Energy Smarts Network Forum

We provide a collaborative forum for helping you sort out energy retrofit decisions. The point of it is that peer to peer help is often best, for you want to talk with people who’ve done it, and if you’ve done it, you would want to help someone else. We have some professionals and/ or semi-pros around as well, to help moderate the conversation. It is all geared to helping you feel comfortable and to find out how things really work. The homeowner is in charge here. Vendors may only sell by invitation from the homeowner, typically when they feel they have done their homework and are ready to discuss specifics.

Products

We represent certain “house” products, primarily focused on efficiency and performance, and we develop relationships with other vendors who are allowed to represent their products/services on our forum. Again the requirement on the vendors is that they may inform and advise, but they may not “sell” unless and until the homeowner invites them to make a proposal.

Professional Assistance

On occasion, some of us may be ready, able and willing to provide more detailed assistance on a professional basis. Rates will be developed for specific services and announced from time to time on the site. We try as much as possible to avoid this step and focus on the free advice on the site, but there are times when it is warranted to get some professional help. The amounts of money that are at stake are significant.

The Not-So-Secret Formula for Success

The main focus will be on helping the home owner make realistic estimates for the alternative solutions and to identify the magic sauce of economics and finance to structure projects to be essentially self-funding, by combining components into one solution that combines shorter paybacks with longer ones and delivers a project payback that both lowers operating costs and increases property value. The right solutions also improve the loan to value ratios on the property, thereby making financing easier at any level.
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Collaboration is the name of the game

Helping home owners sort out fact from fiction without engaging expensive consultants is possible only through sharing information and the home owner doing their own research but with the benefit of a sounding board of other homeowners and of professionals.

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Next Steps…

The first step is simply to join our forum. You have a six month free trial. After that, if you are actively doing a project, it will be worth the subscription as a way to assist you in your work.

Join the Forum