Energy Efficiency

These are the main benefits of an energy efficient home:

• Lowers your utility bills – some homes save as much as $8000 a year. This is due to efficient HVAC (heating, ventilation, and air conditioning systems). Your systems run operate you save more while increasing the life of your units.
• Improves the value of your homes. Makes more desirable when it comes time to sell. Utility disclosures are becoming common place in Chicago's real estate market.
• Reduces our carbon footprint – benefits the environment
• Creates a more comfortable indoor environment to live in. Energy efficiency provides more balanced ventilation - Imagine not having those 'cold spots' in your house – you know, the places that stay cold no matter how high you turn the heat.

Marty Bhatia – Founder of OM Homes on Energy Efficiency:

When people think energy efficiency what's the first thing that comes to mind? Is it Energy Star appliances? Upgraded furnaces and boilers? or is it weather stripping and windows? In the macro sense of energy efficiency it’s all of these things - plus a lot more. There are things below the surface of our homes that most of us do not see. For example, besides the obvious leaky windows and doorways, a huge point of air infiltration in a home exists in the plumbing walls. If you live in a condo, these inefficient walls could be heating your neighbor’s home. In a single family home this might be the reason your first floor is warm or cold. Why? The pipe penetrations and the energy transfer of the pipes create opportunity for air to transfer from condo to condo, floor to floor or wall to wall.

Om Homes uses our collective knowledge and experience to address these things when you are remodeling your bathroom, kitchen, laundry areas, etc. We also have energy efficient solutions for many other remodeling projects for your home. Many times we are opening the walls to move or fix pipes, and the opportunity for insulating these spaces properly arises. The good news is that it is fairly inexpensive to do this because the wall is already open - so it’s a cost efficient and energy efficient!

Om Homes takes an approach to energy efficiency that comes from our experiences of building high performing homes. This doesn’t mean that every home we work on gets gutted and rebuilt, but what it does mean is that our knowledge carries over from every project we do and we look to apply what we’ve learned in our larger projects to you’re your be more energy efficient while saving you money.

Speaking of saving money:

In many cases, utility companies, and the federal government are offering rebates, tax deductions, and in some cases tax credits (deducted directly from your tax bill). For more information check out some of our other pages on the site, and visit www.EnergyStar.gov

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