Daily Home Renovation Tips

We have stated previously that we are big fans of home energy audits. They make the home owner aware of both:

• general energy conservation strategies, approaches, tactics and products
• non-renewable energy resource consumption reduction recommendations for the specific house

Knowledge really is power, and green power at that (think about it ).

We have provided 15 articles chronocling our own experiences with our own energy audit, including graphs, charts and recommendations in the energy efficiently evaluation report we received on our home through our participation in the ecoENERGY Retrofit grant program on our ECOENERGY page.

But, let’s step back a minute. What is an energy audit? What should one expect? Can one perform an energy audit on one’s self?

One of the sites linked in the Energy Conservation and Environmental Awareness area of our blog role is Home Energy Audits - US Department of Energy. This site describes an energy audit, defines terms such as a blower door test (measuring the amount of leakage of air in a house by which warm air in the winter or cool air in the summer within the hosue escapes, causing more energy to be consumed) and usage of infrared cameras by the pros.

This same site also has links to do-it-yourself and to professional home energy audits so the reader can better understand each approach, how to prepare for each and suggestions on how to select an energy auditor.

Remember, energy audits are very useful for both of the following situations for existing homes:

• home owner planning any renovation of their home
• home owner wanting to improve the energy efficiency of their home

Also remember that:

• Your local utility may provide a full or partial energy audit for your home free of charge
• Ask to see a copy of a sample energy audit report and their credentials before you agree to pay any money to an energy audit form
• In Canada, you have to have an energy efficiency evaluation (another name for an energy audit) completed under the ecoENERGY Retrofit grant program before you start and complete any home renovation for which ecoENERGY Retrofit grant money can be received.