At first I thought it was too good to be true: an energy program that I had heard about from West Marin Climate Action newly available on the coast. This program would find and hire a contractor to do home energy work, and my wife and I would be on the hook for only 20 percent of the cost, to a maximum of $1,000.
So I called BayREN, the Bay Area Regional Energy Network. Within two months, I had a home visit for an assessment, with a cost estimate of about $7,800. Workers came a month later and spent two days in our attic, and at the end of the second day we had a rat-feces-free, air-sealed space with brand-new fluffy insulation installed by a friendly and efficient crew. And all they wanted was our check for $1,000.
How did this happen? BayREN runs a number of incentive programs all over the Bay Area, and it recently set up a program to more easily help homeowners improve the energy efficiency of their homes. It’s called the EASE Home program, for Efficiency and Sustainable Energy, and it focuses on what they call core energy areas: duct work wrapping, weatherstripping and insulation.
BayREN is funded by PG&E ratepayers, noted as “Public Purpose Programs” on PG&E bills. The money is funneled through the California Public Utilities Commission, and PG&E has a heavy influence on the rules. If your house was built before 2010 and you have little enough income—in Marin, a maximum of $188,025 for two people—and your household heat is provided by PG&E, you are in the running for this program.
The EASE Home program recently expanded to West Marin, and I was one of the earliest to apply. The application doesn’t ask, but if you don’t have a heat source powered by PG&E energy (using Marin Clean Energy is okay), you’re out of luck. I have a neighbor who submitted her application and was told that she doesn’t qualify because her house is heated by propane, i.e. not by PG&E. This is a major issue for many in West Marin. Luckily, our house has electric baseboard heating.
In years prior, BayREN’s program required homeowners to use an approved contractor, and though all Marin was technically eligible, a friend reported a few years ago that he could not get a single one of the approved contractors to come out here.
At the end of August, an energy advisor visited our home in Inverness with his iPad and looked around for about an hour. We don’t have ductwork, and I guess our weatherstripping was good enough, so he focused on our attic insulation.
We had thought we were in good shape in that area, having asked our roofer 10 years ago to put a second blanket of batting insulation on top of the original layer. The problem was that—unbeknownst to us until a short time ago—rats lived up there. The second layer of insulation made our home warmer but covered up the rat feces and who knows what else.
We have since gotten rid of the rats, but their deposits remained and the mess has bothered us for a while, both emotionally and medically. We wanted to replace the insulation but just couldn’t picture how anybody was going to pull out and replace the insulation when the only access was a 14-inch square hole in a small closet. A knowledgeable friend said, “No problem with access—just cut a hole in the roof,” but that just seemed too complicated.
Xavier, our energy advisor said, “You really need new insulation and that closet access is okay—my guys can get up in there.” He calculated the cost and confirmed that our share would be $1,000. On the first day, the crew went up and pulled out all the old insulation after creating a protective plastic path through our kitchen and out the front door. The next day, they came back and vacuumed out all the feces, air sealed the attic’s inside edges and blew in cotton candy-style insulation to an R-factor (meaning resistance to heat flow) better than we had before. They cleaned up everything beautifully and were gone by 3 o’clock.
One excellent thing about the new insulation is that rats don’t like it because they can’t make nests with it—it’s too fluffy. The house feels a bit warmer now and a whole lot healthier.
Needless to say, we’re big fans of the BayREN EASE Home program. There are other home energy programs—from PG&E and Marin Clean Energy, for example—but this one worked well for us. To find out which programs are best for you, contact Kellen Dammann with the Marin County Community Development Agency at [email protected] or (415) 473.2698.
Scoby Zook is a retired investment advisor, a member of West Marin Climate Action and an amateur softball player-coach. He has lived in Inverness for 38 years.