Finalists Chosen in Extreme Energy Home Makeover

MADISON, S.D. – Three lucky homeowners in Colman, S.D., will have free energy audits performed on their homes as a result of Heartland Consumers Power District's Extreme Energy Home Makeover. One of those homeowners will go on to win the grand prize $25,000 home energy makeover.

The city of Colman was announced as the winning community of Heartland's Extreme Energy Home Makeover in June. Colman residents interested in the makeover were invited to submit applications, providing information such as the age of the home, age of appliances, age of the HVAC system, number of rooms, square footage and number of occupants. Homeowners were also required to provide their past year's electric and heating bills.

Thirty-one homeowners submitted applications. Heartland staff narrowed the field to three finalists. Rod and Kari Schmidt reside in a two-story home built in the early 1900s. They have lived there for 18 years and Kari operates a home daycare. Sheila Buhr lives in a two-story home built in the 1800s. She has lived there for 11 years and experienced extremely high energy bills due to the age of the home. Jennifer and Terry Thompson's ranch-style home was built in 1992 and has all of the original energy systems.

Heartland has asked Inter-lakes Community Action Partnership to perform energy audits on the three homes and will choose the winning home based on the results of the audits.

"We're excited to see the results of the energy audits," said Ann Hyland, Heartland's director of energy programs. "The three homes selected have varying characteristics. The audits will teach us so much more about these homes by getting in there and detecting problem areas. We'll then be able to determine which home is in most need of the energy makeover." The comprehensive energy audits will assess how much energy the homes consume and evaluate what measures can be taken to make the home more energy efficient. Auditors will analyze the furnace and other combustible appliances to ensure proper working condition. They will also check for insulation in the walls and attic. A blower door test will be performed to check for air infiltration around doors, windows, basements, light fixtures, outlets and other areas. In addition to the diagnostic tools used in the audit, many visual inspections are done as well. The winning home will receive up to $25,000 in energy efficiency improvements from Heartland. Improvements will be made based on the recommendations of the audit, but may include new ENERGY STAR appliances, a Marathon water heater, an electric HVAC system, attic insulation, a programmable thermostat and attic insulation. "Each of the finalists will benefit from having a comprehensive energy audit performed," said Hyland. "They will receive a detailed audit report outlining steps they can take to save on their energy bills. While we can only choose one winner, we hope to educate everyone on the benefits of taking a whole-house approach to energy efficiency by monitoring the performance of the energy upgrades and providing data to the public." The grand prize winner will be announced in late August with improvements expected to be implemented this fall.

Information provided by Heartland Consumers Power District.
August 2009