Sometimes when you do a job for a customer, you really have to expect the unexpected.
In the case of German Cabral and Jason Galvin, energy efficiency advisors with the Farmingdale-based Green Homes Long Island, this was just the case. Who could have imagined that while trying to figure out the best way ot lower a client’s energy bills they would solve a 20-year-old mystery?
On Aug. 20, certified energy efficiency experts did a home energy audit for Plainview resident Seymour Bosworth, with the goal of lowering the homeowner’s energy use by 25 percent or more.
Bosworth, a 92-year-old World War II Veteran who served in major campaigns throughout Europe, received this service through his participation with a statewide program that assists families, veterans, seniors and other members of the community address these issues.
Before walking up to the attic to determine if there were any heating fuel and electric use challenges, Cabral and Galvin were told the last time anyone had been up there was 20 years earlier, when an exterminator had worked up there. Apparently, a bag of World War II memorabilia that Bosworth returned from his service in Europe with had been stored in the attic and had gone missing.
At the time, the belief was that the exterminator had taken Bosworth’s memorabilia. Despite searching long and hard in the attic, Bosworth never successfully found them.
Part of the energy audit protocol, Cabral and Galvin were required to lift the insulation to determine what gaps and penetrations exist that can cause heated air to escape from conditioned spaces into the unheated attic.
As Cabral and Galvin conducted their investigation suddenly they encountered a surprise—the missing bag of WWII mementos that were alleged to have disappeared 20 years earlier.
There it was, buried under a large pile of insulation.
Bosworth benefitted even more than he had expected, not only receiving savings on his energy bill, but also uncovering his missing mementos.
Most Long Island families can receive Home Energy Audits for no charge through the Home
Performance with Energy Star and EmpowerNY programs operated by NYSERDA. For more information contact Green Homes Long Island at 631-485-4033 or at greenhomeslongisland.com.
