A Home Energy Audit includes a series of tests to help homeowners determine where their home is wasting energy. To decrease your monthly electric consumption, you must first determine how much electricity you are using and through what appliances. The goal of a home energy audit is to analyze current energy use and provide cost effective solutions to improve you home’s efficiency. Upgrades offered by a home energy audit can fit in to any family’s budget and cut electric bills from 10-100%!
What tests are used in a Home Energy Audit?
CREST: Developed by Noah Blanco, CREST is a computer program that simulates your home’s electric bill. The home energy auditing program takes into account daily routines and energy upgrades you have already made to your home (for example, recently replaced you air conditioner or added window tint). A list of recommended appliances and upgrades to make on your home is generated after the program has analyzed your energy habits so you can decide which fit your budget and which to save up for.
Blower Door Test: If your ductwork is less than 10 years old, a State Certified Energy Rater will depressurize your home to test each air conditioning register for leakage.
Duct Blaster Test: For ductwork that is over 10 years old, a duct blaster test would be used during your home energy audit. Each air conditioning register is sealed off to measure the leakage rate of your home’s duct system.
HERS Rating (Home Energy Rating Systems): Information gathered from the duct blaster test or blower door test is combined with the insulation R-value, type of windows, orientation of the home, overhangs, natural shading, etc is loaded into a computer program called Florida Energy Gauge. This allows you to compare your home’s energy efficiency to home’s of comparable size.
Manuel J Calculations: To determine the proper size air conditioning system for your home, taking heat load into consideration before determining the “right” size.
Can anyone conduct a Home Energy Audit on my home?
There are two levels of Florida State Certified Energy Raters. Only Class 1 State Certified Energy Raters can conduct HERS Rating tests. These raters have gone through 1,000s of training hours to achieve this prestigious certification. Also, most of the testing needs specialized equipment so it important the company you use has the required tools.
How much does a Home Energy Audit cost?
A home energy audit from the FL Green Team is FREE! That’s right, free!
What are some examples of upgrades a Home Energy Audit would suggest for my home?
Home energy audits show air conditioning and ductwork as the largest energy consumer in your home so it is important to have a properly sized and efficient air conditioner working with a leak-free duct system. Solar hot water heating or a waste heat recovery unit are great options for water heating. Window tint, insulation and other solar applications are additional ways to cut your electric bill and services offered by the FL Green Team.
To learn how to make your home more energy efficient, schedule a Home Energy Audit today!
The goal of the FL Green Team is to provide members of the Southwest Florida community with information to make their home more energy efficiency, comfortable and healthy through education, energy upgrades and innovative testing.