These days, a doorbell can be a startling thing.

Call it a side effect of the Age of Corona. When there’s a door-knock or a bell-ring, we now instinctively expect one of three things:

1. A doorstep delivery, with the driver scrambling away like a spy movie courier.
2. An incredibly persistent solicitor who apparently believes siding is a matter of life and death.
3. Unknown and unusual visitors, to be carefully examined through peepholes and side windows before responding.

It makes sense. When masks are essential fashion and bubbles are carefully maintained, the last thing you want to do is have a ton of visitors in your home. Even helpful ones.

That’s why Efficiency Works has gone virtual.

If you’re new here, Efficiency Works is our program that helps you spot ways to save energy in your home or business, and save money with it. For homes, that’s usually meant arranging a low-cost energy assessment – a visit by an expert – and then offering rebates for helpful renovations.

But these days, the visit is an electronic one. Efficiency Works now offers virtual home advising, where you provide pictures and information, and our expert provides advice online. Just like work, school and so much else, your advising session is remote, lasting up to one hour and still giving you the help you need to decide on improvements, solicit bids, and then get the project done.

It’s quick. It’s simple. And it’s at no cost to you.  

If you have additional questions or want to be placed on a wait list for when physical visits return, go ahead and call the Efficiency Works home energy advisers at 877-981-1888. But in the meantime, there’s no need to wait. Just fire up that high-speed internet connection and get everything under way.

You’ve got to admit – it has a certain ring to it.

And one that’s a lot more welcome than the doorbell.