How to Conduct Your Own Home Energy Audit and Evaluation

Conducting your home energy audit is easy, but it is first important to understand why it is so imperative to conduct and energy audit in the first place. If you suspect that your home is using an excess amount of energy, there could be a chance that you are widening your home’s carbon footprint and contributing to the greenhouse gasses that are being released into the atmosphere. As these gasses build up, it is causing strange and catastrophic weather trends – from extreme heat to extreme cooler. As a household, taking measures to save energy can make a huge impact. Your first step, however, is to complete an energy audit. Here his how to conduct your own energy audit and evaluation.

First and foremost, you want to start by gathering the supplies. Initially, all you will need is a pad of paper and a pen. You want to look at the whole energy audit and evaluation experience like an investigator would when trying to solve a crime. You want to get serious and start using your powers of deduction. For instance, if you can clearly see that your doors have a one-inch gap below them, you have officially found your first culprit.

However, the culprit can also be other items in your home. For instance, if you notice that a room has nothing but incandescent light bulbs, you want to write that down. Ideally, you want to write down a note every time you notice something that may be contributing to energy waste. Much like a teacher will write down notes in the margin of a paper or test, you want to write down errors that you see in your home. Eventually, all these errors will be deducted as points – your home will either get a passing or failing grade for energy efficiency.

Next, you want to take measures to evaluate your home for energy leaks you can’t see. For instance, you use your hands to feel along energy casements – a leak will feel a little bit like cool air against your skin. If you want, you could use the blower door test, which requires the use of a specialized instrument that seals off your home your blows air inside it – you can then use little smoke pencils or machines to look for leaks. In most cases, the smoke will materialize a column anywhere that there is a leak.

In the end, once you complete an energy audit, you’ll want to start creating plans to seal up energy leaks and make your home more efficient. For instance, you’ll want to re-caulk windows to seal up leaks, add weather-stripping to all the doors, and you’ll want to replace light bulbs that may be using too much energy. You may also have energy leaks in your ductwork, which could require patching up or custom fabricating new joints. There are many benefits of custom fabrication when it comes to making your ductwork more efficient – it will prevent leaks and it will allow air to travel more easily throughout your home. In the end, having an energy-efficient home does take a little sweat and hard work but it’ll be worth it.