BGE’s Home Performance with ENERGY STAR Program offers a comprehensive, whole-house approach to improving your home’s energy efficiency, comfort, and safety — boosting your home’s overall appeal while helping to reduce your energy use.

As an approved Home Performance contractor participating in the BGE Smart Energy Savers Program, Alban Inspections is specially trained to use advanced, state-of-the-art equipment to evaluate and audit your home’s energy usage and assist you in achieving your goals.

For BGE electric and/or gas distribution customers who own their homes, benefits of BGE’s Home Performance with ENERGY STAR Program can include:

  • Perform a comprehensive Home Energy Assessment, typically valued at $400, for only $100.
  • Install several simple measures at no additional cost to help you to start saving energy immediately. This may include energy-efficient lighting, efficient-flow showerheads, smart strips, faucet aerators and water heater tank and pipe insulation.
  • Recommend improvements and available rebates to make your home more energy-efficient, comfortable, healthy and safe.
  • Provide you with a detailed report on the potential energy savings you can enjoy by making recommended improvements

Our auditors will help coordinate your projects to take full advantage of the rebates that are appropriate for your home. Restrictions apply. Some improvements with rebates may not be appropriate for all homes.

Rather than focusing on a single problem–such as an old heating or cooling system, inadequate insulation, or leaky windows–we can help you determine how improvements throughout your home can work together to give you the most energy-efficient results.

In addition to the specific plan we will prepare for your home, commonly recommended improvements for an energy-efficient home include:

Sealing air leaks and adding insulation

Along with sealing air leaks, which may be allowing cold or hot air to escape or penetrate your home’s envelope, we may recommend insulation. Many older homes are poorly insulated, and some have no insulation at all. Properly installed insulation in attics, walls and floors provides for more even temperatures throughout the house and results in a quieter, more comfortable living environment that is less costly to heat and cool.

Sealing and insulating ductwork

Regardless of the thermostat setting, many homes have leaky ductwork and poor airflow,resulting in uncomfortable rooms. We may recommend sealing your home’s ducts with mastic (air duct sealant) and balancing the duct system to optimize airflow to all rooms. Insulating ductwork in attics and crawl spaces also can reduce energy usage and increase your home’s overall comfort.

Improving heating and cooling systems

Heating and cooling your home can account for up to 50% of your home’s energy use. If your heat pump, furnace, or air conditioner is more than 10 years old, we may recommend replacing it with a unit that is ENERGY STAR qualified and properly sized. Installed correctly, high-efficiency units can help you save on heating and cooling costs. Such a unit will make your home more comfortable year-round by providing more consistent temperatures and better humidity control regardless of changing outdoor temperatures.

Fixing your combustion equipment

We will also test the combustion equipment in your hoime, such as your furnace and hot water heater, to insure that it operates and vents properly. In addition, we may conduct a carbon monoxide reading on ovens and other areas to further test the safety of your home.

Upgrading lighting and appliances

Energy used for lighting and appliances can account for 25% of your home’s total energy consumption – http://www.energystar.gov/index.cfm?c=products.pr_save_energy_at home. As a result, we may recommend ENERGY STAR qualified products, such as refrigerators, freezers, clothes washers, dishwashers, dehumidifiers, room air conditioners, and compact fluorescent light bulbs. An energy-efficient hot water heating system may also be recommended.