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Podcast:  Colleen Edwards interviews Brian Gitt.

The economic stimulus package has more than $42 billion dollars allocated for  energy related funding. How much of that is going to land on your doorstep, or in this case, your roof, your walls, or your attic?

There are no figures available yet about how much money is going to be made available for the improvement of energy efficiency in California’s housing stock, but here is an approximation of the need: there are 13.2 million existing homes in the state, and 75% of them were built before the passage of Title 24, the energy code change in 1978. So there are tax credits in the works for homeowners to replace old equipment like air conditioners, heat pumps and furnaces with new, energy-efficient models. Home improvements, such as  replacing leaky windows and fixing the gaps in old insulation (or installing insulation in the attic or walls where none currently exists) will be rewarded with tax credits as well. And rebate packages are being put together to move consumers closer to replacing their refrigerators (the biggest energy-using appliance in most homes), washing machines, furnaces and dishwashers.

Considering the fact that many Californians live with drafts, cold rooms, manually-set thermostats and the like, having an incentive to make some of these long-desired changes is going to change we live in our homes. The improvement of air quality alone is going to have an impact on families whose kids have asthma or whose older members have respiratory problems. New homes are built green by code and by builder desire.  Now, with the opportunity to retrofit our existing homes, we may be looking at time in the near future where healthy homes are available to all Californians.