Home Audits Can Stop Energy Costs from Going 'Through the Roof'

This week's record high temperatures could give homeowners a chance to see just how well their homes perform in extreme temperatures.

The U.S. Department of Energy recommends another way to identify energy-efficiency issues in homes: A home energy assessment or energy audit. The energy audit will tell you what improvements are needed to make your home more energy efficient and will project how much the improvements will save you in energy costs.

To perform the audit, technicians will perform blower door tests.

“Blower door tests are tests for overall air leakage of the house by blowing air out of the house,” said Zach Bidle, a program manager with Standard Energy Solutions, a division of Rockville-based Standard Solar, Inc. “The fan is set up in one of the doors and the house is in winterized mode with all chimney flues and windows shut. The door with the fan in it has a kind of sheath around it. The fan pulls the air out of the house and any leakages will be able to be pinpointed at those locations.”

To pinpoint the leakages, a smoke pencil or infrared camera is used. If the leakage is significant, it’s also possible to feel a draft. At the same time, the total air leakage will be measure and then entered into a computer model for comparison with the ideal air leakage figures for your home, known as the airflow standard.

By comparing the two figures and using your energy bills, the computer model generates a list of suggested improvements and the estimated cost savings.

The energy audit takes a couple of hours.

The issues that might be causing your home to be too cold in the winter and too hot in the summer range from insufficient insulation to a lack of foam in gaps around recessed lights or the entrance to your attic.  “Insulation prevents thermal transfer," Bidle said.

Insulation keeps the warm or cold from heating or cooling a surface like your roof. The foam is there to make an air seal that will keep the unconditioned air—air that hasn't been heated or cooled—from flowing into an area with conditioned air.

The typical attic has both insulation and a need for sealing foam. The insulation forms a thermal barrier between the house and the attic space, working to stop the transfer of heat from the main area of the house to the attic space. 

There are also “holes” in the attic—drilled for pipes or wires to be placed in the walls behind the drywall. These holes are usually larger than the pipes or wires and allow unconditioned air to move behind the wall.

By making sure the insulation is sufficient and by using foam to seal the gaps, a homeowner can go a long way toward increasing the energy efficiency of the home, Bidle said.

Pepco and Baltimore Gas and Electric each offer several energy savings programs and an energy audit offered through the Maryland Energy Administration called Home Performance with Energy Star.

For more on Pepco's energy audit program click here.

For more on BG&E's energy audit program click here.