Today, we're going back to the basics - the building envelope.
For those of you who have taken the NAR Green Designation, you'll likely know all about the building envelope. It's the jacket of the house, so to speak. Like a jacket, you want good insulation and a snug fit. After all, the most energy-efficient equipment won't be very effective if the air is leaking out.
Two cost-effective ways to improve your building envelope and lower your utility bills are insulation and air sealing. Insulation can help lower your heating and cooling costs by slowing down how fast air gets into or out of a building. Air sealing consists of finding the gaps in the house's building envelope and sealing them.
BayREN rebates are currently available to help offset the cost of building envelope improvements. The Inflation Reduction Act may be able to help further reduce energy efficiency improvement costs. A summary of what is included can be found here.
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