What Is An Energy Audit?

What is an energy audit? An energy audit considers different interacting factors that make up both heating and air quality of your home. For most people, a house is their most significant investment, both in time spent at home and money earned to live there.

What Is An Energy Audit – An Overview

An energy audit is an assessment of the insulation, building structure, heating and hot water systems and electrical use. It is a practical way to protect your biggest asset, save money and live healthier. Our approach to auditing is based on the House as a System concept, balancing air quality, insulation and moisture control. Certified auditors examine these components and develop a report that accomplishes two goals:

• Details your energy use
• Provides energy-saving recommendations

Often, these are simple solutions well within the budgets and capabilities of homeowners.

Expect your home energy audit to take 3-4 hours, depending on the size and complexity of your house. Our auditors will conduct a thorough inspection of your home’s exterior, attic, living space and basement. We encourage discussion so the audit can encompass occupant behavior as well as your home’s physical characteristics.

An energy audit can help answer questions like:

  • When you insulate your attic should it be vented or can/should you adopt an unvented approach (a lot more complicated questions than you may think as properly venting an attic can be quite difficult)?
  • Should you insulate your basement and if so, how should you insulate?
  • Should you insulate your basement walls or basement ceiling?
  • If you have a finished room over a garage, how do you make it slightly less uncomfortable?
  • Simply, how can you save some money and energy?

    • What Is An Energy Audit – The Tools Of The Trade

    Two key diagnostic tools are used in an audit: a Blower Door and an Infrared Camera.

    A Blower Door measures the tightness of the air seal of your home’s building envelope. Excessive air leakage can lead to dramatic heat loss, unpleasant drafts, and problems with moisture, mold, mildew and ice dams. The blower door is a strong fan with sensitive pressure gauges, allowing it to quantify your home’s air leakage. By quantifying the air loss, we can determine the potential savings by actions like home weatherization and air sealing.

    An Infrared Camera is a heat imaging device that can easily detect building shell issues such as uninsulated wall sections, air leaks and moisture. The thermal image shows precise temperature differences that are not obvious during a visual inspection.

    Both of these tools are used in detailing your home’s energy use, and providing energy-saving recommendations.

    So…what is an energy audit? It’s an evaluation of the heating, cooling, electrical and water use and subsequent recommendations to reduce your bills without sacrificing quality of life.