For the elderly, upgrading their homes to be in line with more energy efficient practices may be a hard task to undertake. Especially for those who have retired and may not be able to readily afford a complete home renovation, greener living is generally not a priority.

However, an elderly living residence in Philadelphia is set to receive federal funding to make the facilities more environmentally friendly, as well as more hospitable for its inhabitants.

The Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) has teamed up with Pennsylvania state officials to give $3 million, as well as numerous tax credits, to a the developer of these units.

The management company, 1260 Housing Corporation, told Philadelphia news source WHYY that they intend to use the money to install devices that monitor energy consumption in the 100 homes that it operates.

"The tenants will be able to keep track of how much energy they are using at any particular time. We will do some training on how to use that and how to monitor that and through that training they will be able to use their utilities more intelligently," Walter Kubiak, executive director of 1260 Housing Corporation, told the source.

The goal of the initiative is to make day-to-day living less expensive for elderly homeowners and to help curb habits that may be making home utility bills more costly. The management company hopes to reduce the energy consumption in each unit by 20 percent once all of the upgrades have been made.

For homeowners looking to reduce their monthly utility payments, an energy audit from a home inspection contractor is a good starting point.