If you’re serious about conserving energy and making sure your home is performing as well as it can, then consider a home energy audit.
A few of our blogger friends are going through the home energy audit process and we’ve selected advice and tips from their audits.
Preston Koerner of Jetson Green
“According to the Department of Energy, some energy efficiency upgrades can lead to energy savings of something in the range of 5-30% per year. That’s not an insignificant amount.”
“When looking for an energy auditor, the Department of Energy recommends checking references and the Better Business Bureau. The Department also recommends verifying that the auditor uses a calibrated blower door and performs a thermographic inspection (which requires infrared equipment to detect thermal defects and envelope air leakage).”
Ethan of One Project Closer
“To find the right professional auditor, follow the process you would before hiring any contractor. Make sure you have a strong understanding of the work to be done and it’s well detailed in a written contract. Take the time to get multiple bids and always check references.”
“Professional auditors provide an accurate documented assessment so that you can make a truly informed decision about how to improve your homes energy efficiency.”
Neal from Cleantech
“And we haven’t insulated the attic (current R value is estimated at 13, something like R 38 is desirable). The nearly $1800 attic insulation quote I had gotten previously was looking like a 5-7 year payback, and unfortunately paying to seal the ducts and replace the air return looks like it would be marginal as well. Sealing the ducts probably would pay off, however, we have an old house whose air return is way undersized and very poorly sealed, probably a vestige of the original heat only return pre air conditioning, meaning I’d need to tear up my hallway and put a new one in the ceiling to do it right. The other big move would be to do some sort of an attic fan to do active attic ventilation, and keep my cooling load down.”
“We’ve got a couple of small, cheap items that definitely make economic sense. Only 1 of the 4 outside doors is weatherstripped (and one has a huge south facing single paned window that failed the IR test badly), and caulking along the base boards/sealing the various light switches (they make basically soft gaskets you can put on yourself that do the trick) and attic stairs would help seal the living area a bit (maybe just offsetting all those lighting cans!).”
photo: taberandrew
No Comments