Starving an Energy Hog

As you may know, any endeavor, from remodeling a home to taking a long-deserved vacation, starts with a good plan. An energy audit by a professional contractor can give you a plan to make your home more comfortable and save you money on utility bills by cost-effectively improving your home's energy efficiency. A specially trained auditor will evaluate your home using state-of-the art equipment then recommend improvements that will yield the best results. 

Tools of the trade

Blower-door equipment, consisting of a calibrated fan, door-panel system and a pressure-sensing device, and an infrared camera are two of the tools used to perform a quality energy audit.

The objective of a blower door test is to quantify the amount of air leakage through your walls and ceilings. Your auditor will temporarily seal the blower-door fan into an exterior doorway using a door-panel system and blow air into or out of your home to create a small pressure difference between inside and outside, which will force air through all holes and cracks in your building envelope. If your home is airtight, the fan will not need to blow as much air to create a change in pressure.  

A majority of homes are only 50 percent airtight, meaning the house leaks one-half of the total volume of air inside the house every hour. If you add up all the hidden air leaks, they can equal a     hole the size of an open window, making your home less comfortable, wasting   energy and costing you money.

An infrared camera is another effective tool for an energy auditor because it can locate hot or cold areas of the ceiling and walls, indicating where poor or no insulation exists as well as sources of air leakage.

What to expect

An average audit will take two to four hours to gather test results and other data about your home. From this information, an auditor can develop a detailed report to give you recommendations to fix problem areas of your home. Some of the most common recommendations include:

Sealing air leaks. This is usually the first and most important step. Many air leaks are fairly obvious, but others, like those in the attic, basement and crawl space, can be found only by testing. Blocking and sealing air leaks is critical to the overall efficiency of your home and will make all of the other components deliver better performance.

Adding or replacing insulation.  Many older homes are not insulated well and some have no insulation. Properly installed insulation in walls, floors and attics provides even temperatures throughout the house. For optimal performance, be sure to air seal first before adding insulation. For the Kansas City area, an R-value — which measures a building's thermal resistance (the bigger the number the better) — of R-49 is recommended.

Upgrading your heating and cooling system. Bigger is not always better. A properly sized unit will give better humidity control and a consistent temperature. If your system is more than 10 years old, you could realize a 20-percent or more savings by upgrading to a new energy-efficient unit.

Sealing ductwork. This will improve the performance of the heating and cooling system. Houses with forced air ducts, which are used to distribute air through the house, are often leaky. In a typical house, about 20 percent of the air that moves through the duct system is lost because of leaks. The result is higher utility bills and difficulty maintaining comfortable room temperatures.

Upgrading lighting and appliances. Energy used for lighting and appliances can account for half of your home's total utility bill. Replacing all your incandescent light bulbs with compact fluorescent bulbs can be a significant energy-saving step. Replacing old appliances with new Energy Star-rated appliances can save you enough to recover your cost of replacement in only a few years.

These recommendations are just a few examples of what an energy audit will reveal. Every house is different, and a customized plan will help you determine which actions are right for your home.