With natural gas prices skyrocketing in many parts of the nation due to regional supply issues, we are seeing some rates triple. This is causing huge issues for many families throughout the colder climates and regions of price spikes. Yet there are ways to hedge against these heating costs. For instance better insulation and materials to keep the heat in. Many homes allow much of the heat they generate to escape and thus it takes more energy to heat the home and keep it heated, as that hot air escapes.

You can pay someone who is an energy consultant with an infrared device to come out and survey your home and tell you where your heat is escaping and where to seal some of the drafts. Each year millions of Americans do this and many can reduce their heating bill by up to 50%.

It would be nice if we could use Infrared Satellites on clear cold nights to study the heat losses of neighborhoods and homes. By taking this data and the resolutions down to a meter or so, we will be able to allow homeowners to see where their homes are leaking and estimate how much they could save on their heating if they shore up those leaks. My proposal is to have a secured site where the homeowner can access their data thru a secured site, along with there last four heating bills. The home owner can use this data and an XML spread sheet enabled back end on the government website, which can make charts and graphs of their estimated potential savings.

Additionally I propose that we have a calculation for a tax break for those who choose to fix their problems and that will also be calculated on the website. We need to solve these supply and demand issues, which are now a problem. We have gone too long without setting up proper infrastructure for our growing needs and have over regulated the process to fulfill those needs using free enterprise and free-markets and now we must solve both problems simultaneously to bring back the skew into proper perspective and release this strangle hold and unnecessary burden on middle and low income families who are going to end up freezing to death trying to budget their families limited cash flows. Think on concepts like this in 2006.