Insulate and Air Seal Your Home

Category

Home Energy

Impact

?

Cost

High

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 or hot air sweeping into your home making it uncomfortable and expensive to heat and cool.

How can you tell if your walls are properly insulated and air sealed?  Start with a no-cost home energy assessment provided by Mass Save.  

Take advantage of a 75% reimbursement on insulation (and other weatherization ) and 100% on air sealing of leaks in drafty areas of your home Mass Save! Mass Save is a state sponsored energy efficiency program which can save you a lot on energy bills but not charge you a lot for the work they do in your home. 

If you had an assessment in the last two years and already have a Mass Save insulation recommendation, you can still qualify for the incentive! Check with the company who did that assessment to find out if you qualify, and if you do, the incentive will be applied to the existing assessment.

MassSave also subsidizes approved air sealing work. It also offers a 0% loan program for financing HVAC and energy efficiency measures. The energy efficiency professional can give you more details during the assessment.  

State and Federal Incentives 

    • State incentives of 75% reimbursement on insulation and 100% on air sealing of leaks (noted above)
    • Starting in 2023, you will be eligible for a 30% federal tax credit up to $1,200 per year for insulation and air sealing from the Inflation Reduction Act. Estimate your savings via this calculator from Rewiring America.
    • How the Mass Save rebates and federal tax credits may be combined remains to be determined.

Don’t let barriers like old wiring or vermiculite stop you from getting insulation. Incentives from $250 for ventilation issues to $7,000 for knob and tube mitigation may be available from Mass Save. Eligible for a 0% Mass Save Heat Loan.

Additional resources:

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

Steps to Take

  1. Don’t wait to sign up for a no-cost virtual home energy assessment. Without this assessment, you can’t get the insulation incentive. 
  2. Following the home energy assessment, take the recommended action and take advantage of the MassSave subsidized air sealing and insulation installation. 
  3. Let us know how it went! Write a testimonial. 

Deep Dive

Interested in actions  beyond insulation and air sealing? 

  1. Convert to an electric heat pump for heating and cooling.
  2. Convert to an electric heat pump water heater.
  3. Replace upper level recessed light fixtures with insulated ones.
  4. Install a draft stopper for your chimney.
  5. Use insulation products not covered by the MassSave program.
  6. Change to electric induction cooking.
  7. Carry out advanced air sealing through blower door directed air sealing.
  8. Weather strip or replace drafty windows with double or triple pane windows.
  9. Add heat recovery ventilation to improve air quality and preheat fresh air entering your home.

Testimonials

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Submitted by: Michael Kilian
Early in 2023 we attended a meeting at the General Store about heat pumps. We decided to follow through with the help of MassSave and…
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Submitted by: Kathy Dollard
It came to my attention when remodeling a bathroom that the insulation in the attic was insufficient, to say the least.  Dolphin Insulation (Littleton MA)…
Insulation and triple-pane windows and Impressive engineering expertise
Submitted by: Elizabeth Breed
Over the last decade we have replaced every original window, door, and skylight in our 1978 Cape Style home with new Energy Star rated replacements.…
Full house door, window, and skylight replacement.
Submitted by: Stacia Donahue
We recently spray foamed our attic - the process was easy and well worth it!  Previously I could see where we were losing heat on…
Spray Foam Insulation
Submitted by: Sarah Saleh

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