bulbs2 | Newton MA News and Politics BlogThere’s a pretty amazing FREE service available to anyone in Newton (actually in all of Massachusetts) who pays NStar or National Grid utility bills.   A small sliver of our utility bills goes towards energy conservation efforts.   Here in Newton this is administered by  Energy Smart Newton.   Go to their web site and you can sign up for a free energy audit.  Someone will come to your house, check it all out, and pinpoint the various places where you could make a dent in your energy (electric, heating ..) bills.  Better yet, they’ll give you some free stuff on the spot – water saving devices, light bulbs, programmable thermostats.

When they came to our house they spotted the old incandescent bulbs and replaced them with compact fluorescents bulbs on the spot, for free.  BTW those compact fluorescent bulbs have come a long way in the last few years.  When they first came on the market, they were very limited by their color temperature.  Swapping out an incandescent for a florescent back then changed the whole atmosphere since the light was so cold.  These days they come in a much wider range of color temperatures and Energy Smart Newton can also give you LED bulbs too..

If they identify some big ticket items that could bring down your energy bills, say a new furnace or a major insulation job, they’ll provide interest free loans to do the upgrade.  Between the interest free loan and the reduced energy bill, it’s pretty easy to swing even an expensive upgrade.  They also have a range of rebates and subsidies they can offer to bring down the costs of bigger jobs.

No reason not to do it – check it out here