DIY Home Energy Audits

Auditing a home’s energy use while going solar can be a smart move – it can give a homeowner a picture of his house’s energy consumption and help him see where solar power will contribute to energy savings.

Combining a solar installation with an energy audit is nothing new. SolarCity – one of the nation’s largest solar leasing companies – bought an energy-audit software company, Building Solutions, in May. The purchase lets SolarCity provide energy-auditing services at the same time it installs solar arrays for residential customers.

Energy audits and solar projects are naturally interlinked: Both lead to energy savings, and both can save homeowners money. It’s the cost savings that make a home energy audit a good investment, whether the audit is performed before or after a homeowner installs a solar array.

Even the White House may benefit from an energy audit. The Obama administration announced recently that it would install solar panels on the building – and a green-education company called CleanEdison offered to audit its energy use at no charge.

Average homeowners should expect to pay for their home energy audits, but the cost isn’t substantial – usually $400 to $500.

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Finding a professional energy auditor can be a good idea: Professionals have equipment that can help them perform a comprehensive audit, like giant fans that blow air through a home so that pinhole leaks can be detected. They also use infrared cameras to find sources of heat loss.

Homeowners can undertake some simple energy-auditing measures themselves, too. To find air leaks on a shoestring, a person can simply light a candle and draw it slowly around window and door frames. If the flame flickers, there’s air entering the home – so the leaky spot should be sealed up with felt strips or plugged with a commercial-grade leak-filling product like Great Stuff.

There are also products that help people see how much energy their appliances are using. Any comprehensive home energy audit should include an examination of appliance energy consumption – and devices like the Kill-a-Watt can make the process easy. The Kill-a-Watt, which has a small display, simply plugs into the wall. After appliances or electronics are plugged in, the display registers how much energy is being consumed.

Yet Few Believe Their Homes Are Very Energy Efficient

OCEANSIDE, Calif., Sept. 28 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ — Home energy efficiency is valued by the vast majority of American homeowners, with 89 percent of national survey respondents indicating that making their home more energy efficient is important to them personally.

Key findings from the September 2010 national survey include:

• Less than one in three homeowners believe their homes are “very” energy efficient
• While the majority reported knowing “a lot” about how to make their homes energy efficient, they mistakenly identified  ”older windows” as the top energy-loss culprit
• 90% said it is important to have a professional energy auditor who is “certified by an independent national organization”

“These findings are a call to action to the industry to help consumers tap into the true value of an independent energy audit,” said Steve Baden, executive director, RESNET. “While the benefits of window replacement are obvious, it is often a less visible and less expensive repair – for example, sealing cracks around air conditioning and heating ducts – that can significantly improve a home’s energy efficiency and cut homeowners’ utility bills.”

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Internal Sponsorship:
Just released from GreenEcoClub the DIY Easy-Energy-Audits. This step-by-step guide will show you how to do energy audit on your home like the pros. Easy-Energy-audits

D.C.-based Clarus Research Group, a Qorvis company, conducted a market survey of 800 U.S. homeowners(1) on behalf of RESNET, an industry leader in the energy efficiency marketplace. The sample was defined as adults over 21 years of age who currently own a home or plan to purchase one within the next year. The survey was conducted by Ron Faucheux, Ph.D., president of Clarus and a nationally recognized research and polling expert.

Key among other survey findings:

• 86% of homeowners would trust an energy audit performed by someone who was “certified by an independent national organization” over someone who was not
• 80% of those surveyed said that if they were in the market to buy a home, an energy audit conducted by an “unbiased professional” would be important to them

About RESNET

RESNET is a national nonprofit organization that sets the standards for the inspection and testing of the energy performance of homes. RESNET saw 119,000 homes rated last year, and has had over 1,000,000 rated since its inception. RESNET is recognized by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) for Energy Star Homes, the U.S. Department of Energy for the National Builder’s Challenge, and the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) for the federal tax credit for builders building energy-efficient homes. For more information, please visit www.resnet.us

(1) Poll conducted Sept. 1–4, 2010 via live telephone interviewing of a nationwide, scientifically-selected random sample. Margin of error: +/-3.46%.

SOURCE RESNET

By PHIL MULKINS World Action Line Editor
Published: 6/27/2010  2:19 AM
Last Modified: 6/27/2010  6:46 AM

Dear Action Line: How can I get an “energy audit” done on my home? I need the type done involving an infrared camera that shows where heat is leaking in or out of windows and sliding doors and such. — M.G., Tulsa.

Dan Riedel, owner of Thermal Imaging Solutions LLC, Broken Arrow, uses a “thermal camera” to do exactly that. He does energy audits for homeowners and businesses. Most of his customers are small businesses concerned with energy-wasteful buildings or electrical equipment, but he also does residential energy audits.

The heat-sensitive camera is the Razir Lite, made by SPI (Sierra Pacific Innovations Corp., Las Vegas) and displays buildings or any environment in shades of black, purple, blue, red, orange, yellow and white — the brighter toward white the hotter. The $10,000 camera “sees the world in vivid hues invisible to conventional photographic systems.” It “detects heat signatures surrounding leaking air conditioning and heating ductwork, mold and moisture, bad motor bearings and electrical problems.”

He worked with the Tulsa Public Schools in 2009 testing windows for energy efficiency, said Les Pace, certified energy manager with the school system. His responsibility includes “management and verification validating that energy savings are really happening.”

“What we have been doing is using the camera to check the energy efficiency of school buildings and then again after ‘Low-E insulated storm windows’ have been installed. We are checking them to make sure
they will perform as advertised — that they will save us in heating and cooling expense,” Pace said.

Riedel said he performs residential energy audits for a minimum of $100 for structures of up to 2,300 square feet and then charges by the hour if the job takes longer than 90 minutes. Typically, the homeowner wants to walk around with him and view the camera screen at each outside surface while taking notes. Riedel also has the software necessary to take thermal-image photographs of these structures to either e-mail to the customer, or to record on disk to mail to the customer (about $30 extra). An extensive, all-surface examination with multiple hard-copy photographs starts at $200, he said.

“If they want me to come back and go over it again for an insulation worker or a relative helping them with the job, I can do that and explain to them how to do it (for $25). I do offer discounts to senior citizens and veterans.”

Thermal Imaging Solutions is listed in the Tulsa Better Business Bureau database but has “no rating” as the bureau “does not have sufficient information to issue a rating.” No complaints against it have reached the bureau for the past three years. Contact the firm at thermalimage@gmail.com, call 455-2425, or go to tulsaworld.com/ThermalImagingSolutions.

“These audits can be done inside or outside of the home,” Riedel said. “The camera shows missing insulation, inefficient windows and doors and many other issues. In addition, I check out electrical boxes, conduits, circuit breakers, live wires for hot spots and ductwork for leaks. The camera reads the difference between hot and cold which tells me if it is an issue to be checked out. I do a lot of work for businesses concerned that hot spots in electrical boxes or other equipment will cause fires.”

Read more from this Tulsa World article at http://www.tulsaworld.com/business/article.aspx?subjectid=15&articleid=20100627_15_E5_DearAc792973

These days many families are looking for ways to be both frugal and environmentally friendly.

New Brunswick has the unfortunate distinction of being the third highest per capita emitter of greenhouse gases in Canada. Though some of this is attributed to industry, the energy we use to heat and power our homes is responsible for a whopping 26 per cent of our total emissions, a fact that the Conservation Council of New Brunswick states quite candidly on its website. And it’s something Kevin Matthews, renewable and home energy adviser with the council, feels could change with just a little bit of effort by the homeowner.

“The first step in achieving energy efficiency in your home is getting an energy efficiency audit done,” said Matthews. “For a house less than 2,000 square feet, the cost amounts to $50, with the remainder ($400) paid for by the provincial government, so you’re almost crazy to not get it done.”

“An energy audit of your home is like a medical checkup for the home,” said Matthews. “It will provide you with a comprehensive list of the energy-related strengths and weaknesses of your home, and as an additional financial benefit, it is very rare that the recommendations are not cost effective to implement.”

Making better energy decisions in and around the home is something Efficiency NB is working hard to promote and financially support through its programs, which can be found in detail on its website www.efficiencynb.ca. Programs cover everything from new and existing residential and commercial buildings to low-income households in conjunction with the Department of Social Development.

What exactly is an energy audit?

A comprehensive residential energy audit is an assessment of energy use and inventory of the energy-using equipment in the home. The energy assessment includes:

* how energy is used (can determine the use of a smaller appliance instead of a major appliance to save energy)

* how much is used – which means tracking your energy use using your utility bills or reading your own utility meters

* when it is used – means the time of day and time of year usage, which will help determine if savings can be made when no one is home

* how and how much energy is lost or wasted will help determine where energy can be saved

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Internal Sponsorship:
Just released from GreenEcoClub the DIY Easy-Energy-Audits. This step-by-step guide will show you how to do energy audit on your home like the pros. Easy-Energy-audits

Besides a formal energy audit, Matthews outlines an energy conservation measures inventory that any homeowner can undertake to get a rough estimate of the home’s energy efficiency and how one can reach the objective of air tightness throughout the home.

“You want to reduce all air leakage . . . and first and foremost, the key to any energy assessment is the blower-door test,” said Matthews. “This test effectively sucks all the air out of your house and reveals air leakage spots.”

Matthews indicates that the basement and attic are two places a homeowner should look first, particularly at the insulation.

“The basement, from my experience, is always going to be your weakest point and it usually exhibits telltale signs right away,” said Matthews, “in terms of leaks, moisture and letting in cold air or water.”

Matthews says that insulating your foundation – from the inside and if possible from the outside – will go a long way to minimize any heat loss and potential water moisture issues in the foundation.

Matthews says that lack of insulation in walls and ceilings, and around windows and doors is the next major culprit of air escape, along with the incidental little penetration holes used for power sockets, piping and other construction holes in the home.

Finally, the third item question is what method of heating is used by the homeowner and does it need replacing?

Electric heating systems emit the most greenhouse gas emissions, far worse than burning oil in a home furnace.

Only about 30 per cent of the energy of coal or oil burned in a power generating station makes it to our electric heaters.

Matthews points out that today’s oil, gas and wood furnaces have upgraded their energy efficiency to the point that many have efficiency ratings easily exceeding 80 per cent.

Forward Thinking is a Thursday feature that explores research and development, as well as new technologies in our community. Send your comments and story ideas to news@dailygleaner.com.