<h2><p>Resources</p></h2>		
		This section is intended to help you access additional information about energy efficiency ideas, designs, and products.<p><a href="#anchor01">Federal Sites</a></p>
<p><a href="#anchor02">State Sites</a></p>
<p><a href="#anchor03">Information/Incentives and Assistance</a></p>
<p><a href="#anchor04">Online Home Energy Assessments</a></p>
<p><a href="#anchor05">Information on Efficient Appliances, Electronics, and Equipment</a></p>		
			<h1>Federal Sites</h1>		
		The United States Government has set up a number of websites to help energy consumers learn about their energy use and make energy efficient choices. Here are a few:U.S. <a href="https://www.energy.gov/energysaver/energy-saver">Department of Energy - Energy Saver</a>
Partnerships for home energy efficiency.
<a href="https://www.energystar.gov/">U.S Environmental Protection Agency - ENERGY STAR</a>
Helps consumers make purchasing choices that reduce the energy they use.
<a href="http://hes.lbl.gov/consumer/">Home Energy Saver</a>
An interactive program to help consumers identify the best ways to save energy in their home and find the resources to make savings happen.
<a href="https://www.energy.gov/eere/office-energy-efficiency-renewable-energy">U.S Department of Energy - Office of Energy Efficiency &amp; Renewable Energy</a>
Government resources and data to help consumers research their energy saving options.
<a href="https://www.energy.gov/eere/wipo/weatherization-and-intergovernmental-program-office-projects-map">U.S Department of Energy - Weatherization and Intergovernmental Programs Office</a>
Directory of weatherization programs by state.
<a href="https://liheapch.acf.hhs.gov/referral.htm">National Energy Assistance Referral (NEAR)</a>
NEAR is a free service for persons who want information on where to apply for the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP), which may pay a portion of the energy bills of eligible low-income persons.		
			<h1>State Sites</h1>		
		<a href="https://www.mass.gov/energy-efficiency-for-your-home">Mass.gov</a>
Learn about energy efficiency programs, incentives, and products that will help you save energy and money in your home.
<a href="https://www.mass.gov/guides/home-mvp">Home Energy Market Value Performance (Home MVP) Pilot</a>
A guide to the Home Energy Market Value Performance (Home MVP) Pilot that offers incentives to help Massachusetts residents reduce their home energy use, energy bills, and greenhouse gas emissions while improving home comfort and performance.		
			<h1>Basement/Crawlspace Air-Sealing</h1>		
		After the attic, the basement or crawlspace is the next most important area to seal for several reasons. Like the top of a home, the bottom typically has the largest air pressure pushing air in or out of the house, so sealing those leaks results in larger energy savings. Second, though often smaller than attic leaks, basement and crawlspace leaks tend to be larger than those in exterior walls. More important, in most climates, air leaks in from the bottom in cool or cold weather. This leaking air can carry radon gas, mold spores, gases from pesticide treatments, water vapor, and any other subsoil nasties that may become airborne. Sealing leaks at the lowest level of your home helps prevent these undesirable elements from entering your home. Finally, most pipe-freezing problems result from cold air leaking in around the sills, where the pipes are often located.		
			<p>Basement walls</p>		
		<p>Generally, consider it most effective to create a good air barrier between the basement and the outdoors by sealing the walls. This is typically true even if you intend to insulate the floor over the basement. There are four common leakage areas in basement walls: service penetrations, stepped-wall transitions, bulkhead doors, and the sill/band joist area.</p><p><b>Service penetrations</b> Every home has basic service penetrations, such as those for electricity, telephone, plumbing, fuel lines, and cable TV. Often, these penetrations are made in the band-joist area, also called the box sill or ribbon joist in conventionally framed houses (in older homes, this may be one large sill beam). Sometimes penetrations come through the foundation (especially plumbing drains, which are always below grade).</p><p><b>Stepped foundation</b> walls are often built on hillsides in cold climates. The vertical parts of the steps are often particularly leaky.</p><p><b>Bulkhead doors </b>Another common source of basement leakage is the bulkhead door. Bulkheads are designed to keep out rain but not to stop air. If your basement is unfinished, the best way to deal with this is to install a new exterior door at the foundation wall inside the bulkhead.</p><p><b>Sills and band joists</b> The tops of foundation walls are often far from flat. The gaps may be small, but spread around the perimeter of a home, they really add up. Even recently built homes that have a foam sill sealer between the sill and the concrete may leak a lot of cold air there.</p>		
			<p>Pro Tip</p>		
		If you want to use your basement as living space, you should plan to completely air-seal and insulate the exterior basement walls.		
			<p>Safety First</p>		
		<p>Although air-sealing a home can theoretically increase radon levels, it is unlikely. Sealing leaks and slowing the stack effect is more likely to reduce the amount of soil gas— including radon—that is pulled into the house from underground. The only way to tell whether you have dangerous radon levels is to test your home. Because of the potential health risks, it is a good idea to test for radon whether or not you do air-sealing. If elevated radon levels are confirmed by at least two tests, find a certified professional to install a mitigation system. See <u>www.epa.gov/radon</u> for more information.</p>		
			<p>Blower-door testing</p>		
		<p>Air-sealing is a job that requires much more labor than material, which often suggests a do-it-yourself approach. However, air-sealing does require attention to detail and (in many homes) a willingness to squeeze into difficult places. If these qualities don’t describe you, it may be worth hiring a building-performance professional. Experienced professionals use a blower door to help find air leaks and measure the tightness of the building. The fan blows air into (or out of) the house, measuring how well the building enclosure contains pressure. This can be very handy, especially in a house with complex air-leakage paths.</p>
<p>It’s also good to keep the big picture in mind: If you are planning on renovating or adding onto your house, you will have a unique opportunity to seal leaks while the building is opened up. It may not make sense to manually seal leaks now that you know you will deal with them more effectively at the next stage, especially leaks that are small or hard to reach. Of course, if the next stage is a few years off, it may still be well worth hitting the big leaks at a minimum. A building performance&nbsp;professional can help you set priorities and make a long-term plan.&nbsp;</p>		
			<p>Sealing the floor deck</p>		
		<p>Although it is typically more difficult than sealing foundation walls, sealing the floor deck between the basement and the first floor may make sense. If you want to use the basement as living space, it’s almost always better and easier to insulate and seal the exterior basement walls. But if the house sits on an unfinished basement or vented crawlspace, you may benefit from sealing the floor from below.</p>		
			<p>Crawlspaces</p>		
		Crawlspaces are nothing more than short basements, usually just deep enough for the footings to be below the frost line. Unlike basements, they often have exposed dirt floors. Building code requirements for vapor retarders are typically inadequate, even when they are followed properly. Crawlspaces can be pretty nasty places; they often have inadequate drainage. Building codes that require these spaces be vented to the outdoors may make matters worse. The best treatment for a crawlspace is to include it in the conditioned space by sealing and insulating the exterior walls, just like a basement.		
			<p>Slab-on-grade</p>		
		<p>If your home (or part of your home) has no basement or crawlspace, it is probably a concrete slab-on-grade. Those homes are somewhat simpler to seal because there are fewer connections among building materials at the foundation. Your primary job with slab-on-grade construction is to caulk or otherwise seal the exterior walls where the house framing meets the slab.</p>		
			<h1>Sidewall Air-Sealing</h1>		
		<p>Exterior walls are not typically the leakiest parts of a house. Leaks occur in walls where services enter the home, where the framing of the house makes transitions, around rough openings for windows, and through and around window sashes.</p>		
			<p>Service penetrations</p>		
		Sealing cable, wiring, plumbing, and telephone service penetrations is fairly easy. Such openings are usually accessible from the exterior and are often small because some effort is made to weatherproof them during installation.		
			<p>Transitions in exterior wall framing</p>		
		One common example of a wall transition is a cantilevered floor, typically an overhang of 1 ft. to 3 ft. that is common on raised ranches and Colonial-style homes. Often, the plywood soffit at the bottom of the overhang is not sealed tightly, and air can leak through these gaps, which are easy to caulk.		
			<h1>Weatherstripping Doors and Hatches</h1>		
		<p>Most modern doors and windows have good weatherstripping built in, but older ones usually don’t. In addition, many homes have at least one less-finished, or even makeshift, door or hatchway as part of the thermal boundary.</p>		
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