Residential programs include energy efficient mortgages, energy efficiency in manufactured housing and low-income housing and energy efficiency in sustainable communities.

Design Review Services
Design reviews are available for individuals and businesses through the North Carolina Solar Center, to evaluate and suggest cost effective improvements to increase the energy efficiency and show how solar technologies can be incorporated into new buildings in the design stage.

Energy Efficient Mortgages
The State Energy Office has joined with Residential Services Network (RESNET) and Fannie Mae to promote Fannie Mae's new energy efficient mortgages program. Through this program, prospective homeowners can finance energy efficient systems through the home mortgage. Several key lenders, including Wachovia and Countrywide, have actively joined the program.

NC HealthyBuilt Homes
A green builder program has been launched in North Carolina for small to medium size homebuilders that may not have the resources to compete in the rapidly emerging field of green building. Builders can currently receive technical assistance, design reviews, workshops, and consultation from the North Carolina Solar Center to increase their knowledge of green building principles. The new program is expected to provide marketing assistance and third party monitoring through field review services. The first community partner is the Western North Carolina Green Building Council. A comprehensive checklist of green building techniques has been developed by a statewide advisory board.

Public Housing Authorities-Advanced Energy
The State Energy Office contracted with Advanced Energy Corporation to incorporate the SystemVision standards into Public Housing Authorities in Gastonia, Sanford and Beaufort, North Carolina. Low- to moderate-income families are the least able to afford homes that meet these minimum standards for housing. Statistics show that low-income families pay approximately 20 percent of their income for home energy costs compared to 5 percent for medium income families.

Upgrade & Save
In partnership with East Carolina University, the State Energy Office launched a new program to make manufactured housing more energy efficient at the time of sale of the home. Incentive grants are being provided to change out the highly inefficient and costly electric furnaces to more energy efficient heating systems. Given that one-third of new housing starts in NC are manufactured housing, and that heating bills can reach $400/month or more, this is a critically important effort. Electric-resistance furnaces, although the least expensive central heating system to manufacture and install in a manufactured home, are by far the most expensive heating system to operate. An electric-resistance furnace is typically 2.5 to 3 times more expensive to operate than a heat-pump, gas or oil heating system. This can mean an additional $200 to $600 per month in heating costs for the family living in a manufactured home.

Homes in the following counties are eligible for this program: Pitt, Nash, Wilson, Wayne, Greene, Lenoir, Martin, Beaufort, Craven, Jones, and Edgecombe.