2015 was the year of the Energy-improving house updates. I’m happy to tell you that WE’RE DONE with the Alaska Energy Rebate Program! It was an exhausting year doing nearly all of the work ourselves, but we’re proud of how much work it was. The hot water heater was the biggest project, but we managed to not blow up the house while rerouting gas piping, so that’s a major bonus! The windows were an ordeal as well, but not nearly as difficult as we thought they would be. Blowing insulation into the attic was the quickest and easiest of all the projects.
Category: Energy Rebate Program
It’s been awhile since I’ve updated on our Alaska Energy Rebate Program progress. We’re nearing completion. While we hoped to have it all done in time to get our rebate check around the same time as the PFD, we’re now aiming to finish up by the end of the year (with the check arriving 8-12 weeks into the new year).
If you forgot, the state of Alaska has a program called the Alaska State Energy Rebate Program that will reimburse us $8500 for making energy efficient changes to our house.
Replacing windows is something Mr. T and I figured we would have to hire out. We had no experience with anything window-related and we figured poorly sealed or hung windows could be scary. (Don’t ask me why we were more afraid to hang our own windows than reroute gas piping since we had no experience there either.) So, we got a few quotes around town. It looked like just replacing our windows was going to cost us $6-7000. Since this was the very reason we were doing the energy audit, we were resigned to the fact that this would take up our whole budget and we would go way over that $8500 target. But we needed new windows badly (remember the mold in fingers?) and $6-7000 seemed like a lot of money.
We live in an older house. (This term is used loosely in Alaska because we’re about twenty years behind on the housing trends. I swear they just stopped building split-levels a couple years ago.) Our lovely wood windows all have broken seals and heavy fog between the panes. We can’t see out of them. Also, they build up major condensation at the bottom. This means ice in the winter and mold in the summer. And only two windows still open. The rest are broken. This winter (it was a warm one, so no ice on the windows), I watched Lui walk around with moldy wood under his fingernails, I could only vaguely see Penny walking up the driveway from the bus through the foggy glass, and the house was super hot from having the oven on but I couldn’t crack the windows. I was done. Oh, and also, our front door doesn’t open in the winter because of the weather stripping and it’s hung weird. So, of course, when Penny got home, she couldn’t open the door. Grrr. Mr. T and I mentioned our need for new windows and a new door to several friends. One friend told us about the state’s home energy rebate program. (Always talk to friends about these things. It literally pays off!) Mr. T and I looked into it and had an energy auditor for the program come out to our house in February.