Home Energy Assessor recommendations for Berkeley
We are purchasing an ancient home in Berkeley and need to have a BESO energy assessment performed within the first 12 months. I'm excited to learn what energy upgrades we can enact immediately with what will be a limited budget and to make a plan for future upgrades. Can anybody share recent experiences with any of the approved assessors? The city's list is posted at https://www.cityofberkeley.info/uploadedFiles/Planning_and_Development/…
Feb 23, 2021
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I found it a giant waste of money, but I was dealing with an already-renovated house, so perhaps you'll get more useful information out of it.
The recommendations I received were to insulate the floor and attic (attic was insulated, but not fully to code apparently). But no pricing was given and no estimate of savings was given. Given our climate and how low our heating bills already were, I was pretty confident the extra insulation wouldn't be worth it.
We've had a very good experience with Matthew Shedd from Blue Rock Home, matt [at] bluerockhome.com. I had contacted most of the vendors listed by the City of Berkeley's web site. They differed greatly in responsiveness and price. Matthew was on the more reasonable end of the price range and, useful for your purpose, they specialize in improving energy efficiency of homes. So he can also make good recommendations.