Wednesday, August 25, 2010

SAVING ENERGY: Homeowners Aware But Not Taking Action With Green Alternatives

While 59% of Americans considered green alternatives for their home improvement projects, only 19% were motivated by tax credits for energy-efficiency products, according to data collected by ServiceMagic, a matching service for finding contractors.


The company, which compiled the data from 1.6 million service requests and a survey of 1,200 homeowners and 500 service professionals, said when homeowners did go green, they focused largely on window upgrades for the home.


Eighty three percent of survey respondents invested in windows for energy reasons with cost saving from increased energy efficiency being the top motivation. Top reasons homeowners didn’t request energy-efficient window systems were that green products were too expensive, the tax credit did not justify the additional expense, or they weren’t aware of the tax credit.


Beyond window projects, going green isn’t in demand
For homeowners who didn’t consider green alternatives:
50% weren’t aware of the green options.
27% didn’t like the green product choices.
16% found the cost of green products outweighed the benefits.
Fewer than 10% requested green or energy-efficient alternatives for their home improvement projects, as reported by 62% of service professionals.

Houselogic.com August 12, 2010Source: ServiceMagic

Read more: http://www.houselogic.com/news/articles/homeowners-aware-but-not-taking-action-green-alternatives/#ixzz0x3mpa6EE

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