Brian Larson of Air Seal Tech on Making Energy Upgrades Worth It

It takes a plan to decarbonize a hundred-year-old house, but it is so necessary to save the planet.

When a home is old and inefficient, the conversation around achieving sustainability can quickly turn into a debate…

Decarbonizing our 100-year-old home for future generations is not only possible but required to achieve our climate goals.

Renovating an old home or building to be energy efficient instead of tearing it down may conserve embodied carbons and align with reuse goals, but this 1930 library is scheduled for demolition anyway.

What I ended up with was a simple equation:

1) Average BTUs consumed per household in each state

2) Adjusted by impact of weather and the size of homes in each state.

3) Then: A ranking by an estimate of CO2 emissions per Btu in each state.

Even leaving out the solar energy that Mark’s home gives back to the grid, his scored impressively on the EPA's scale, which ranges from zero to a hundred. Still, I couldn’t let a 90-point gap between our two homes stand.

Realtors are more likely to market green homes when the city and/or state has adopted a policy that requires it.

Energy labeling programs add third-party verification when buying or selling a green home.