6 Los Angeles County Homes Given Energy Makeovers

Six homeowners from every corner of Los Angeles County congregated at a known for being nearly zero-energy, and were awarded makeovers for their homes.

Albert Gerardo and his family of San Fernado won the grand prize of an estimated $50,000 makeover that will turn his house into a green home.

“I’m very excited, this is going to be a big help for me and my family,” said Gerardo, a Los Angeles City sanitation worker who lives in a 1953 house with two daughters, 8 and 15, a son, 12, his wife and mother-in-law. “It can really help us, and I can show my friends and neighbors what we’re doing so they can do it at their houses, too.”

The county launched the Energy Upgrade California program (EnergyUpgradeCA.org) earlier this year offering rebates of up to $4,500 to save money on utility bills. Howard Choy, general manager of the county’s Office of Sustainability, is in charge of the program, and said, “We hope that thousands of people will now become aware of these ideas and find certified contractors who will help them determine what kind of upgrades people can do on their homes.”

Los Angeles County Supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky handed out the awards and said the county is spearheading this innovative program to encourage all households to become more energy efficient. “This is going to help everybody increase the property values of their homes,” he said.

The event was held at a house across from Walter Reed Middle School at the home of Ron and Tammy Schwolsky and their two children. The front lawn is all-native California plants, there’s a rain barrel collecting water off their roof, solar panels line the top of the house and people have to take off their shoes before entering the house.

“Shoes can track in chemicals, pesticides and other toxins, it’s nice to have a good air quality indoors and it helps with asthma and allergies,” said Tammy, who runs the with her husband, which consults with homeowners about improving the energy efficiency of their homes. (Her company even helped out über-environmentalist Ed Begley Jr. with his house in Studio City.)

Encino prizewinner Sara Dobbs looked carefully at the house in Studio City to see what she could do adapt to the 1950s home she and her husband bought from her grandmother 12 years ago. An executive assistant, Dobbs’s husband Thomas suffered a stroke earlier in the year and she lives at the house with her two children, 16 and 21.

“I’m looking forward to seeing how much money this will save us, it’s something we all have to do,” said Dobbs.

Dobbs will be receiving about $10,000 worth of upgrades from companies that will include SoCal Remodeling, Lennox, Smart Energy Options, , Solarcon, Train to Sustain, Pools by Ben, Building Doctors, San Gabriel Insulation and REEis.

Others winning awards are Lisa Brown of Los Angeles who shares a ranch-style home with two dogs and has issues with losing energy through attic and air leakage; Cynthia Brian of Pomona who has lived in her home for nine years and have mold and poor insulation; Nancy Kelley of LaVerne, who has poor insulation and bad air infiltration in their home of 22 years, and Stephen and Colleen Kienzle of Whittier who live in their home built in 1956 with three sons, 13, 15 and 17 who have high utility bills.

Some of the simple ways to reduce utility bills include planting shade trees and shrubs on the west side of the house so in the summer it blocks the heat of the house, and insulating and sealing ducts in your house and cleaning the air filters every month.

Skylar Boorman, of Building Doctors was demonstrating a device they use to show how walls lose heat, so they can assess what can be done. “There’s no guessing in what we do, we know exactly where the problems are with devices like this,” Boorman said.

Supervisor Yarovslavsky poked his head inside the Studio City house, but he didn’t go in, “It’s too hard to take my shoes on and off,” he laughed.