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The safest investment in the world

Well, it seems the sky is falling again.  The U.S. lost its AAA credit rating and people are running scared from the stock market.  Home prices are still lousy and it's going to be a few years before they rebound.  Gold is near record highs and who knows how much higher it can go.  Savings accounts yield just about 0% in "interest".  So what are you supposed to do with extra money lying around?

Probably the safest investment in the world right now is energy conservation for your home!!!  Think about it; when was the last time your annual energy costs decreased on their own?  I would say it is a pretty sure that these costs will continue to go up.   Why not make the investments to reduce those energy costs and provide a return on your money!  I covered this issue in our post "Best Bang for your Buck: Conservation vs. the Stock Market" where I provided a calculator to help you compare an investment in conservation vs. the stock market. 

If you agree that conservation is the safest investment in the world, but just don't know where to start, I would start with a home energy audit.  You can use this page to find energy auditors.  Don't have any spare money to invest, look at an energy efficient mortgage.  Heck, just replacing 1 incandescent with a CFL will return almost 288% over a 10 year time frame!  And those savings are as close to guaranteed as they come.

In any case, maybe we need to stop looking at energy conservation as something that saves you money, but starting thinking about it as something that makes you money!

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Comments

I'd also suggest looking for auditors through BPI, Building Performance Institute. BPI auditors have a whole house approach and aren't *just* looking at energy, although energy efficiency is the obvious priority. Better yet, choose someone who is both an energy rater through RESNET and an auditor through BPI. Then you'll have the best of both worlds. Dual certification is very common. Here's a blog post I wrote about things to look for in an energy auditor: http://www.homeperformancenc.com/?p=164

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