A Present for Your House

Dec 22, 2011 by DRESblog

by Tim Snyder

We’re all caught up in the excitement, celebration, anticipation and (let’s be honest) exhaustion of the Holiday Season. It’s challenging to fill in the blanks on your gift list and manage a schedule that crams work, parties and holiday travel into such a short span of time. No wonder so many of us breathe a sigh of relief when January 1st rolls around.

Don’t be angry with me for suggesting one more gift. Look, the recipient isn’t expecting anything, and this present can actually be given at any time over the next year. All that’s required right now is a commitment to bestow the gift –perhaps in the form of a reminder note pinned to a bulletin board or posted on your refrigerator door. The cool thing about this gift is that it will pay for itself many times over in the coming years. You and other family members will benefit greatly, and by following through on this commitment, you’ll be setting an example for others to follow.

The gift I’m talking about is a home energy audit for your house. Performed by a certified home energy analyst, this basement-to-attic assessment has the thoroughness of a tax audit, but instead quantifies all the ways that your house uses and loses energy. The audit compares your home’s insulation levels with those recommended by the U.S. Dept. of Energy. It establishes the efficiency levels of major energy-consuming appliances like your furnace and water heater, benchmarking them against highly efficient ENERGY STAR® models.

A master plan for saving energy

Just as a tax audit identifies your financial weak points, an energy audit reveals the areas where your house is underperforming in terms of energy efficiency. You’re likely to discover that your utility costs are hundreds of dollars more per year than they should be due to inadequate insulation levels and excessive air leakage (common problems, according to DOE findings). Other common energy problems include poorly insulated basements and crawl spaces, missing insulation on hot water lines, and older water heaters that consume excessive amounts of electricity, propane or natural gas.

Some energy audits are more thorough and more useful than others, so it’s important to shop around. The end result you’re looking for is a master plan to make your home more energy efficient. A good energy audit tells you exactly what to do, and what order to follow with your improvements. For financial and logistical reasons, you wouldn’t want to perform all recommended upgrades at once. An experienced energy auditor can help you optimize your investment in energy savings by making improvements in the right order.

A present that keeps on giving

There’s everything to gain and nothing to lose by having an energy audit performed on your house. This audit isn’t going to downgrade your credit rating or force you to pay a late fee. There is a penalty, however. Allowing your house to operate as it always has means that its inefficiencies will continue. Your utility costs will continue be high, while your comfort level remains low. Your home deserves the gift of an energy audit, and so do you. The benefits of this gift increase with every improvement you make.