Optimizing a house and making it more efficient starts with home energy audits. This is basically the process that checks, analyses, and inspects a house regarding energy flow and conservation. A professional energy auditor will have to evaluate the home with the goal of finding out how much energy is used by the house and how much is lost through different flaws on the building envelope.

The building envelope consists of the walls, floors, doors, windows, and ceiling of the structure. All of these components need to be checked and surveyed to see the overall energy performance of the home. Through home energy audits, one would find where energy is wasted and possible the areas for improvement.

The main goal or principle of the entire process is to not only determine the input and output of energy, but to find a way to minimize the use of energy without sacrificing comfort, health, and safety of people inside the building or home.

The process starts with testing. Using professional equipment such as an infrared camera and blower doors, the auditor will start to inspect each component of the home. Once done, the next step is to compute for leakage and air infiltration rate. All of this information are important for the final report and recommendation of the expert.

After all underlying problems are noted by home energy audits, the next step is to act upon them. By doing so, the use of energy is optimized. Through improved air flow, conditioned air does not leak out of the home thus keeping it cool or warm with less use of air conditioning or heater units. The result is hundreds of dollars saved on utility bills.

According to the United States Department of Energy, an average home wastes 40% of energy used for heating and air conditioning. Through proper home energy audits, this can be fixed. Other than savings, this service also has several other benefits as well.

When it comes to health, a properly audited and weatherized home will have cleaner and safer air inside. It will also prevent the build-up of mold and mildew which can cause respiratory ailments. Long story short, the house becomes healthier.

Another huge benefit of this service is that the homeowner will be able to reduce carbon footprint. Since the whole process makes the house much more efficient energy wise, it lowers its consumption of electricity produced by power plants. This results in less pollution and a greener environment.

And last, federal and state governments encourage the transition to greener homes. They recognize that people need to invest huge sums of money in order to improve energy efficiency of their homes. This is why they offer various tax credit and incentives to people who have had their homes undergo this process. Overall, you can save more money due to lower utility bills plus you can also enjoy incentives and rewards from the government as well. Together, all of these things can virtually pay for the investment you put in home energy audits within a couple of years.

Tags: carbon footprint, Energy Efficiency, greener environment, Home Energy Audits, professional energy auditor, Using professional equipment

This entry was posted on Wednesday, August 31st, 2011 at 7:47 am and is filed under Home Energy Audit. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.