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ALEXANDRIA, Va. — Winter’s cold can be a budget buster for many low-income homeowners—many of whom are elderly, disabled and veterans. As part of Energy Awareness Month,��Rebuilding Together Alexandria��is releasing its top five energy efficiency home audit ideas so that families and friends can help their neighbors in need prepare for the winter. Rebuilding Together Alexandria is a volunteer-based nonprofit working to preserve affordable homeownership and revitalize the Alexandria community by providing free home repairs.

“Home repairs are an important way to keep homeowners who face health and income challenges living in their homes. This winter, if we can get more people to spend an hour helping a neighbor in need weatherize, we can change a life, save energy, and help strengthen our community,” explained Katharine Dixon, president and CEO, Rebuilding Together Alexandria.

On October 25, Rebuilding Together Alexandria will be performing these upgrades and others as part of its Energize Alexandria event, a day of winterizing homes across the city. Throughout the day, Rebuilding Together Alexandria volunteers will weatherize and provide free energy-efficient upgrades to homes of veterans, low-income, disabled, and elderly residents. These efforts will help nearly 40 vulnerable families and individuals maintain and afford to stay in their homes.

These upgrades are important since low-income housing stock tends to be old, in poor condition, and energy inefficient. As a result, the families in these homes spend three times the average for heating and electricity. In fact, most of Rebuilding Together Alexandria’s clients live near the poverty level and typically spend about 14 percent of their income on energy—as compared to 3.5 percent for higher income households.

5 Energy Efficiency Home Audit Ideas: