Energy Audits

Autumn officially begins soon, and with it comes cooler weather and fewer hours of daylight. Fall is a great time to start thinking of a home energy audit so that you can prepare your home for winter, saving energy and money in the process.

The main purpose of an energy audit is to determine whether your home wastes energy, and to pinpoint where energy is being lost so you can evaluate what measures you can take to make your home more energy efficient. Audits also determine the efficiency of your home’s heating and cooling systems, and ways to conserve hot water. Audits can be as simple as a do-it-yourself audit, or they can be very detailed, using specific tools and techniques to pinpoint air leaks.

If you've lived in your home for some time, you already may be familiar with areas that get drafty as the cold, wintry weather approaches. Sky-high energy bills may hint at the inefficiency of your appliances and heating and cooling equipment.

A do-it-yourself energy audit, commonly referred to as a walk-through, is the simplest and most common method of conducting an energy audit. Go room-by-room to check for air leaks. There are many potential sites for air to leak into or out of your home, including: windows and doors, gaps around pipe and wire feedthroughs, electrical outlets, foundation seals, mail slots, exhaust fans, attics, garage doors, siding cracks, and old caulking. Check insulation levels where possible. Look at the age of your heating and cooling equipment, and past maintenance records and maintenance schedules; check to see if filters are clean. Review the types of lighting in your home, and explore more efficient alternatives. Be sure to keep a checklist of areas you inspected and problems you found. This list will help you prioritize your energy efficiency upgrades.

If you’re somewhat computer savvy, you may be interested in using a computer program to conduct a more thorough energy audit. Home Energy Saver and Home Energy Checkup are two free web-based do-it-yourself residential energy audit tools. These tools can help you determine the savings you can expect from making specific energy upgrades, and thus help you prioritize improvements to make. Or try the ENERGY STAR^® Home Energy Yardstick to compare your home's energy efficiency to similar homes across the country and get recommendations for energy-saving home improvements from ENERGY STAR.

Another option is to pay a professional service company to conduct a sophisticated energy audit on your home. The company’s “house doctors” often use tools such as blower doors, infrared cameras, digital surface thermometers, and smoke pencils to detect leaks in the building’s envelope—your home’s surface area exposed to the outside. They may conduct a building pressurization test that measures the leakiness of the building envelope, or a thermographic inspection that reveals the often hard-to-detect areas of infiltration and areas where insulation is missing. These “house doctors” will generate a report with the results of their tests. This report typically includes a list of where you are wasting energy, what improvements you can make, estimates on what these improvements will cost, and what your annual savings will be should you make the recommended improvements. In some cases, the house doctors will carry out some energy-conserving measures on site at the time of the audit. Ask beforehand to find out which of these services the company provides and what the fees are. These professional tests tend to be expensive, but the savings after upgrades can be considerable.

Where can you locate professional energy audit companies? Your first step should be to contact your local electric or gas utility to see if they offer free or discounted energy audits to their customers or if they can recommend local auditors. Your local government or state energy office may help you identify a local company or organization that performs audits. They may also have information on how to do your own audit. Low-income residents should contact their weatherization office.

Two other good resources that can help locate a professional energy audit company near you are Home Performance with ENERGY STAR and Residential Energy Services Network. If you’re planning to make extensive energy improvements, you may wish to think about getting an energy rating for your home with the energy audit, and then applying for an energy mortgage. An Energy Improvement Mortgage finances the energy upgrades of your existing home in the mortgage loan using monthly energy savings.

John Lippert is an employee of Energy Enterprise Solutions, a contractor for EERE. He assists with technical reviews of content on the Consumer Guide Web site.

Comments

[Robert Long]

This information sounds pretty helpful. I have one question I have for Mr. Lippert. If someone is considering getting a new heat pump, is it better to get one with a variable speed drive or would it be as efficient to get a fixed-speed unit with a programmable thermostat assuming that both units are rated for the same capacity and that both have the same seer ratings?

[John Lippert]

Dear Robert,

That’s a great question. Unfortunately, as we say in our blog policy, we're just not staffed to answer all of the technical questions that are bound to come up in this blog. Let me offer this advice.

Although you ask one question, it really has several important elements.

You’re comparing a variable speed drive heat pump with a fixed drive unit with a programmable thermostat. When selecting a programmable thermostat with a heat pump, make sure you select a heat pump programmable thermostat, not a programmable thermostat designed for a furnace. Also, are you comparing a variable speed heat pump with no programmable thermostat with a fixed-speed model with programmable thermostat? If you’re willing to adjust the temperature settings, why not consider a variable speed unit with a programmable thermostat?

A heat pump’s Seasonal Energy Efficiency Ratio (SEER) rating (or Heating Seasonal Performance Factor – HSPF – in the heating mode) is determined in a laboratory using specific indoor and outdoor temperatures specified by the U.S. Department of Energy. The intent is to determine the efficiency of the heat pump operating over the course of the heating (HSPF) and cooling (SEER) season, which varies in temperature throughout the day and day-to-day. Just as with a car’s mileage, actual efficiency will vary in the real world. Efficiency depends on a number of variables, such as outdoor temperatures and how well your system is sized to meet your needs. I would check with an HVAC professional, but I suspect the variable speed model is more likely to perform more efficiently because it can more efficiently handle the many times that the unit is not operating under optimal conditions, even if the fixed-speed model has the same capacity and HSPF and SEER ratings.

[Robert Long]

John,

what I'm trying to determine is whether a variable drive heat pump without a programmable thermostat is significantly more efficient than a fixed-speed heat pump with a programmable thermostat for heat pumps. Variable speed units are more expensive than fixed-speed ones, so in order to consider one I need to know how much more efficient it is to justify the higher cost.

[Jeff Peterson]

I am looking for a home computer program that will display data from my electric bill month to month to show changes and poterntial areas of savings...do you know where I might find such a program...?

Thanks

[John Lippert]

Jeff,

DOE has compiled a list of building software programs aimed at improving building design and lowering energy consumption.

I’m not sure you’re going to find software to do exactly what you’re requesting, however. If you check out the Home Energy Saver software mentioned in my blog, you can type in your zip code and find out the annual energy costs of a typical home, and of an energy-efficient home, and then compare these costs to your annual utility costs. If you take 15 minutes or so to type in characteristics of your home and household, the software will offer suggestions on where you can make changes to reduce energy consumption.

[chris]

Im from the UK Jeff and although not a software programme you can buy pieces of equipment called wireless electricity monitors. They fit on your existing meter (nothing technical they just clip on to the cable going in) and they will give a reading of how much you are using at any one point and will give you actual costs in $ or KWH. One of these products is called an owl energy wireless monitor. Hope this helps

Chris

[Schumacher Homes]

I would recommend that anyone who wants to save some money and conserve more energy in general should have their home assessed for an energy rating and apply for an energy mortgage.

[Tony]

Solar pannels are a great way to save money on heating bills, they can save the average family up to 300GBP.

[Tony Valenete]

Solar panels reduce your family heating bills and help save the environmenr too. We should all try to lessen the destructive impact we have made own our environment for our children and grand children. Energy saving changes are not usually expensive and should save you money in the long run.

[Mark]

In your home, there are some simple Home improvements changes in which you can start to save energy – and many of these will save you money too. Heating systems are a large contributor to global warming, but turning your thermostat down by just 1°C could help lower your heating bills by up to 10%. If you don’t have it already, consider installing double glazing to minimize heat loss from your house.

Many new houses are built with water meters fitted. Being more water efficient will help you keep your costs down and contribute to fewer droughts and hose pipe bans.

Household appliances waste a lot of energy. If you’re having a new boiler installed, make it an energy saving one and if you’re shopping for a new washing machine, tumble dryer or dishwasher try and get an energy efficient model – even if it costs you slightly more to buy - as you’ll make savings on your energy bills.
There are also larger projects you could think about. Cavity wall and loft insulation can save you up to 1/3 of your heating costs. Old loft insulation may be of an inadequate thickness and topping up to a minimum of 250mm is essential for real economy.

On a smaller scale, consider switching your light bulbs to energy saving ones. They not only save energy, but also often last longer so they can be a shrewd investment, despite being a little more expensive than traditional bulbs.

[Charlene Hines]

You will identify specific needs for your individual home when you get an energy audit by a professional. These audits enable a home owner or commercial property owner, to get grants for multi-family housing and low interest mortgage loans for retrofits and installations of solar panels, wind technology, & thermals. More than 80% of residential purchases are being funded under FHA guidelines. These can now incorporate energy efficient mortgages to cover the installations. Each structure is unique due to dozens of factors which create a sort of "DNA" like print, very much like a fingerprint. The use of an energy audit professional is required in order to acquire grant funds of up to $15,000 per unit for the installations of green technology in Multi-family housing properties.