Today, interest rates are down. Thus, many are refinancing or shopping for a new or better home. Energy-conservation experts say you should also consider wrapping energy-efficient home improvements into a new mortgage or re-fi. Here's why: besides reducing monthly energy bills (and helping to conserve the nation's energy supply), by including these costs in a new mortgage or re-fi you also gain a tax-deductible advantage on the upgrades. This includes everything from adding insulation and weather-stripping to new windows and doors (as well as heating and air-conditioning systems, programmable set-back thermostats, high-efficiency large appliances with the ?energy star? label, a new water heater and even numerous high-tech consumer electronics). At all levels, today's energy-efficient technologies lower both energy usage and utility bills. And when you include them in new loans at today's lower interest rates, everybody wins. And that's the On The House tip for today.