When tiny Wellsboro near Williamsport can trumpet annual savings of $7,000 and additional savings of close to $150,000 over the lifespan of new equipment in its borough and public works buildings, like it did in the summer of 2010, a clear picture emerges from the value of energy auditing. The company that performed Wellsboro's audit, Envinity, recommended weather-stripping and air-sealing windows and doors, fixing controls on boilers and installing occupancy sensors on light switches, to name a few.

Envinity has made quite a business out of such details. A few months earlier, it built Centre County's most energy efficient home, which will use 75 percent less energy than a similarly sized home built with typical construction techniques. Envinity's work encompasses a host of residential and commercial green building initiatives. The company performs energy audits, designs and builds new homes and additions, tests new techniques and products for sustainable design and performs educational outreach  and consulting to engage communities throughout Central PA.

The custom-designed solutions Envinity provides enable the use of the most innovative renewable energy products on the market, as well as some that are tried and true.  Ben Franklin Technology Partners of Central and Northern Pennsylvania provided the company $75,000 in funding  and Envinity also benefitted from funding awarded to the National Energy Leadership Corps, an energy efficiency consortium led by Penn State University. The 20-person team continues to grow as Envinity expands its sales and marketing efforts.