Making your home more energy efficient not only saves you money in the short term, it also adds to the value of your home.

Some Albemarle and Charlottesville homeowners will be getting their energy efficiency improvement projects paid for by the Local Energy Alliance Program, thanks to a $500,000 grant from the Southeast Energy Alliance.

According to the Daily Progress:

"The first step will be to retrofit area homes and businesses. Retrofitting a property costs about $7,000... The program will offer loans, funded in part by the federal government, to cover the cost of retrofitting... [T]he loans would be paid back over time as supplemental payments on top of property taxes. Savings realized by the increased energy efficiency will almost pay for the loan itself..."

Officials also estimate that the LEAP initiative will create 1,600 jobs in the area.

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