Since we’re a lifestyle company and being sustainable is a part of our values, we contacted Xcel Energy, our local electricity and gas provider to conduct one of their heavily subsidized home energy audits to see where we could be saving money with our home. We signed up for a full audit with a blower door test and infrared assessment. In my courses for the real estate GREEN designation, we talked a lot about inexpensive ways to improve the efficiency of your home. While solar, wind, and geothermal energy are sexy ideas in today’s world of alternative energy, there are easier, less expensive, and quick things to reduce energy usage.
What is an Energy Audit from Lightly Treading?
A Road Map to Reduce Your Home Energy Usage
One of the most valuable things about having a home energy audit is getting an assessment and road map of how to improve your home. Programs like Energy Star are for new homes only so it’s nice to have input on how to make your existing home more efficient. The audit report, which I have yet to receive, but I had a long conversation with the evaluator, will give us some immediate things we can correct and a list of things to fix in the near and long term as our budget allows.
Home Energy Efficiency Surprises
For the audit, all the windows and doors were shut and the front door was sealed with a special device that had a calibrated fan included in it. This is for the blower door test where the fan blew air into the house so we could look for leaks and track air movement in unexpected places. One of the biggest surprises I had wasn’t the fact a couple windows wouldn’t seal properly and let air escape but that so much air is escaping from our recessed lighting. Yes, those trendy and cool recessed lights are one of the greatest sources of air leakage in a home! Basically, the lighting fixture provides a direct path to let air pass between your living space and attic. Also, we have an older home with a boiler and chimney stack running through the house. There is a space between the chimney and the house framing that allows air to move directly from the home through the uninsulated internal walls and channel it along the chimney right out of the house.
Fortunately, they now manufacture insulated recessed lighting and the big air transfer path we have running through the middle of our home has a relatively easy fix. These are two big “ah-has” that we’ll be looking to correct in the near future. I also talked to Deacon about the numerous rebates and tax credits being offered right now as part of the Home Performance with Energy Star program, a program that doesn’t give an efficiency rating but does help you increase the efficiency of your existing home.
Order Your Denver Home Energy Audit
The cost for our full audit was $120 which is 60% discount and added to our monthly power bill. We expect to recapture this cost within a year since we now know how to improve our home to reduce our energy usage. You can order yours today by callinng Xcel Energy at 1-800-895-4999. Also visit their website to learn more about their home energy audit program.
