SACO — Robert and Amy Dudley will be able to heat their home more efficiently this winter, thanks to help from the Property Assessed Clean Energy program.
Under the PACE program, loan applicants can borrow up to $15,000 over 15 years at 4.99 percent for energy upgrades, according to a statement from Paul Badeau, communications director with Efficiency Maine. PACE loans are available to those who live in municipalities in Maine that have passed PACE ordinances. About 75 communities have passed such ordinances, according to Badeau.
The loan program is administered through Efficiency Maine, with seed money coming from a $30 million American Recovery and Reinvestment Act grant from the U.S. Department of Energy.
The Dudleys, who live in a 3,500 square foot home on Main Street known as the Bowers Mansion, named for former mayor Roscoe Bowers, are among the first in the state to apply for a PACE loan, according to Badeau.
The Dudleys moved into the home last year. The house was built in 1885 and was not insulated.
Robert said last winter, they shut off about one-third of the house to save on heating, and kept the heat low to save on oil. A thermostat in the center of the house was turned to 62 degrees, but the outer edges of the home were often much colder. The Dudleys said they woke up one morning to find a dog dish against an exterior wall with ice in it.
This was their first winter in the house, and their first winter with a baby, who Amy said “slept in a snowsuit all winter.”
And although the Dudleys were conservative with their heat usage, they used 1,800 gallons of oil last winter. The previous owners, said Robert, used about 2,500 gallons.
“It definitely takes a lot of oil,” he said.
After Saco passed the PACE ordinance, Robert said “they jumped on it.”
Robert said if they did not get help with the PACE program, they probably would not have been able to get the insulation project done all at once, and it would have been a really long process.
On Wednesday morning, workers from Evergreen Home Performance were blowing cellulose insulation into the walls. The densely packed material is a mix of 80 percent newspaper and 20 percent boric acid. The boric acid makes the mixture flame retardant, said Evergreen Home Performance President Richard Riegel Burbank.
“You could take a torch to this and melt a penny on it,” said Burbank.
Burbank shined a flashlight down the gap between the walls in the attic, showing a space that went down 23 feet.
The Dudleys will also get two inches of spray foam insulation in the basement. The brick walls of the basement provide about as much insulation as a single pane of glass, said Burbank.
In order to qualify for a PACE loan, the project must reduce heating costs by about 25 percent. The Dudleys’ project will reduce costs by about 30 percent, said Burbank.
The insulation will make it more economically feasible for the Dudleys to heat their house at a higher temperature, though even if they kept it at 62 degrees, the house would feel warmer than it did last year, said Burbank.
A project like the Dudleys’ will pay for itself in about 10 years, said Burbank. Many people don’t have the money upfront to pay for energy efficiency improvements, he said, but with the PACE loan, families like the Dudleys can use the money they are saving on oil costs toward their monthly payment on the loan.
“It’s a no-brainer,” said Burbank.
It also keeps money in Maine, hiring people to do home projects instead of spending money on oil from other countries, he said.
— Staff Writer Liz Gotthelf can be contacted at 282-1535, Ext. 325 or egotthelf@journaltribune.com.
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