Saving By Spending: Invest in an Energy Audit

Having an energy audit performed on your residence is one of the best investments a homeowner can make. Your auditor will check your energy bills, survey your energy usage, investigate your home, and perform a number of specialized tests in order to come up with a detailed plan of how you can improve the energy efficiency of your home. In fact, home energy audits result in an average reduction of 30% off your pre-audit energy bills, making this one homeowner expense that will pay for itself in no-time.

What To Expect
As mentioned before, your auditor will perform a number of services. The first is just to survey your energy usage habits and look for places you can improve in that area. The second thing an auditor will do is investigate your home searching for possible improvements that will increase its energy efficiency. This might include installing programmable thermostats, upgrading your furnace, or improving your insulation, among other things. Finally, your energy auditor should perform two standard tests to help them locate places where your home loses heat.

Standardized Testing
Any home energy audit worth its salt should include both a blower door test and a thermographic scan.

When conducting a blower door test, your auditor will install a large fan into the frame of an exterior door. When the fan is turned on it will blow air from inside to outside, creating lower air pressure in your home and drawing in outside air through poorly sealed windows and doors. It allows your auditor to identify where your home has costly leaks around doors, windows, and other areas.

In a thermographic scan, your auditor will set up a camera or other scanning device that takes pictures of the exterior and interior of your home on an infrared spectrum. By doing so, your auditor will be able to identify areas where your home is losing heat or letting in cold. This can help your auditor to pinpoint areas that might need more insulation, as well as places where your home has sprung a leak.

It All Adds Up to Savings
A good energy audit typically runs several hundred dollars, and will likely identify some glaring repairs and improvements that you'll want to address to improve the efficiency of your home. But when you consider that you'll save up to 30% annually on your energy bills, it won't take too long to make up those costs. In the long run, you're sure to come out ahead. If you're looking to improve your home's energy efficiency and save yourself money, a home energy audit is without question the best place to start.