Lathrup Village

Lathrup offers deals for energy efficiency

By Jennie Miller
C & G Staff Writer

LATHRUP VILLAGE — It’s getting greener out there, and not just because of spring.

Lathrup Village has been selected as the second community to launch the federally funded Better Buildings for Michigan Program Neighborhood Sweep through the Southeast Michigan Regional Energy Office.

“The state of Michigan has received $30 million for the program out of (American) Recovery and Reinvestment Act dollars, and we’re running this in cities across Michigan,” said Amanda Dentler, outreach director for the Regional Energy Office.

Lathrup Village is the second of potentially 12 neighborhoods in southeast Michigan to apply for and receive approval to participate. Ferndale was the pilot community, and successfully completed the program in January.

Residents who live within the boundaries selected by the program can pay $50 to enroll and receive home energy services — including total home assessments, appliance testing, and professional consultation — and have devices such as programmable thermostats, energy-saving light bulbs, water heater insulation and high-efficiency showerheads installed.

“They’re getting about $1,100 worth of weatherization direct installs to their home,” Dentler said. “It’s a home energy makeover and energy audit. The contractors we’ve hired have gone through an extensive process through the state of Michigan that trains contractors to do energy-efficiency work. They are very highly qualified contractors.”

The audit is a four-hour process.

“They do a blower door test — it turns your entire house into a vacuum so they can find where all the leaks are in your home — the windows, the baseboards — and they’ll seal them up on the spot,” Dentler explained. “They also do an infrared camera test — they go around the home and it shows them where places are really hot or really cold, and that gives them an idea where insulation may not be installed properly and they’ll be able to identify that. Other things they do is they’ll provide your pipes with pipe insulation, insulate the water heater, you can get a whole bunch of the (compact fluorescent) light bulbs — they’ll install those for you. A high-quality aerator on the kitchen faucet to help you reduce your water usage. A high-quality shower head that can save water in the shower. A programmable thermostat that would cost you $50 if you buy it at the store.”

Beyond the program, if there’s further energy efficiency work a participating homeowner
desires for their home, contractors will provide them with the resources they’ll need.

“At the end of it, they’ll be able to give you an energy report on your house and tell you: This is how your home uses energy, these are future improvements you can make on your home,” Dentler said. “There’s a lot of incentives, rebates, and deeply discounted and subsidized energy (options) — appliances, insulation, windows if you need them. Everything, anything, you can get done to your home.”

The program is available to residents in Lathrup Village who live south of I-696, and is open for six weeks, beginning April 7.

The Regional Energy Office is holding a kickoff meeting and energy-efficiency training workshop for all residents at 7 p.m. April 7 in the community room of the Lathrup Village municipal building, located at 27400 Southfield Road.

City officials are excited about the program, and are hoping residents take full advantage of it.

“This is a way to bring homes from the 1920s into the 21st century and save our residents money on their utility bills,” said Matthew Baumgarten, administrative assistant and code enforcement officer for the city of Lathrup Village. “We have older homes in the city, and a lot of them can waste energy, because at the time they were built, we didn’t know as much about saving energy as we do now.”

For more information about the program or to schedule an appointment with a contractor, call the Regional Energy Office at (866) 402-1061 or email outreach@regionalenergyoffice.org. Information is also available at www.regionalenergyoffice.org and www.lathrupvillage.org.

You can reach C & G Staff Writer Jennie Miller at jmiller@candgnews.com or at (586)279-1108.