Many of us live in homes built before 1970. If you live in one of these older homes, the insulation in your walls may not meet modern energy efficiency standards. An older home probably has  250% more air leakage than a home built today. That is a lot of cold air sweeping into your home making it uncomfortable and expensive to heat.

How can you tell if your walls are properly insulated and air sealed?   Start with a no-cost home energy assessment , where an energy efficiency professional will conduct a detailed inspection of your home and offer recommendations on how you can improve its energy efficiency. They can also offer recommended contractors to perform the work and Install LED bulbs, smart power strips, programmable thermostats etc. at no cost to you during the assessment. 

Take advantage of money saving incentives.   MassSave, a state sponsored energy efficiency program, offers a subsidy that covers 75% of the cost of insulation upgrades, with no-cost air sealing, and a 0% loan program for financing HVAC and energy efficiency measures. The energy efficiency professional can give you details during the assessment. Be sure to follow up on the assessment to take advantage of these incentives and to make your home more comfortable and energy efficient. 

Want to go deeper?   There are many more energy efficient improvements you can make beyond insulation and air-sealing, and MassSave has additional incentives and 0% loans for greater energy efficiency measures. 

Related Actions:

• Get a Home Energy Assessment