GreenFinanceSF will make it possible for San Francisco homeowners to pay for energy efficiency retrofits for their homes and to install solar panels on their roofs, without breaking the bank.

In the City’s Press Release, Mayor Newsom is quoted saying, “San Francisco’s green financing program will help property owners overcome the large up-front costs of major environmental improvements to their buildings… These improvements will save property owners money on monthly utility bills, increase property value, and will help the city meet its aggressive greenhouse gas reduction goals.”

The City will front the initial costs of the energy efficiency measures, and the homeowner will pay it back through a special measure on their property tax over 10-20 years. The amount the homeowner is paying back should be less than what they are saving on their energy bill; so in essence, the retrofit will be paying for itself.

The City estimates that you can save at least 25% on your energy bill by participating in the program.

All participants will be required to have an energy audit, or can elect to have a package of energy efficiency measures performed instead. If you are interested in a whole home retrofit, all of the costs, including the audit, will be paid for by the city.

1BOG is still offering 15% off a Recurve whole home retrofit, and we have negotiated an audit price of $295 ($100 off the original price of $395). By signing up through us, you will get the discounted group price, and Recurve will walk you through financing your project with GreenFinanceSF.

Please give us a call (415-992-7540) or sign up for more information about the program, and to find out how to take advantage of the 15% discount!

Well, you may actually be breathing air from your crawlspace in your living space every day. This air is full of allergens such as dust, mold, pollen and ozone.

How does it get into your house, you ask?

We all know that hot air rises, but probably didn’t know that the actual health of the air you are breathing everyday is so greatly affected by this principle. When warm air is escaping from your home (through cracks, walls without much insulation, or right through holes in your roof or ceiling), it needs to be replaced somehow.

Unfortunately for your health, it is replaced with cold air that is pulled up from your crawlspace through more leaks. This is called the “stack effect,” and is perpetuated first and foremost by holes in your building’s structure.

If we could see the holes in our homes, we could easily fix them ourselves, but most of us aren’t building scientist, and we don’t own the proper equipment. This is why it’s important to bring in a building specialist to do an energy audit.

How can you tell if you are breathing air from your crawl space?

• You might notice dust appearing around your heat exchanger
• Your allergies are worse indoors
• You have to turn on your heater quite often in the winter
• You can actually see mold growing on your walls or ceiling

Sign up on the homepage of this site and I can help you answer your questions!

You may have realized that your home is using more energy than it could be, and you know that you’re paying more than you need to be on your energy bills. Now what?

Solar panels are often seen as the best solution for these problems, as they convert the sun’s rays to energy with which to power your home. They are visible; you can monitor them working; you can see the exact amount of energy they are producing, and they look pretty damn cool.

If your ultimate goal is saving energy (and money), putting solar panels on a leaky house usually isn’t the best starting point. You might even end up with bigger system than necessary.

You wouldn’t put a turbocharger on your car if it had flat tires-you’d fix them first!

It makes most cents to fix your leaky house BEFORE putting a huge piece of equipment on it to generate power.

A good starting point is getting an energy audit.

Once your home is as efficient as possible, you can get by with a smaller solar system to provide the fraction of solar power you’re after. This will save you money on both your solar system and on your energy bills.

You can learn a lot more about why it usually makes sense to invest first in energy efficiency and then solar, from the organization Efficiency First, a Washington-base non-profit advocating for the home performance industry and creating policy to make efficiency more accessible.

This federal program will offer rebates for specific efficiency measures, with a maximum $3,000 rebate for a whole-home retrofit that would result in a 20% reduction in overall energy usage.

This is another necessary step toward making energy efficiency retrofits affordable and easy for homeowners, while creating new jobs at the same time.

Because this falls under the economic recovery plan, Obama called for support from both Republicans and Democrats in moving this program forward. Hopefully this initiative will move through Congress at a faster pace than the current healthcare debate.

Specifics for the program include:

To find out more about the HOMESTAR program, visit this site.

HOMESTAR has the potential to create thousands of needed jobs, as well as to help reduce your energy costs, making your home more comfortable! The program will have a time limit, so we will keep you apprised of new developments and how you can apply for the rebates when they are available. Stay tuned for more.

Environmental measures will include energy and water efficiency; encompassing wall, ceiling and floor insulation, heating and cooling, windows, low-flow water fixtures, as well as renewable energy.

This funding will coincide with the GreenFinanceSF program, scheduled to launch on April 1, 2010, allowing homeowners to pay for their whole-home retrofits through their property tax over a set period of time. More information can be found at their website.

We at 1BOG are invested in helping everyone take advantage of this opportunity for whole-home retrofits at an affordable cost. We have found you the best deals in Solar, and are now bringing you the best deals in Energy Efficiency. Stay tuned for more info.

Home Performance with Energy Star is a new program sponsored by the U.S. DOE and U.S. EPA, which aims to make it easier for homeowners to find a top-notch home performance contractor who looks at their home as a complete system. This is one of the many reasons we have decided to work with Recurve. They are Home Performance with Energy Star rated, and the most trusted in the industry.

You wouldn’t buy a new fridge without an Energy Star rating, so make sure to look for this trusted brand in your home performance contractor as well!

If your house is too cold, too hot, too drafty, moldy, if allergies or asthma are issues for your family, if your power bills are too high, or if you’ve been looking to make home improvements that will pay for themselves, energy efficiency retrofits with One Block Off the Grid and Recurve is probably a good bet!

One Block Off the Grid was founded with the intention of causing the tipping point in the adoption of affordable solar energy in as many places around the country as possible.  We’ve been enjoying the ride that has resulted from negotiating on behalf of communities for discounts on solar installations, and have learned some important lessons along the way.  One of those lessons has been that, despite innovative financing, increasing rebates, and lots of solar education, solar is sometimes not the best option for everyone. Perhaps there are big trees blocking the sun from an otherwise willing roof. Perhaps electricity isn’t consumed much in some households. Or perhaps cost is just simply prohibitive. There are many reasons why solar might not be right for some folks, and we’re well aware of this.

To help address this, and to help more people save money, green their lives, and lower energy consumption all at the same time, we decided to expand our model and offer group purchasing for home energy efficiency. We searched far and wide, and eventually found Recurve.  Recurve is the Bay Area’s leading provider of energy audits and home energy efficiency retrofits. We met with them a few times, only to come to the realization that we couldn’t continue our operation without offering the most cost-effective energy efficiency program out there to our members. We negotiated a 15% discount on energy efficiency retrofits for our members, the largest pricing discount they’ve ever offered. Basically, we went in search of an energy efficiency compliment to residential solar, and we hit the jackpot.

We’ll be posting here about some of the latest news in energy efficiency retrofits, as well as updates about our program. Have you signed up for an energy audit yet?