SOUTH PARIS – Cheryl Shattenberg is in high demand.

Shattenberg, an energy specialist who performs home audits, said she’s getting eight calls a day and is booked through October.

Friday morning, she was in South Paris inspecting a large farmhouse built in 1850, now converted into four apartments, for owner Mike Cullinan.

“It’s little details, so many things you can do are simple,” said Shattenberg, who works for Community Concepts, a social service organization that assists residents in Androscoggin, Franklin and Oxford counties.

At first glance in the building’s basement, Shattenberg was pleased with the amount of insulation she found.

“You guys have the right idea, anyway,” she said. “But your crawl space is moist and you’ll want a vapor barrier on the ground to tighten it up.”

After initiating a blower-door test, used to emphasize temperature differences from in- and outside the building, Shattenberg used an infrared camera to detect pockets of air flow and uneven insulation.

Scanning every wall and crevice, Shattenberg pointed out places in need of caulking or more insulation. When finished, all her notes and recommendations will be contained in a final report issued to Cullinan.

Many Mainers, desperate to lower their oil bills, have begun to hire experts like Shattenberg to perform home energy audits to identify ways to heat their homes more efficiently before the cold weather comes.

Aware of the looming crisis, state officials are recommending home energy audits as the most cost-effective way to save money this winter. The Maine State Housing Authority offers loans up of to $30,000 at a 3.95 percent interest rate to help homeowners pay for energy audits and conversions to alternative energy sources, like wood pellet stoves, solar panels, hot water heaters or geothermal. Many local banks also offer low-interest loans for home energy efficiency improvements.

The statewide home heating oil price is $4.42 per gallon, according to an Aug. 4 report by Maine’s Office of Energy Independence and Security. The cost of oil Oct. 1, 2007, was $2.69 per gallon.

But there is a silver lining: the higher the price of oil, the shorter the payback period for energy efficiency investments.

Cullinan is paying $800 for his four-unit building audit, but the fee for single-family homes is between $225 to $450, depending on size, Shattenberg said.

Paul Muszynski, another home energy auditor based in Norway, said it’s hard for people to make the initial investment in home improvement, despite the obvious benefits.

“Having no insulation in the wall is like putting a raincoat on in the wintertime. You’re stopping the water and the snow, but there’s nothing on underneath,” he said.

He said it’s hard for people to spend money on things they can’t see.

Nearly one-third of all Maine homes were built before 1939, according to a 2006 U.S. Census report, making it one of the oldest housing stocks in the country. And while it’s fairly obvious most aging homes benefit from the home energy audits, a recent report released by the Maine Public Utilities Commission reveals newer homes can as well.

More than 80 percent of Maine homes built since 2005 fail to meet the voluntary minimum statewide energy code adopted in 2004, according to a study released this spring by Efficiency Maine.

The new code, complete with mandatory minimum efficiency standards, will go into effect in January 2010.