ORE programs boost area energy efficiency

Finding funding and
savings for businesses and homeowners

With rebates, grants and new low-interest financing, the Office for Resource Efficiency (ORE) is giving local businesses and homeowners plenty of reasons to make energy efficiency improvements.

ORE’s Energy Wise Business Program offers businesses free energy assessments and access to a $425 challenge grant to pay for qualified improvements. And for a limited time, homeowners can qualify for up to $400 in rebates for qualified energy improvements through the EnergySmart for Homes program.
As of September, 52 Gunnison County businesses had participated in the program, including 25 businesses in Crested Butte and Mt. Crested Butte. And 96 homeowners in the 81224 and 81225 zip codes have participated in the residential EnergySmart program.
 “There has been so much demand for commercial assessments that auditors are still getting caught up,” said Frank Meadors, Energy Wise Business Program director.
Through the program, a Gunnison County Electric Association grant pays for 75 percent of the energy assessment and ORE funds the remainder. Participants also get a $425 challenge grant for energy improvements.
 Businesses like Monty’s Auto Parts in Gunnison are already seeing the savings. Owner Tracy Rutherford installed energy efficient overhead lighting, and after only four months, the monthly savings are “right at 20 percent.” That translates to about $100 per month plus decreases in maintenance costs.
“We think we’ll have paid for it in no more than three years,” he said.
Andrea and Chris Green, owners of the Ruby of Crested Butte, have also been working with ORE.
“We’ve been partnering with ORE… because efficiency to us means dollars in our pockets that we can use to improve our business,” Chris Green says.
The energy assessment surprised the Greens; they expected windows to be the biggest culprit for heat loss. But the crawl space, the garage door and some of the light fixtures and electrical switch plates were the biggest problem areas. With ORE’s help, they started with small changes: turning off lights, switching out bulbs and being smart about which doors to leave open so radiant heat could flow throughout the building.
“We’ve been watching our kilowatt hour per guest go down over the last four years,” Green says.
Gunnison Valley residents Kristina Weber Herrin and Nick Herrin have also been working with ORE through the residential EnergySmart program. A home energy assessment is not required to take advantage of the rebates, but the Herrins opted to spend $50 (well below the market rate of $200 to $250) to have ORE complete an assessment of their Almont home in December of 2010. The assessment showed their home to be only 88 percent efficient and outlined a range of possible improvements.
“To date, we have put in over 30 tubes of caulk into our house!” Kristina says. “Most
went to sealing our old tongue and groove wood paneled living room that wasn’t sealed and a huge heat sieve, causing the insulation in the attic to be completely ineffective.”
The Herrins are also installing a 95 percent efficient boiler that will decrease their natural gas consumption, and the National Organization for energy efficiency recently installed long term monitoring systems in their house.
“Working with ORE and Bart [Laemmel, home energy advisor,] has been a tremendously positive experience… Bart has been incredibly knowledgeable, accessible and encouraging throughout the whole process. It’s been the best used $50 we have spent throughout the entire house remodel process,” Weber Herrin says.
For the Greens, deciding on major changes like boilers and heat exchangers comes next.
“The more in-depth big savings we can do require some capital expenditure, and we’re looking at some of the loan programs out there,” Green said.
Helping homeowners find funding sources is a big part of the ORE strategy. According to community energy coordinator Maya Silver, the Governor’s Energy office allocated stimulus funds toward granting and Recharge Colorado state rebates, which has given $53,851.80 in rebates to Gunnison County residents. But that program ends this fall, without prospect for renewal. In addition, EnergySmart funding was set for three years.
ORE has been working with banks like U.S. Bank to provide low-interest, short-term loans for EnergySmart participants. Placing funds from the Department of Energy grant into a loan loss reserve fund has made it possible to offer lower interest rates; according to ORE executive director Andris Zobs, U.S. Bank took a full interest point off of the loan and is offering another half point incentive, depending on the repayment plan.
“EnergySmart is emblematic of what we’re trying to do. Our strategy is to frontload with incentives, get a positive track record [with the loans] and get some data back. Knowing we’re going to have to scale back rebates in year two or three, our hope is by then… we’ll be able to make a stronger, more confident case to homeowners about borrowing money,” Zobs says.
The intent is to lend greater longevity to the programs, making energy improvements more accessible across Gunnison County. For now, though, homeowners have until Thanksgiving to apply for rebates for up to 40 percent or $400 of energy improvement costs. That’s up from the regular 20 percent rebate, thanks to a grant from the Department of Energy and matching funds from the community. For more information on any of ORE’s energy or loan programs, visit http://www.resourceefficiency.org/about-us or call the ORE office at 641-7682.