Home Energy Audits

A Home Energy Audit identifies potential problems in your home energy usage. That is, it shows where you use the most energy, and where you could potentially save energy. The energy savings can either be through smart energy usage or conservation (for example, turning off lights when not in use), replacing of appliances or devices that use energy with smarter or newer energy star rated appliances (such as a washer, dryer, furnace, TV, CFLs…), or through mechanical or structural repairs or replacements (such as replacing windows, adding insulation, etc.)

Some of these simple repairs incur little to no cost. For example, energy conservation requires a little effort and remembering but usually doesn’t have a large cost associated with it. Replacing a furnace or appliance obviously has a larger cost, and making home repairs has a larger cost still. But most homeowners do not have to do all three. An energy audit can help tell you what you need to do.

For example, let’s say you find that a particular light is costing you 3x as much as the lights in another room. (This is trivial with the Home Energy Audit kits from this site, because you can break your energy costs down by appliance/use, and by day month, or year.) You can save energy and money by using the light less, replacing the bulb in the light, or possible removing the light altogether.

It’s the action taken after the audit that saves you money. The Home Energy Audit Kit will teach you to read the results of your audit, and what to do next.