What is a high performance home?

A high performance home is one that saves you money and provides a safe environment for you and your family to live in. If you are thinking of buying a home you should consider this information in your home purchase, and if you are selling you might want to consider making some of these cost efficient improvements in order to secure a better offer in a shorter period of time. With some small improvements you can turn your home into a HIGH PERFORMANCE home, and you may be eligible for any number of rebates.

The 10 most common, and least expensive, things you can do are as follows:
1) install foam gaskets in all your electrical outlets that are exposed to an exterior wall. This will help reduce, or stop, any air from leaking out or in
2) change out your light bulbs to the more effecient LED light bulbs
3) install low flow shower heads
4) install a water heater blanket
5) install sink aerators
6) insulate all exposed pipes
7) check all registers for dust and freguently replace air filters
8) check all air ducts for leakage
9) paint with low VOC paint
10) replace carpet with a non toxic variety.

One more thing you can consider is to get an energy audit. These are usually pretty inexpensive and can be obtained from your energy providers (i.e. APS or Unisource). Below are 2 links to websites that will lead you to additional information. The first one (desire.org) is a website that provides links to all rebates available within any given state. The other is primarily informational.