Home Energy Audits

By Brian Peterson-Delacueva

My wife and I bought our first home 5 years ago, an old brick structure built in 1904. When we bought it, the previous owner assured us that it was well-insulated and cozy when it gets cold. Then came our first winter energy bill, and we realized that she meant that the house technically had insulation and that if you were willing to spend gobs of money the boiler could just about stay ahead of the heat loss to the outside. We spent the whole season alternating between shivering and waving goodbye to the dollars flowing out through our walls and windows. On especially cold days, frost formed on the inside of our kitchen walls. Making our home heating more energy-efficient quickly became a priority.

Our first step was to see how big a problem we had. We contacted our utility, Xcel Energy, to arrange to have an energy audit done. The audit revealed that our walls were completely uninsulated, leaving just four inches of empty air between our walls and the brick façade. It also showed that our attic was also under-insulated, and that the whole house leaked like a sieve.

We started small with some easy fixes: caulking around windows in our basement and around an unused exterior door, adding weatherstripping around the doors that were in use, and adding a doorstop to prevent leakage from the basement door. Even with those modest steps we began to notice a difference. Eventually we hired contractors to insulate and seal air leaks in the attic, and to blow insulating material into the exterior walls. Now the house is far more comfortable, we’re spending hundreds of dollars less per year, and we feel good knowing that we’re using far less energy to heat the house. It’s made such a difference that my first question to any friends who are buying a house is “Have you done an energy audit?”

While we ended up taking some extensive and expensive steps to make our home more energy-efficient, you can also make an impact by just taking a few small steps. Try one of the simple steps from our Energy Checklist. Installing a programmable thermostat or installing LED or compact fluorescent lights won’t cost much upfront in time or money, and they’ll pay off quickly in reduced energy use and energy bills. If doing it yourself isn’t your thing, check with your utility to see if they can connect you with a program such as the Home Energy Squad (http://www.homeenergysquad.net) that will make some simple improvements at a low cost. Or, if you think you do need something more major, talk to your utility about getting a home energy audit. It’s easy to get started!

Photo: Adding insulation to the walls.

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