Home Energy Assessments

While many people have heard of energy audits, not everyone realizes that there are many things you can do yourself to perform a home energy assessment. A home energy assessment will help you to prioritize your home improvements so that they provide you the most benefit in the least amount of time. Even if you are planning on having a professional auditor come to your home, doing an assessment yourself first will give you the information you will need to help expedite the process.

Check Your Heating and Cooling Equipment

• It is important to have your HVAC system inspected annually to keep it functioning as efficiently as possible. If you have a furnace, replace your filters every 1-3 months. If your system is more than 10 years old it is probably much less efficient than those available today, so remember that a new unit will dramatically reduce your energy consumption. Use an online energy calculator (like this one http://www.yorkopcost.com/) to figure out how much energy your current system is using and compare it to a new system.

Check Your Insulation

• You can lose a lot of heat through your attic and walls if your home is not properly insulated.  If you have an older home, you might have less the minimum insulation recommended today, which can have a big effect on your heating bills. Check your attic to make sure that it has insulation, as well as your attic hatches. Also see if you have a vapor barrier (a sheet of plastic or tarpaper) under the insulation. A vapor barrier reduces the amount of water vapor that can pass through the ceiling, which is very important because water vapor makes your insulation less effective and can cause structural damage.
• Checking your walls for insulation is a little more complicated, but it is something that you can do yourself. You can check by taking the cover off an outlet (ONLY AFTER TURNING OFF THE CIRUIT BREAKER) and using a long stick to explore inside the wall. If you encounter any resistance, there is insulation there. You can also cut a hole in an inconspicuous spot on your wall to see if you can figure which type of insulation was used.

Check for Air Leaks

• Air leaks can be a significant source of heat loss in your house. Many common sources of air leaks are electrical outlets, window frames, baseboards, fireplace dampers, and weather stripping along windows. Plug and caulk any holes you find, and replace old weather stripping. You should also think about upgrading your windows and doors to high performance ones which will drastically minimize your heat loss.

These are just of few of the things you can examine to make your home more energy efficient. Even small changes, like replacing your incandescent bulbs with fluorescent ones, can make a big difference when added together.