• Deadline Looms for Maryland Energy Administration's Rebate Program 
• Upcoming Event: Silver Spring Energy Efficiency Workshop 
• ecobeco has Moved! 
• Sungevity Solar Power for Maryland Homes - New Discounts - Get 4 Months FREE 
• Safe Air At Home - A Home Energy Magazine Reprint 
• Pepco Customers: Get a Free Tree 
• Montgomery County Energy Efficiency Rebate Program Provides Additional 20% Savings Opportunity
• ecobeco Solar Referral Program 
• Virginia Re-Starts Energy Efficiency Rebate Program.  Appliance Program Continues. New Geothermal Program.
• We'd Love to Hear Your Feedback
• Federal Tax Credits for Energy Efficiency Improvements Partially Extended
• Pepco Home Energy Savings Program for Maryland Customers
• Allegheny Maryland Customers, Get a Home Energy Check-Up at No Cost
• I'm Not a Pepco Maryland Customer, What About Me?

Enjoy!

A deadline has now been announced for the Maryland Energy Efficiency Rebate Program. All applications must be received by December 1 to request funds through this program or when the money runs out, whichever occurs first. The State of Maryland added another $130,000 to the pot in late October bringing the total to $2.68 million in available rebates to date.  As of November 1, there is approximately $230,000 remaining.  

ecobeco estimates that current funding levels will last approximately 2 weeks. To track how much funding remains in the program, you can visit:  

http://energy.maryland.gov/homeperformance/    

If you have not completed your audit already, it is very unlikely you will receive your audit report in time to successfully obtain a reservation with the MEA program.  We cannot guarantee that there will be funding available to you from the MEA program.   

What if I Miss the Deadline?  What's Coming Next?

The Maryland Public Service Commission is currently evaluating major enhancements to the Home Performance Program in Maryland for 2012 that includes a new 40% incentive (this is only 10% less than today's 35% MEA + 15% utility incentives).  So while the MEA program will end no later than December 1, we are expecting good news soon.  The Home Performance Program is not reservation based, so there is no cap on funding.  So you can relax a bit while we help you through the process. 

So what should I do now?

Get your audit done at your earliest convenience, and finalize your proposal.  If you are a Montgomery County resident, make your reservation using their on-line system.  We'll find out the Home Performance Program rules as soon as the Public Service Commission makes a decision, and we'll let you know in a future newsletter.  As of now, we recommend that you plan to do your work in early January.  Work done in December without an MEA Rebate Reservation will have a 15% utility rebate.  Work done in January should qualify for the 40% utility rebate. 

• This rebate is in addition to the Pepco, BGE or Allegheny rebate programs that give 15% rebates.
• This rebate is in addition to the 2011 Federal $500 tax credit, and any other local programs. 

Safe Air at Home

BY A. TAMASIN STERNER. A. Tamasin Sterner is president and chief coach of Pure Energy Coach, LLC and The Pure Energy Center, based in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, and Lavina, Montana. This article originally appeared in the  

Many home performance contractors think indoor air quality (IAQ) problems result from pollutants in the house that are too concentrated, due to inadequate ventilation. This is correct thinking but not a complete picture. At my home performance company, Pure Energy, we are finding more and more IAQ problems caused by pollutants that are supposed to be outside the living space, but are being drawn into the living space by unbalanced house pressures. Home performance contractors should fix these imbalances whenever possible. To do so requires proper diagnostic testing and a solid understanding of how occupants control their energy and how a house, and everything in it, acts as a system. This is a story about one recent home performance job that didn't go very well.

Pure Energy Coach LLC, in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, is a leading provider of training, energy auditing, and quality assurance services for home improvement professionals and energy efficiency programs. We are well known for our skilled problem solving. In late January 2011, a program administrator of a public housing program in our area asked us to inspect a house occupied by a woman who was having what she called allergy attacks. She claimed that her breathing problems, itching eyes, and itching body started the day the home performance contractor insulated her attic almost two months earlier, and she thought she was having a reaction to the caulk. By the time we made our troubleshooting inspection, a whole lot of other things had happened.

• At her request, the contractor returned, found the caulk dry, and sent her the material safety data sheet (MSDS), showing her that the caulk might take 14 days to cure completely.
• She asked the contractor to put her up in a hotel and put her dog up in a kennel for the weekend. The contractor agreed.
• She returned home. Her symptoms continued.
• She consulted a doctor, who told her to avoid staying in her home.
• She contacted an air-testing service and the local poison control center, and asked them both about the caulk.
• She stayed in a hotel again.
• She contacted the contractor, who now thought she might be having a reaction to the cellulose or some foam used in her home. So the contractor returned and arranged for a cleaning service to clean part of the house near where the cellulose and foam were installed.
• The cleaning took place, and the cleaning service conducted a room-by-room walk-through with the client. The room where the woman's symptoms had been the worst before the cleaning now caused no symptoms.
• Five days later, the woman contacted the contractor again, saying that she was having breathing problems and that the air purifier she had attempted to use wasn't doing her any good. She said that in her computer room, in particular, she couldn't breathe or talk easily. She asked the contractor to return to "get this out of my carpets and out of my air."
• She claimed that her dog was itching and rolling around scratching herself.
• An air-testing service tested for mold or bacteria and found none.
• She called her insurance company to find out how it could help. The company sent an adjuster, who told her that the house was covered for damages, but not the people in the house. The insurance adjuster told her that he had worked in fiberglass when he was younger, and he thought her problem was fiberglass in her attic.
• She told the contractor that she must be "that one in a hundred who has a high allergic reaction to the insulation." She said that she just wanted the problem resolved.
• The program administrator agreed to split the costs associated with housing the woman and her dog, and with the other attempts to fix the problem. The contractor wanted to consider the job finished.
• The woman called her congressman to complain that the contractor wasn't solving her problem.
• She reported to the contractor that her chimney was "smoking," and her roof was "smoking" out of the newly installed roof vent.
• The congressman's staff contacted the program administrator. The program administrator asked us to inspect the house.

By the time she welcomed us into her home, the woman was very frustrated and ready to sue the contractor. We were able to figure out the cause of her symptoms pretty quickly. Here are the steps we took to figure out what happened:

• We listened to what she was saying. We asked her when the symptoms started, where in her body she felt symptoms, and where in her house she felt the symptoms.
• We looked around her house, especially where she said she felt the most sick.
• We applied our building science knowledge to analyze her problem.
• We saw the problem.
• We told the truth about what we saw.
• We acted on the findings.
• The house was partially fixed, and she is better.

Here is the rest of the story.

We contacted the contractor and asked for a list of all the work performed in and on the building, as well as all test-in and test-out results. We received the available information quickly and noticed that there were no zonal pressure test results and no duct test results. These tests should have been done during the blower door test sessions; they would have given the contractor feedback about how well he sealed the pressure barrier. Giving the contractor the benefit of the doubt, and believing that the tests had been done but simply hadn't been recorded, we called again asking for the test results. We were told that the tests had not been done.

Within two days, we made an appointment with the customer and we did our third-party quality assurance and troubleshooting visit. These are the results, taken from our inspection notes:

The rooms where the woman's reactions were the strongest were rooms with recessed light fixtures and an attic hatch.

The recessed lights were covered and packed with fiberglass. They were not air sealed at the ceiling or over the lights; they were not insulation contact (IC) rated, and they were not protected properly from overheating.

• The furnace fan ran constantly, even when the fan switch on the thermostat was in the auto position.
• The return air was bypassing the furnace filter, which was poorly installed.
• There were air fresheners in the basement rooms.
• The new cellulose in the attic was damp around the attic hatch, and there was condensation on the roof over the hatch. There was frost and what appeared to be mold on the roof deck near the eaves.
• The relative humidity (RH) in the problem rooms was low.

The woman had deliberately blocked some of the return and supply registers because she felt cold air and saw mouse droppings.

Because of her symptoms, we didn't do air leakage testing, which would have verified what, by this time, we believed was happening. I bet a lot of you are already saying, "I know, I know!" So here is our tentative diagnosis:

• Since the furnace fan ran continuously, the woman had blocked some supply registers because she was cold. The recessed lights were not air sealed, so attic air was being sucked into the house in areas where the house pressures were unbalanced.
• Since the recessed lights and the attic hatch were not air sealed, house air was being pushed into the attic in areas where the blocked return registers increased house pressures.
• The attic air was probably dirty-laden with fiberglass fibers at the minimum, and probably with mold and other contaminants as well.
• These contaminants were causing the woman and her dog to itch and feel sick.

An HVAC contractor was called in to fix the fan switch on the furnace. It had been stuck in the on position during a recent oil filling when the technician bleeding the oil lines hit a relay switch that kept the fan running constantly. Even before then, the stack effect and the leaky attic plane pressure barrier probably drove the warm, moist house air into the attic, contributing to the attic moisture problems. Now, with the fan stuck in the on position, the rooms with blocked return vents became even more pressurized and the rooms with the blocked supply vents became more depressurized.

The home performance contractor returned to seal and dam the recessed lights, and fix the furnace filter slot so the filter actually performed. About a week after the fixes, the woman reported that she was feeling better, but not 100% better. We asked if we could return to do diagnostic tests and asked her to leave while we did our testing, so the air movement and air changes caused by the blower door would not exacerbate her problems. When we did our diagnostic tests, we found that the return ducts in the garage (outside the thermal boundary) were leaky, sucking garage air into the living space.

We earlier confirmed that some of the furnace return air had come from the attic through the leaky recessed lights when the blocked supply registers depressurized the room. Now we confirmed that the leaky ductwork from the garage brought bad air into the breathing space. This was happening because the blocked return registers were causing higher suction pressure in the leaky garage ducts. When the woman closed off the supply registers, she caused the house to be under higher negative pressure with reference to the outside. Therefore, the makeup air from the unbalanced system came from the garage and the attic through the unsealed recessed lights and attic hatch. When she closed off the return registers, she caused those rooms to be under higher positive pressure, pushing warm and moist air into the attic. This in turn caused moisture to condense and create wet cellulose, frost, and mold.

Since the contractor had returned to seal the leaky recessed lights, what was left to seal was the leaky garage ductwork. We asked the contractor to do this, but the program administrator refused to pay for it, so the ducts are probably still leaky.

The woman claims that her health has improved, but she still wants air testing done on her home. When the program administrator refused to pay for testing, she told him that she was going to call the local television station and her attorney to complain.

The ordeal to date has taken three months and cost thousands of dollars. The program administrator and the contractor split the nine nights of hotel stays for the woman, and the 17 kennel days for her dog. They paid us for two comprehensive inspections.

This is an example of Pure Energy's business model for working with clients and customers. We call this the Coaching Model, and we've shared it at ACI conferences and other trade conferences over the past five years. We have found the model to be effective, even in very difficult cases such as this one.

You finished the energy efficiency improvements in your home, and you are wondering what else can you do? Going solar seems like an interesting project, but fronting $40K for a system does not. No longer. 

Sungevity Solar brings its groundbreaking Solar Lease to Maryland helping you do your part for the environment and increase your home's value. Sungevity is a top-ranked California solar company and has expanded its coverage area to Maryland.  The solar lease features:  

• $0 Down Lease or Prepaid Lease - Instead of paying full price up-front, you can lease the panels for a low monthly cost.  Alternatively, by prepaying the lease, you can avoid finance charges and eliminate monthly payments completely.    

• Instant Savings with Guaranteed Output - Sungevity's performance guarantee states upfront what your expected solar output will be so that there is no guesswork. Plus, most customers are saving an average of 15% on their monthly energy bills with the solar panels!

• Full-Service Solar - Sungevity maintains the panels at no cost to you for the life of the lease. 

• A free, no-hassle iQuote within 24 hours - Using super-smart satellite technology, Sungevity can provide your iQuote in 24 hours. Then, the Sungevity sales consultant will answer your questions by phone. Everything is electronic. You can go from iQuote to contract as soon as you're ready.

• If you are ready for an iQuote or want to learn more, contact ecobeco's office at 240 396 2141 x2 or click to get started. 

• Be sure to use referral code "ecobeco" to ensure discounted pricing.   

• Note the Sungevity Lease is currently available only to Maryland customers with FICO scores of 700 or higher.  This requirement fluctuates, so we encourage customers with 600 - 700 FICO scores to obtain iQuotes so Sungevity can contact you when the lease requirements change. 

• Sungevity solar is only available in Maryland 

CURRENT SPECIALs (You can get both): 

Special 1: LIMITED TIME OFFER! Request an iQuote by November 15 to become eligible for your first 3 months FREE!* You have until December 31st to review your personal iQuote and sign up for solar power and Sungevity will pay for your first 3 months. Make sure to use referral code "ecobeco" on the last page of the solar iQuote request to get this deal.  

Special 2: Receive one month's lease payment from ecobeco!** Combine this with Sungevity's 3 Months Free and that's 4 whole months of free solar electricity. Be sure to enter referral code "ecobeco" on the last page when you create your iQuote.  Or call us at (240) 396-2141 x 2 and we will be happy to submit the iQuote request for you.

*Sungevity will send you a Gift Card equal to 3 month's payments. Make sure to enter the correct referral codes. Must request iQuote by November 15 and must sign solar contract by December 31. 

**ecobeco will provide a cash payment equal to one month of Sungevity lease payments up to a total of $150 per household (fully prepaid leaseholders will receive $150).  Allow 6 weeks after activation of your solar system to receive payment. To qualify, customer must use the referral code 'ecobeco' when creating an iQuote.  Visit http://www.ecobeco.com/solar for more information. 

Click here to send an email to your friends about ecobeco's services. Tell your friends about Sungevity Solar, and if they sign up for solar power using the "ecobeco" referral code and mention your name in the notes section of their iQuote, we'll send you a check for $250.    

One more thing to mention.  You don't have to be a customer of ecobeco to take advantage of the referral program.  Tell your friends about our program and they can tell their friends and we'll spread the green around!  

www.ecobeco.com/referral  

We're a service business and your opinions and referrals matter to us!

Last year, your feedback helped us win the 2010 Super Service Award for Energy Efficiency Auditing from Angie's List. Please take a moment to share your experiences with our team and help inform your community about its local businesses. We appreciate your time to make our processes and products better!

Find out what other customers have been saying about ecobeco and leave a few comments of your own by going to Angie's List, Checkbook, Yelp and/or Facebook. If you are a member to these sites, please rate us and help grow our network!

Thank you!

1. The maximum benefit is $500, and the benefit is now 10% of the purchase price.  This is a big change from 30% up to $1,500.
2. The benefit is a lifetime benefit.  That means if you took more than $500 in benefit from 2005 - 2010, you cannot take any benefit in 2011.
3. Gas or Oil or Propane furnace or boiler benefit capped at $150.
4. Efficient property (such as insulation) capped at $300.
5. Window benefits capped at $200.

You can read more about it when Energy Star updates their website in the near future.  Also we are not tax lawyers nor accountants, so please contact your accountant or the IRS with questions about your situation.