Cost Benefits and ROI

  • Paul Zabriskie, General Manager

    Paul Zabriskie, General Manager

Dollar-for-dollar, energy renovation improvements are the most cost-effective improvements you can make to your residential building. They lower your costs of maintaining the building, increase your comfort, reduce potential risks from mold and moisture, and improve the value of your structure. All this, and it's a tax-free gain in property value.

Most importantly, energy renovation allows you to burn less fuel. Avoided fuel consumption delivers a smaller carbon footprint, in addition to monetary savings.

Return on Investment

When we do an energy audit, we look for the most effective ways to improve performance, increase comfort, and reduce cost. We look at the daily-life changes—setting back the thermostat when away—as well as the once-in-a-lifetime changes, like pumping in expanding foam insulation at the cellar sill level. You may not see the insulation, but you will feel the difference every day.

We look at projects that will pay for themselves in reduced fuel cost—our only measure of payback—in 8 years. Replacement windows are not currently on our list of recommended improvements, because it usually takes 20-30 years for most building owners to recoup those costs.

The project work we typically give priority to includes work in the attic and the cellar, two prime targets for air infiltration. We review the changes needed in these areas, and develop an estimate of fuel savings.

When you get your energy audit report and estimate from EnergySmart of Vermont, we provide a list of renovations that we're recommending, the cost of our work, and our estimate for your fuel savings. We also provide a simple payback equation, so you can see how we arrived at the numbers.