Money for home improvements

VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. (WAVY) - Listen up! The Department of Energy (DOE) wants to give you money. The DOE has given a Hampton non-profit company $2 million to give out to homeowners who want to make their homes more energy efficient.

Green Jobs Alliance will give up to $1,500 to help homeowners energize their homes.

"There's a lot of cracks that need to be sealed," said Julie Dunlap who lives in a Virginia Beach home. She claims she has too many cracks in her house.

"You can see a hole right there in the corner there...in the recess light...vents...in the electrical outlets...they are everywhere," said Dunlap.

Those cracks apparently add up. Her electricity bill is nearly $500 a month for a 3,000 square foot home. "Some people have equated all these cracks and leaks in the house like having an open window in the house," said Dunlap.

Dunlap is about to hire Gayle Johnson of ECOBUILDERS to make her house more energy efficient, and Johnson took us into the attic.

"What happens here is bad, your air conditioning and heat coming up here and leaking into the attic through the duct work," said Johnson.

Randy Gilliland is a co-founder of the Green Jobs Alliance, and his non-profit received $2 million from the DOE to hand out to homeowners like Julie Dunlap. "Our Better Buildings Program grant is a program of the Department of Energy designed to drive homeowners towards energy efficiency improvements in the single family residential market."

The money is designed primarily to better seal homes, ducts, and upgrade insulation, but can be used for new windows, programmable thermostats, and energy efficient water heaters.

Dunlap's anticipated bill is $8,000. The $1,500 immediate rebate lowers her cost to $6,500.

The work must be completed by certified businesses, and consumer shopping is strongly encouraged to get the right person to do the most amount of work for the dollar.

The bottom line for Julie Dunlap is a house that increases in value.

"When I go to sell my house I will be able to market my house in an area where moving houses is stagnant," said Dunlap.

You can apply online for the Next Step Program to get up to $1,500 off your bill to make your home more energy efficient.

For more information, visit http://rebate.nextstepva.org/