Energy Audits: What Homeowners Need to Know

Image Gallery An energy audit can help you determine which home energy improvements are worthwhile for your home. For example, many people consider installing more energy efficient windows, but adding insulation to your home is likely to save more money and energy. ISTOCKPHOTO/LANICA KLEIN

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Finding ways to heat and cool your home more efficiently has many benefits. To name a few: Home energy improvements can lower your heating and cooling bills, reduce your carbon footprint and make your home more comfortable. What’s not to love?

But while some energy improvements are cheap (changing your furnace filter), others are expensive (buying a new furnace). And although some of those larger projects may end up saving a lot of energy and money, it’s not always easy to know whether a specific project makes sense for your home, or which projects you should tackle first.

This is where an energy audit comes into the picture. An energy audit can help you decide which projects should be your highest priority, and which ones you might not want to do at all. So what’s involved in a home energy audit, and does it make sense for you?

To answer these questions and more, I talked to a home energy rater, Ken Riead of Hathmore Technologies, LLC in Independence, Mo. Riead does energy audits and has trained other energy auditors and energy raters.

So who should have an energy audit?

Everyone. In fact, new houses typically aren’t as well constructed as the older houses. They can leak more air, causing health and comfort problems, and the quality of the wood and other building components can be poor. Insulation is often very sloppily installed and, in many cases, missing entirely. Most homeowners aren’t knowledgeable about how to look for these problems and how to properly correct them if they find them. Actually, the same problems found in single family homes also occur in duplexes, townhomes, condominiums, apartments and other forms of residences. However, to keep things simple I will use the terms “home” or “residence” from here on.

I would submit that unless your home is an Energy Star home or has undergone energy testing you will likely experience high energy bills and comfort problems, so it is well worth doing an energy audit.

Most electric utilities offer some sort of online survey or audit at little or no cost. That’s where most people start.

What do those online surveys typically involve?

You enter some basics about your home. If you say “well, I think my walls have R-7 insulation,” then the online audit’s automatic response will be something like “OK, you should add more insulation to your walls.” If you state, “My refrigerator is 20 years old,” it will suggest, “Time for a new refrigerator and we at your local power company recommend Energy Star appliances.”

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