Watching a skillful home-energy
inspector explore
a leaky house last week left me with a distinct sensation:
envy.

As the inspector went
through the process, showing the homeowner how insulation, foam sealing, and
other improvements would save money on heating bills, I realized I want some of
that sweet
weatherstripping action for my house. But my wife and I have a simple and
common dilemma: we rent. We’re not going to pay for house improvements because
we might not live there for long and won’t profit from the increased property
value. Our landlord won’t shell out for much because he doesn’t pay heating and
electricity bills — we do.

This renter’s dilemma
is a real barrier to getting more homes weatherized (which, in case you haven’t
heard, is a
fan-flipping-tastic policy that helps out cash-strapped residents, saves
energy, and creates building-industry jobs). Renters tend to have lower
incomes, so they could use the savings more.

So I put out a
call a few days ago asking for proposals for cracking this nut. Wouldn’t
you know, some decent ideas came back. None of the proposals are a magic
potion, which means it’s worth trying out a bunch of strategies. Starting with
three steps tenants can take:

1. Talk to landlords about what they can do. Sounds obvious, but
it’s an important place to start, and something not all energy-conscious
tenants have done (guilty). A coworker got her landlord to pay for
weatherstripping of doors simply by asking.

This may work for only
the cheapest improvements. “Most landlords are looking for ways to recoup their
electricity costs,” Tom Harrison of the efficiency products shop Energycircle.com told me. “A few say
they want to help their residents conserve. And I don’t doubt them, but to be
honest, of the several I have spoken with directly, they are all Canadian —
seriously.”

2. Threaten to leave. If you’re a desirable tenant, owners might
prefer to pay for some improvements than spend time and money looking for new
tenants (The Alliance to Save Energy has a good
list of specific improvements to consider.)

3. Ask about “green leases.” In this arrangement, an owner agrees
to pays for improvements (say, $2,000 for attic insulation), then raises the
lease ($50 a month) to recoup the cost. If the improvement saves an average $65
month in heating costs, the renter comes out ahead and the owner recovers the
investment in a few years.