Demand for upgraded energy efficiency at home is weak

[phantom power]

I'll go out on a limb and suggest that this could be because people do not have enough jobs or money. Once you move past basics like caulk and weather stripping, even energy efficiency rapidly starts to cost significant amounts of money. Measures like blown insulation and water heaters are into the hundreds of dollars. Upgrading our windows and AC last year cost $18K.

The recession-driven drop in new home construction is forcing more companies to seek work upgrading the energy efficiency of U.S. homes.

But consumer demand remains weak because of the cost and the dearth of strong financial incentives, which President Obama is now pushing Congress to provide.

...

Historically, about 150,000 U.S. homes have received energy upgrades annually, most via government programs for low-income Americans, estimates Kevin Pranis, research director for Change to Win, a labor union coalition. Some 100 million U.S. homes could use upgrades, Pranis says.

"We look at this as rescuing an industry," says Matt Golden, co-founder of Recurve, a San Francisco-based energy audit and retrofit firm. Recurve has been in the business five years, but other companies are stepping up home energy retrofit efforts, including:

http://www.usatoday.com/money/industries/energy/environment/2010-01-05-home-energy-efficiency-demand_N.htm

[n2doc]

1. Exactly right

Plus, if you owe more on your house than it is worth, why put even more money into it?

[NJmaverick]

2. I hope Obama is able to getting those measures past

as it's a win/win situation with people being put to work and the nation becoming a little less dependent on foreign oil.

[dkf]

3. It's like buying that little car. You won't do it until it's painful not to.

Without significant tax incentives this is going nowhere. Green energy was supposed to be the jobs generator but it didn't get good follow through from Obama.

[TwilightGardener]

4. One problem these companies face--most updates can be done by do-it-yourselfers.

We replaced our own windows, installed our own insulation. Replaced our old exterior wood doors with insulated steel doors. Ran around with cans of Great Stuff sealing the cracks and gaps in our old stone foundation. I guess there'd be a market for little old ladies and the upper middle class who don't want to do this stuff, but I can't see lots of people actually hiring a company to come out and caulk and unroll pink batts for you.

[Kolesar]

5. Ohio and many states have huge programs for home-efficiency improvements

It is funded through utility billing. 3% of the billions of dollars Ohioans spend on electricity is a huge budget. Other states have electricity and natural gas funded efficiency programs, too.

We can achieve upgrades to 100 million homes.

[NickB79]

6. I've already budgeted most of my $8000 tax credit to energy saving upgrades

But I won't see that money until tax time rolls around, which sucks because I just got a heating bill for $500 worth of propane delivered. I'm spending over $175/month heating a 1900 sq. ft. house, and that is with the thermostat set to 63F, the upstairs closed off and set to 50F, and using a cast-iron woodburning stove every other night in the living room. Everything is caulked and weathersealed over but the windows are the originals, the attic has about 3" of insulation where it should have 12"+ (this is Minnesota), and there are cold spots on the walls where I'm guessing the insulation has settled over time (the house was built in 1967). The furnace spends more time running than turned off.

The good thing is that my brother and mother-in-law both do home repair professionally and have access to left-over materials at build and remodel sites so I should be able to save a bundle on labor and material. Without their help, I'd be screwed.