A Chapel Hill program to encourage energy efficiency is set to provide less funding — but wider availability — than during its first stage after tonight’s Town Council meeting.
Chapel Hill launched the Worthwhile Investments Save Energy (WISE) program, which helps subsidize homeowners’ energy efficiency improvements, in March 2011 using a $455,000 American Recovery and Reinvestment Act grant from the U.S. Department of Energy.
So far, nearly 100 homes in Chapel Hill have received energy assessments and 51 of those homes have committed to subsidized improvements using the program.
After the large response, the town could modify the program to allow more homes to benefit.
The council might approve a resolution that would set the subsidy homeowners can receive for improvements 5 to 10 percentage points lower than in the program’s first phase.
The measure would also reduce the maximum amount the town will pay out to homeowners from $5,000 in the first stage to $1,500 in the second.
Program benefits for efficiency
To participate in the WISE program, a homeowner must have an energy audit to find how to best improve efficiency. If those improvements will decrease the home’s electricity bill by 15 percent, the homeowner can receive subsidies to pursue them on a first-come basis.
Phase one of the program offers a 50 percent subsidy for duct systems and insulation improvements and a 25 percent subsidy for improvements to heating, air conditioning, appliances, lighting and hot water heaters.