The Audit can be broken into steps.

The first step is data collection.

What is the homeowner looking to learn about the home?

Do they have specific areas of concern or are they looking for solutions to specific problems?

How much information can the homeowner supply? Three years of utility bills is best but one year will do.

Do they have quotes and recommendations that they need to evaluate? Have they had another type of audit done, and do they have the report?

Next: The Actual Energy Audit

A Home Energy Remedies Energy Audit is different from Ostensibly Free Audits and the Expensive Free Audits already discussed.

The audit we perform at Home Energy Remedies is wholly centered on developing the information for the homeowner. Then we work at helping the homeowner to understand the options.

We do not receive commissions from contractors. It is our goal to show you how you can reduce the annual cost of energy used in your home and how to increase the home’s value by doing so.

Many improvements you do for your home are not aimed at energy efficiency but can have energy efficiency components. For instance, if you need a heating system, an energy audit will find areas that can be insulated or air sealed, thereby reducing the size of the system.

Most systems are oversized in the first place. Actually calculating the correct size, rather than replacing the original oversized system with a second, equally oversized system, could save as much as 15% per year.

Replacement windows should be installed for many reasons, but energy savings alone cannot justify the expense. Once you have decided to install windows for draft reduction, esthetics, functionality or any other reason, an Energy Audit can help decide if the marginal difference between one window and the next more expensive window up makes sense.

Our goal at Home Energy Remedies is to give you the tools by which you can save the most energy. We are here to work with you.

The second type of Energy Audit is what we at Home Energy Remedies like to call The Expensive Free Audit.

Russ had a Heating Company employee come into his home to provide advice on upgrading his system. This Heating Company employee charged $350.00 and arrived with some expensive equipment.

However, he did not know that Russ understood what he was doing and fully appreciated that he was not actually measuring the system but was, rather, selectively using measurements that would build a case for spending $20,000.00. This was all while skipping the measurements that indicated that the system could be fixed.

The net result is that Russ would have paid $120.00 per month more for seven years! This Heating Company employee is very successful at convincing people that they need to spend a considerable amount of money on what he sells. The Heating Company does an excellent job installing expensive equipment and leaving the homeowner with little left for the things that would have made a real difference in heating bills.

Instead, Russ is spending $3,000.00 for a combination of insulation and duct improvements that will cut his heating and cooling bills by $500.00 per year and will also solve issues of his second floor being cold in the Winter and hot in the Summer.

Next: A Home Energy Remedies Energy Audit.

There are definitely different types of energy audits. This three-part series will help you to see the differences among them.

The first kind of energy audit is the Ostensibly Free Audit.

The people doing free audits are being paid, of course. The question is as to who is actually paying them.

Many of these ostensibly free audits are being performed by Insulation; Heating, Ventilating and Air Conditioning; or Window salespeople. Naturally, these people are interested in selling their product and will often neglect to inform you that any other product which could be a better investment for you.

Know what you are getting yourself into — a “Free” Energy Audit can often prove to be rather costly indeed.

Next: The Expensive Free Audit

The question of which improvements offer the most monetary savings is a somewhat complicated one.

A lot depends on what is happening at the time. If the heating system needs to be replaced, then the first thing to do is to start with the cost of new heating systems and then figure out which one is the most cost-effective.

Having said that, in general, these are the home energy improvements that should save you the most money:

1. Air sealing is the least expensive home energy improvement and generates the biggest bang for the buck. It should be included in any upgrade.
2. Insulating is the next most cost-effective measure that you can take.
3. Next comes duct sealing, and, finally
4. Your heating system.

But above all else, it’s a good idea just to get started.

The first question is, truly, what can you expect from any energy audit?

And to understand that, you need to know the following:

• Who is performing the audit?
• What are their qualifications? and,
• If you can find this out, how are they being paid?

The question of how and why a home energy auditor is paid is important because some auditors work for the benefit of the homeowner, whereas others work for the sales that they can generate as a result of the audit.

Home Energy Remedies analyzes the home and gives the homeowner the results and the information they need to help them to effectively act on the audit’s findings.

Audits performed by heating, windows or insulation sales companies are generally looking for data that will justify the customer purchasing what that company has to sell.

Most of the time, the homeowner’s best plan of action is to have more than one home energy improvement performed. The order in which the improvements are done can make a huge difference.

A good example of this is a heating system replacement. Service people will often quote replacing the current system with a comparable equivalent-sized new system. Yet an independent audit will generally first find air leaks and insulation issues. Once these are addressed and the home is analyzed for optimal heating system size, it is frequently determined that the old system is 30 to 50% oversized!

The independent home energy auditor can also calculate the benefits of using high efficiency units. This will help you to figure out the best choice for your particular application.

And this is what we are all about at Home Energy Remedies — helping you, the homeowner, to make the best decisions for your home’s energy efficiency needs.

If the home is being sold now it is a marketing decision.

Real estate brokers tend to want to have as little information as possible so that people have as little a possible to object to. Some buyers are more comfortable with a home they have a full disclosure on and can see how they can increase the value down the road.

Another thing to consider is that there are special mortgages for making energy improvements. If the buyer can be shown that they can purchase the home, make the improvements and still pay the same each month it would make the sale of an older home much easier.

Finally, if issues are not disclosed up front as part of the deal but found during the Home Inspection then they can become a negotiable issue.

It is one thing to know you want to cut your energy costs.  Cutting costs will save money every year and make your home more attractive to anyone wanting to buy it.  The big question is: what should be done first and how do all the options affect each other?

For example: a new furnace could save 20%, insulation could save 25%, air sealing could save 10% and larger ducts could save another 10%. 

1. The Energy Auditor has training and uses equipment to measure and identify what needs to be done. 
2. They then help to come up with a plan to minimize cost and maximize savings. 
3. Using the above example the auditor could calculate how much smaller the new furnace would be.  A smaller furnace may eliminate the need for larger ducts. 

This is what it does for you, and now a word of warning, and one of bias.  HVAC, Insulation or Windows salespeople do not look at your home as a total, holistic system like the Energy Auditor does – they look at it from an HVAC, insulation or window sales perspective.  Remember that, and you’ll be all right.

Depending on what you’re having done, different audits will have different goals.

Energy audits can cost anywhere from $0.00 to over $750.00.  Good audits require time, equipment and a trained auditor.  Auditors need to pay for this and make a living. Some auditors also perform some of the upgrading work. The good ones will break everything down for you and provide the option of whether to use their service The audit will stand on its own.

However, someone is paying for the free audits. This is usually someone expecting to make money on sales of their product or service.  The most common of these products are insulation, heating systems, air sealing and windows.

Exact savings cannot be predicted but reasonable estimates can be made.  If your audit does not break down where your energy is going and how each of the above areas need to be addressed, then you are probably dealing with a salesperson — and that person may very well have their own agenda.

Any home not built to Energy Star specifications will probably have energy losses that can be prevented or stopped.  Do you want an Energy Auditor who is working to help you understand your options and wants you to be a good reference, or do you want an auditor who needs to sell you something to earn their pay?

A good audit requires the use of specialized and sometimes expensive equipment to analyze your energy use.  If not you then a so-called special interest.  This “special interest” could be an insulation, heating system or window business.  Windows are a huge expense that rarely if ever can be justified for energy savings.

Before having an audit, ask the auditor how they earn their money and who pays them.  Good audits take two to three hours.  Complex ones can take longer.  No one does that for free or for $75.00 without expecting to make money on the sales generated.