With the ever increasing cost of energy, the business of retrofitting homes for greater efficiency has been one of the fastest growing segments of the home improvement industries. This push for increased efficiency is beneficial for a number of reasons. By using less energy to heat their home in the winter or to cool it in the summer, homeowners are able to save money and reduce man's impact on the environment. Plus as a major added bonus, the installation of home upgrades creates good paying jobs.

For a number of years now, Legacy Remodeling has been installing home energy upgrades. We install high efficiency replacement windows, insulated siding, attic insulation, Energy Star compliant doors and a variety of other products that add to home efficiency. Despite these offerings, I have long felt that there was more we could be doing to promote energy conservation. For this reason I was very excited when the opportunity arose for Legacy to participate in a network made up of companies that are leaders in the home energy field. This group, Home Performance Network (HPN) is made up of a number of companies like Legacy who offer their customers the most efficient home improvements.

Home Performance Network

Starting in the coming months, Legacy will be setting up displays in Sam's Club stores throughout the Pittsburgh region looking for homeowners who are interested in having one of our home energy experts come out to perform a review of their home's efficiency and to make recommendations to help reduce energy use. There are normally a wide variety of ways for people to accomplish this goal. From insulating their hot water tanks and utilizing CFL light bulbs to adding insulation or replacing drafty windows and doors there are both large and small ways to influence your homes efficiency. By offering these energy evaluations for free, we are able to help homeowners to identify "do-it-yourself" type projects that can yield modest energy improvements for little cost. On the other hand, we are also able to show how working with Legacy on a significant project, such as upgrading your windows, can result in substantially greater home energy efficiency.

I expect that our participation in the Home Performance Network will greatly benefit our customers as the increased focus on efficiency and access to home energy expertise will allow us to offer more complete home energy solutions. If you are looking for ways to improve your home's energy efficiency, I would strongly suggest allowing one of our consultants to come out and see what Legacy can do to reduce your home's energy use. In the long run this will save you money and add to the value of your home.