UNTIL it was repaired, a faulty spring on a pull-down attic staircase allowed heat to seep through a two-inch gap at the ceiling of Michael and Peggy Chambers`s split-level home here, resulting in higher heating bills. 'We were heating the attic,' Mr. Chambers said.
Mr. Chambers, 58, senior associate executive director of psychiatry at Woodhull Medical and Mental Health Center in Brooklyn, and Mrs. Chambers, 52, an aide at Harding Avenue Elementary School in Lindenhurst, said that they knew other energy-saving repair work was needed on their modest four-level residence, but that they could not afford the thousands of dollars to pay for it.
But when the couple received a pamphlet last summer from the Town of Babylon about the Long Island Green Homes initiative, a program that would cover energy-efficient home improvements at little or no upfront cost to homeowners, they decided to participate.
A few weeks ago the Chamberses became the first residents in Babylon to have energy-efficient improvements completed.
Any of Babylon`s 65,000 homeowners who qualify can receive up to $12,000 worth of energy-efficient work done by employees that the town contracts with.
What ...