Energy Audit
It is not necessary to suffer and sacrifice to make significant reductions in our personal environmental impact. Energy saving homes avoid the pollution and impacts of excess fuel use, while delivering real benefits to the homeowner. Energy audits are about much more than saving on your utility bills. Much like a health check-up, an energy audit examines all of your home’s vital systems. An energy audit can enhance home comfort and save energy by providing you with a customized strategy for improvements. By reducing your household’s need for energy, you free up resources for other uses in your life, and help to protect your family from volatility in energy prices. The Energy Audit gives you the information and the road map you need to implement successful energy efficiency improvements on your home. After implementing the recommendations of an energy audit, homeowners will commonly see a 20-40% reduction in their utility bills, and occasionally more for very inefficient homes. The results of the energy audit are presented to you in a complete report. Part of the report is an action list of improvement measures, prioritized by cost effectiveness. You are able to to prioritize your energy efficency upgrades depending on what is most important to your family.
Reasons for performing an Energy Audit
- You have trouble heating or cooling the house adequately.
- You have a room or area of the house that is significantly warmer or colder than the rest of the house.
- Your utility bills are higher than you think they should be; for example, your bills are more than those of a neighbor with a similar house.
- You are planning to do some extensive remodeling, or perhaps an addition. An audit will help you to budget for cost-effective energy upgrades that can be done at the same time.
- Your house is always dusty, or you have mold or humidity problems in the home, or you are otherwise concerned about indoor air quality.
- You are basically satisfied with your home’s energy performance, but you are curious to know if there are some reasonable measures that would further improve its efficiency.
- You have a budget for energy upgrades, and you would like to know what mix of improvements will give you the best return on your investment.
- You want to reduce your home’s “carbon footprint”, and would like to explore options for energy efficiency upgrades and renewable energy retrofits.