DIY Home Energy Audit Checklist

Home energy audits are the best way to start saving on your energy bills. Although performing a home energy audit on your own may not get you the same results as a professional home energy audit, it will still help pinpoint improvements that need to be made. DIY home energy audits are

simple procedures that do not require buying any equipment. Arm yourself with an energy audit checklist filled with simple questions that will help you through the process of finding areas that need improvements. By performing an energy audit you'll identify problems with your home and some habits you and your family will need to break. This energy audit check list has six areas of evaluation.

1. Air leaks: Check areas like windows, doors, electric outlets, fans, light switches, the basement, the attic, fireplace and air-conditioners. Air leaks seriously raise the cost of heating and cooling bills and it is essential to make sure these areas are properly sealed. 
2. Insulation: Proper insulation will help you save on heating and cooling bills. Check to make sure your insulation levels are up to code so you can be sure your home is not leaking expensive hot and cold air. You'll want to check the attic, basement and accessible walls and floors to see if they are insulated properly. If you can't access these areas call a professional home energy audit company, or Denver insulation companies because they will have to tools to access the insulation levels without causing damage to your home. 
3. Heating Systems: An efficient heating system and hot water heater will save you up to 40 percent on your energy costs. If your furnace is old, replace it with a newer more efficient model (after properly insulation your home and inspecting the ductwork). Tankless water heaters will are a great way to save money on heating water.

Residential Denver Energy Challenge

For residents of Denver seeking to lower their environmental impact and energy bills, the Denver Energy Challenge offers resources that help. Denver received a $25 million grant from the Department of Energy's Better Buildings Program to improve efficiency of the City and County. The Challenge is designed to increase efficiency investments, advance energy independence and help stimulate economic growth. The Denver Energy Challenge has a goal to improve 6,000 homes and 1,200 businesses by May of 2013. Other goals are to reduce usage by 15 percent (or more), reduce utility bills for residence and to create jobs in the energy efficiency industry.

The Denver Energy Challenge recommends qualified contractors to homeowners looking to join in on the challenge. In order to be able to receive funds from the Challenge, homeowners must use a contractor, or contractors, that have been approved. The qualified contractors are involved in several fields including Insulation and Air sealing, Mechanical/ HVAC, Solar and Windows. Hiring Denver insulation companies is a wonderful way to save a significant amount of money on your home energy bills. Professionals in these industries are well equipped to help reduce waste and overspending.

Save With An Home Energy Audit

By James G Williams 
Who needs a home energy audit? The energy efficiency of a home in terms of heating and cooling can be determined with an energy audit and suggestions can then be made to save on electricity. Saving energy and money by quantifying the buildings thermal performance is the goal. A written report based on the orientation towards the sun, climate conditions and thermostat settings may be part the audit.

An energy audit will point out the areas where the most energy is wasted and being aware of it will enable you to employ some measurements on the suggested areas. This will save you the trouble of insulation the whole building. For instance insulating your geyser with an insulation blanket purchased at the local hardware store can on its own make a huge difference in that local area.
Excessive energy loss true the ceiling can be picked up with an energy audit. Putting your own insulation in on the ceiling is not as hard as it may sound and it will be a very rewarding DIY project. You will also be able to do it for a a lot less than a contractor will charge you.
The air leaks in the window seals and doors are one more area where one can make a big difference. Fixing that up is not difficult but it can save you a lot of energy and money in heating up a house in winter.

Why You Should Enclose Your Home's Crawl Space

Most homes have either a crawl space or a basement. Crawlspaces have several advantages to basements. Crawlspaces elevate the home above the ground and are much less expensive than a basement. Crawlspaces also make space for duct work and plumbing to run and are easily accessible for contractors. Crawlspaces are great however, without taking proper precautions they can breed mold and mildew and allow moisture to compromise the structure of your home. Insulating a crawl space is in your best interest for many reasons. Here I have outlined the top reasons to insulate and seal your home's crawlspace.

Home Insulation Tips to Save You Money

High heating bills are something all of us have become accustom to. As the prices of heating gases and oil go up, homeowners pay more and more to keep their homes comfortable. Some of the price increases can be offset by increasing home insulation. Most homeowners can save 25% or more on home heating costs by making a few home improvements!

Older homes typically need a denver insulation upgrade much more frequently than newer builds. It is a mistake, though to assume that your newer home is as well-insulated as possible. Many homes built after 1980 have inferior insulation ratings because building codes are not up-to-date with DOE recommendations. Also, occasionally home-builders do try to save money on little things like insulation to lower build costs.

 

The following are simple and inexpensive steps you can take to lower your heating costs this winter:

How A Home Energy Audit Can Save You Money

Whenever your local electrician performs an energy audit, the principle that they follow is fairly simple. During the audit, they will check throughout your home to help identify the areas that are using electricity inefficiently. After they have pinpointed the wasteful areas, they can suggest and implement steps to remedy this. Most electricians are trained in the areas that are most common inefficient energy consumers and can conduct a home energy audit for you. While it may be tempting to try to do your own energy audit, you can expect much more accurate results and long-term solutions by hiring a professional.

One of the first things that your electrician will check is your lighting. They will start by examining your fixtures and the bulbs that are being used in each one. Because incandescent light bulbs are incredibly inefficient (they result in more heat than light), your electrician will recommend replacing them with much more energy efficient compact fluorescent or LED light bulbs. Although it may seem like a small step, replacing all of the incandescent light bulbs in your home with energy efficient alternatives can have a huge impact on your electricity usage.

In addition to examining the type of lights used in each fixture, an experienced electrician will also look at the purpose of the lights in each room. If a room can benefit from dimmer switches, timers, motion sensors or any other type of lighting automation technology, then it may be recommended to you. These types of technologies can help turn lights on and off only when needed so that you are not wasting electricity when you are out of the room.

4 Common Problems In Energy Audits

Energy audits are a growing in popularity and energy auditors are popping up all over the country. Choosing a good energy auditor is the best way to save money, and gain efficiency. Good Denver energy audit evaluations and well executed repairs and changes will result in substantial energy savings. A bad audit, though will not provide monetary or energy savings. Knowing the difference between a good and poorly executed audit will help home owners make wise decisions when choosing a contractor. Below are some of the most common problems in energy audits.

Missing Improvements
Comprehensive home energy audits are crucial to suggesting the correct improvements for the home. Energy auditors can miss needed improvements for many reasons including rushing through the audit and insufficient budgets. Evaluating all aspects of a home's efficiency is imperative to a proper energy audit and doing so takes time.

Weak Improvements
An audit must clearly define the scope of the  proposed improvements for the home owner. Without a clear description of the scope of improvements chances are high that incorrect or incomplete scope will be put in place and the expected energy savings will not come to fruition.

Improvement life not provided 
Improvement life defines how how long the improvements will last. Having this information allows homeowners to make educated decisions with life-cycle costing information. If the improvement will take longer to pay back than the life of the improvement than the investment is not worth the cost of the improvement.

Incorrect Cost Estimates of Improvements
Underestimating cost of installations can be a huge mistake. An installed cost estimate of an energy audit often serves as the home owner's initial budget for the improvements and if the estimate is lower than the actual cost the homeowner may agree to take on too many retrofitting projects. If the cost estimate is too high the homeowner may abandon the projects all together leading them to continue to waste money on a faulty home energy system.

Make sure to ask your potential home Denver energy audit specialist. make sure to ask about these issues. Talking to potential contractors about their improvement suggestions and cost analysis process you will end up saving yourself from bad investments.

8 Tips to Decrease your Bills

Have you ever received a utility bill, opened it and gone "what the???" Don't worry, most of us have. Costs of utilities are on the increase, and we don't want you to pay more than you have to. So...listed below are a eight east to follow tips to help you reduce your utility bills.

Tip 1: Ask for a "actual" water reading: Often water companies do "estimates" rather than an "actual" reading. If you live in a large house, it is worth checking this as you may be paying for more water than you are actually using.

Tip 2: Cut back on your cable TV channels: Do you really need all those cable channels? Reduce your cable package to remove some of your less watched channels and you will save yourself around $20 a month.

Tip 3: Use Skype for your calls: Skype is cheap, and you can talk to friends or family all over the world. Encourage your friends to use Skype as well. We have known people who have done this and save around $30 a month on calls. We save about $20 a month.

Tip 4: Combine your phone, Internet and mobile phone packages. Phone and Internet Companies reward you for using more than one service. If you combine your services you will save around 10 percent on two of your packages.