Insulation seems like a no-brainer.  Keep the cool air cool when you want it and the warm air warm when you want it.  The unfortunate fact remains that many homes of Louisiana, but especially the historic ones, do a poor job.  In what other state can you imagine so many friends with medium-sized homes getting penalized with $300 electric bills every summer?  The truly obscene part is that even when paying that much, the house still feels too warm!

First things first

Sometimes the weaknesses are overt.  A lot of homes in the Greater New Orleans Region lack any sort of insulation below the floor (no, the sensation you may experience of seeing sunlight through the cracks of your hardwood is not unique).  These are the larger projects and the ones Green Grants will examine first.  If you are lacking such features, and qualify for grant funding, Green Grants will work to get you:

• New attic and wall insulation
• New (upgraded) windows
• New weather-stripping around windows and doors

The wisdom of Sun Tzu

Sometimes the weaknesses are less obvious.  When it comes to airflow, no detail is too minute.

This is where Green Grants invokes the wisdom of Sun Tzu, ancient Chinese author of masterpiece The Art of War, who waxed philosophical that sometimes you must overtake the enemy through the exertion of “soft” power, advancing deliberately and calculatedly, but leaving no little hole unfilled.

Your energy inspector thinks like this: s/he understands that for a thousand grains of sand, every grain is important. Your energy inspector will be a licensed, third-party, contracted to perform an energy audit of your home, so Green Grants can identify and fill the leaks throughout, including:

• Doorframes
• Window frames and weather-stripping
• HVAC system and ductwork
• A/C outlets
• Holes in the floor or roof

The physics here govern that what may seem like a little starts to add up really fast.