Welcome to the Home Energy Guide series of articles that will help you make your home more Green and Energy Efficient. Each article focuses on a specific topic to make your home more efficient. Your home is an energy hog Old homes, new homes or renovated homes…all are wasting energy! American homes use 30 percent or more of the energy used to cool or heat them. If you are looking to enhance the efficiency of your home the most effective place to begin is with home Energy Audits. These will identify all the key areas that influence your home’s energy performance and, most importantly, you and your family’s comfort!Symptoms of a home not energy efficient are humid rooms, drafty rooms, water around windows, inconsistent temperature between rooms, dusty floors and of course , high energy costs. An Home Energy Audit can find the cause of these issues. This removes any guesswork and allows you to correct the problem right away instead of relying upon trial and error. This is one of the things you’d prefer not to do, and will only make you feel worse. It is important to remember that you don’t want to invest time or money in an audit. There are two kinds of audits: in-home and self-assessment. A self assessment is one that you, as the homeowner, usually do through an the internet. You can usually find these at the local utility’s website or on state, local and local government energy websites. These tools are easy to use and cost nothing. The home audits come with cons. They are only able to provide general information (they cannot provide specific details on your energy consumption) and are only as accurate as what the homeowner inputs. A professional will conduct Home Audits. They may employ tools like a Duct Blaster, Blower Door and possibly an Infrared Camera. This is an essential item to have. A professional will run an array of diagnostics, and add the data to specific software specifically designed for Energy Audits. This will provide you with precise data about how leaky your house is and where they are located.

A Energy Auditor should be sanctioned by either RESNET (Residential Energy Service Network) or BPI (Building Performance Institute). These agencies are directly affiliated with the Department of Energy and Environmental Protection Agency. You can be sure that you do not want an “weekend” professional in home improvements who is conducting these tests. You should never accept bids from an energy auditer to resolve your issues. This is probably an issue of conflict of interest. Okay, so pros of this type of audit are that you will get an entire understanding of the places your home is inefficient and you will get an in-depth report that demonstrates such. The only drawback is that these audits typically vary from $300 to $500 based on the size of your home as well as the nature of the information you’re looking to find. You will typically be reimbursed after you make the energy saving modifications to your home.A house energy audit is a professional service that assesses the efficiency of homes. The quality of a home’s building envelope; its walls, floors, windows, ceilings, and doors are tested with the use of calibrated equipment to determine pressure differences, and by the use of infrared cameras to determine the temperature variations. The energy audit aims to identify opportunities to cut down on energy consumption while maintaining or improving comfort.For the majority of buyers the home they purchase will be the most significant purchase they’ll ever make, and one of the largest ongoing expenses of owning that home is the energy needed to run it and live comfortably in it. Many homebuyers are concerned about the “gas mileage” of their home and are aware that it could continue to cost them more in the coming years. Even though an energy audit and/or specific energy tests have not always been a part of the due diligence of a buyer but this is rapidly changing. Consumers are becoming more conscious of their environment and are aware of the existence of the services of quantitative testing.

Having a comprehensive energy audit should be a part of the due diligence process for all homebuyers. It is essential to understand prior to signing the contract how the home’s performance is with regard to outside air permeation, comfort, and energy waste, and also to obtain estimates on the costs of remediating poor performance. In addition to discovering any flaws that may be hidden in the property’s performance the results of an energy audit together with estimates for repair costs can allow the purchase price to be renegotiated or result in the seller offering concessions to offset the cost of the energy audit, or even repair costs.Building efficiency science, supported by the advancement of technology and our nation’s need and desire to save energy has led to an increase in the amount of certified companies that have certified, trained professionals to meet this demand. There are a variety of auditing options and charges are now accessible for homebuyers. There are numerous options for homebuyers when it comes to auditing services and fees. A comprehensive whole-house energy audit will provide the most detailed information about the home and will provide recommendations for improvement. Although they’re not able to offer the same thorough analysis as a whole-house audit, they can be useful information for those looking to buy a home and are naturally less expensive. The results of these tests could also provide improvement cost estimates, in case they don’t, the inspector will be able to give an inventory of contractors who can provide estimates from the findings.One of these tests utilizes a tool for diagnosing called Blower Door. It’s a variable speed fan that has a calibrated speed that is temporarily positioned in an outside doorway. This permits determination of the air pressure difference. This instrument allows auditors to assess the quantity of air outside entering a house per minute. It also helps them find the areas that have air that are leaking into.

Another important technique is thermal imaging, using an infrared camera. The naked eye cannot discern cold or hot air. An infrared camera has the capability of detecting the difference in temperature of less than .08 C. Sagging insulation or the lack of insulation behind ceilings and walls cannot be readily seen, however it can cause a variation in the temperature of the surface. Temperature variations can be seen in a color spectrum. This kind of energy inefficiency that can be rectified would otherwise be undetected and unnoticed, unless for the energy bill that is ongoing. Insulation is relatively cheap in comparison to the energy costs because of the absence of insulation. Thermal imaging is a fantastic way to find the energy issues that are not obvious. It’s also cheap in comparison to the rising energy costs resulting from the insufficient insulation. According to the Department of Energy a typical home is able to lose 20% of its expensive air conditioning due to leaks in the ductwork prior to getting to the intended living spaces. Because of poor installation, it’s common for ductwork in both new and existing homes to leak more than 40%. It is an unnecessary expenditure of money and energy that the seller may not know about. The buyer can find out by performing a simple test at the home to collect information and conduct a complete whole-house energy audit. This depends on the size of your home. It is also necessary to create a report. An audit report that is complete is usually completed in 24 hours. The average time for individual component testing is anywhere between a half hour to a quarter. After the test results, they are sent to the customer. To get further information on this please visit original site.

A simple energy audit of your home will help you reduce costs, improve energy efficiency, and reduce energy consumption. Every single home, even energy efficient homes, lose energy. With the help of an energy audit, you will be able to achieve energy savings and upgrade your home to be more efficient in energy use. You can either hire a professional, or conduct it yourself. The professional who conducts energy audits typically analyzes the loss of heat using specialized thermal imaging equipment, as well as other techniques that “visualize” heat loss and energy gaps. However, those who are “do it yourselfer,” however, can easily take note of energy usage and energy loss in every room. You can then determine the areas where energy savings could be achieved by adding the figures. Home energy auditors who do it themselves will appreciate the use of spreadsheets on computers to analyze and save energy. It is also possible to spread the task over a period of time, based on how big your home is as well as the amount you own. If you conduct the “energy walking” through your home for the first time, you’ll find many areas of energy usage you’d never thought of. The future energy savings audits will take shorter time since you’re already aware of these “hidden” areas. You will also reduce time as you don’t have to be attentive to energy leaks in every space. Fixing any problems you find is, however, likely to take a bit longer.At at least once a year, although I’d definitely suggest periodic energy audits. Home energy audits should be done in spring, prior to noticing a spike in your heating bills due to the high energy of air conditioning seasons. Autumn is when you will notice an increase in your heating costs due to the heat season. The amount of money you spend will be different depending on where you live. You can reduce your energy bills by performing an energy audit yourself. This is in addition to the possible 15% – 40 savings on energy costs which many people experience when actually finding and reducing the use of energy. The nice thing about doing it yourself is that you will become intimately familiar with all the energy consumers and losers in your home and you can establish your own goals to address the problem.