by Dan Hiland

Created on: September 07, 2009   Last Updated: September 09, 2009

Energy Audits and Energy Management: What's In It For You?

Keeping one's home comfortable year-round is a top priority for most homeowners, as is maintaining its livability and usefulness. The last thing an owner should have to worry about is how much that comfort and utility is going to cost.

Keeping in mind that the price of heat, electricity and water are expected to continue rising for the next few years, getting a handle on energy use is one way a homeowner can control costs.

The question then becomes: How can I measure the amount of energy being expended in my home?

The answer: a personal home energy audit.

The advantages of an energy audit are twofold:

1) While you could pay a professional to conduct one, you are the expert on what is in your home, and can just as easily document its present condition.

2) In the process of doing a walk-through, you will probably discover the good and the bad- extra space you may have forgotten about, as well as heretofore unseen problems that need to be addressed.

Keep in mind that the main reason for doing an audit is to discover how much energy your home is using now, and how much of it is wasted- and subtracting the waste from the total amount will show you how much you could save.

Let's start with the general and work toward the specific.

Get a tape measure, pen and a pad of paper. Write down:

Age of your home. Direction the house faces Number of residents Presence of a programmable thermostat Number of crawlspaces, and if they are vented Number of appliances and type (gas or electric?) Furnace type and capacity Outdoor lighting (gas or electric?) Fireplace(s) (gas or electric?) Ductwork location and condition

Go from room to room, noting the following:

Number of windows, square footage, type, and location Window frame composition Is room insulated? Insulation type, location and amount Is room heated, and how? Are doors, windows or electrical outlets drafty? Amount and type of lighting

For rooms with appliances:

Appliance type Estimated minutes of daily usage Pilot light present?

For rooms with fixtures:

Number of faucets and shower heads Type and flow configuration

Then look carefully at the following:

The furnace: Is there an air filter present, and how clean is it?

The water heater: Does it need an insulated blanket, and what is its normal temperature setting?

The ductwork: Does it need insulation?

Once you have gathered all this data, plug it all into a spreadsheet or hand-drawn table.

Then add the number of people using appliances, taking showers, etc., and how long they are using them.

Once you have enough information to figure out monthly usage, compare that to your utility bills for the past year and see how much you could save by:

Installing high efficiency windows Installing insulation, or better insulation Waterproofing Sealing leaky ducts and insulating them Insulating the water heater Installing low-flow shower heads or toilet Installing weather strips around windows, doors Sealing electrical outlets Reducing light bulb wattage or changing over to compact fluorescent bulbs

By conducting a home energy audit, you stand to save hundreds of dollars a year in energy bills, prevent potential structural damage, and make your home more comfortable in the long run. Isn't that worth a 60-minute investment of your time?

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