A year ago, the San Gabriel Valley Council of Governments (SGVCOG) launched a new program through the San Gabriel Valley Energy Watch partnership with SCE and SCG to empower residents to take simple energy efficiency measures in their own homes. The Energy Assessment Screening for Your Home, or “EASY” Program provides residents with free home assessments and customized home reports with information on smart upgrade opportunities as well as utility incentives to support them.
As of January, the EASY Program had:
- reached over 2,700 residents;
- provided well over 100 assessments in 19 cities;
- more statistics here.
The EASY Program leverages interns, fellows, and volunteers (including CivicSpark AmeriCorps fellows) to visit residential homes and provide no-cost assessments using an easy-to-use checklist. From the assessment, the assessor is then able to provide a 10+ page report to the homeowner that identifies (1) how well the home is performing compared to other homes (using the ENERGYSTAR Home Advisor Score), and (2) recommendations for improvement, across the following areas:
- building materials
- heating and cooling
- lighting
- kitchen
- laundry
- home & office electronics
- indoor water usage
- outdoor water usage
Information on relevant incentives from Southern California Edison and SoCal Gas Company are included in the easy-to-read, actionable recommendations. Excerpt example recommendations are included below. For more information, visit San Gabriel Valley COG’s EASY Program webpage.
