With energy prices high, here’s an interesting question: If you had $4,000 to invest, would you rather put it into an oil well or into your own home?

Okay, this is wildly hypothetical, but stick with me, because the comparison is surprisingly useful.

Option One: The Oil Well

Imagine you invest $4,000 in an oil-producing investment. If oil prices rise, that’s potentially good news for your investment. The more valuable the oil becomes, the greater the potential return. But there are downsides to this option:

• The investment gains are taxable.
• Higher oil prices also mean you’re paying more to heat your own home.
• Regardless of how well the investment performs, it doesn’t make your bedroom warmer on a January night, reduce drafts, improve indoor air quality, or make your home more durable.
• Producing more oil means consuming more of a finite resource and adding more carbon to the atmosphere. Now let’s put that same $4,000 somewhere else.

Option Two: Invest It in Your Home

Suppose you put $4,000 toward air sealing, insulation, or another well-designed home-performance upgrade.

Here’s where things get interesting.

• When energy prices rise, your investment in your home becomes more valuable too!
• If an improvement saves you 100 gallons of heating oil each year, those savings are worth more when oil is $5 a gallon than when it’s $3. (The same principle applies whether you’re reducing your use of oil, propane, natural gas, or electricity.)
• But unlike investment income, the money you don’t spend on energy isn’t income you have to pay taxes on. A dollar you don’t have to send to the oil company is simply a dollar that stays in your pocket.
• And in Maine, incentives can make the economics even better. Efficiency Maine currently offers substantial rebates for qualifying insulation and heat-pump projects, reducing the homeowner’s upfront investment while allowing them to benefit from the energy savings for years to come.

Returns You Can’t Deposit in the Bank

This is where investing in your home really separates itself from a conventional investment.

Proper air sealing and insulation can mean:

• A warmer house in winter.
• A cooler house in summer.
• Fewer drafts.
• More consistent temperatures.
• Lower heating and cooling loads.
• Better moisture control.
• And, when the work is designed as part of a whole-home approach, a healthier and more durable building.

Insulation also doesn’t have a motor, compressor, or burner. When properly installed, it can continue doing its job for decades with little or no maintenance.

And unlike a stock certificate, you get to live inside your investment every day.

What About Home Value?

Energy improvements can also make a home more attractive to future buyers.

Think about two otherwise similar Maine houses. One costs $5,000 a year to heat, has cold rooms and drafts, and needs energy upgrades. The other is comfortable, well insulated, has efficient heating and substantially lower utility bills.

Which one would you rather buy?

Reducing the operating cost of a home doesn’t guarantee a dollar-for-dollar increase in resale value, but comfort, efficiency, and lower energy costs are real features that remain with the house.

Maybe the Best Barrel of Oil Is the One You Never Have to Buy

There’s a tendency to think of insulation, air sealing, ventilation, and efficient heating systems as expenses. The Breathable Home thinks that’s the wrong way to look at them.

Done correctly, home-performance improvements are investments in a building you already own. They can reduce an expense you’ll have every year you live there. And when energy prices rise, the value of every unit of energy you don’t need rises with them.

And don’t forget the Efficiency Maine incentives that reduce your upfront investment.

And while you’re waiting for the financial return, you get something an oil well will never give you: A more comfortable, durable, efficient, and healthy home. Not bad for an investment that you get to live in