the home. For example, in older homes appliances are often drawing combustion air from inside of the home.

This is a call to support S. 1914 the Cut Energy Bills at Home Act sponsored by Olympia Snowe of Maine. S. 1914 provides up to $5,000 in tax credit for homeowners who go forwarded with energy efficiency upgrades on their home. The Cut Energy Bills at Home Act provides incentives for communities to reduce their long term energy use by upgrading individual residences.

Many homeowners might not be aware of a new law that went into effect this summer requiring carbon monoxide alarms to be installed in most single family homes. They also might not be aware of how dangerous carbon monoxide exposure can be to unaware residents.

Energy Upgrade California has been organizing many community outreach events in cities to raise awareness among homeowners about the collection of rebates now being offered. Many homeowners have been unaware of the large amount of rebates being offered by Counties and cities supplying funds in addition to the $4,000 rebate offered by Energy Upgrade California. California non-profits have been tasked with getting the word out about these rebates.

What is Indoor Air Pollution?
Indoor air quality is a real concern for many homes. According to the American Medical Association, “50% of all illness is caused or aggravated by polluted indoor air.” Much of our work addresses the issues that are directly related to the root cause of indoor air quality problems. Reducing high humidity levels in the house, adequate indoor ventilation, properly functioning combustion appliances, minimizing chemical storage are all important considerations that impact the health and safety of your home.