DIY Home Energy Audit

[TimJFowler]

I'm looking forward to hearing the results from Ryland's energy audit. But, in the meantime I found a cool online tool for a DIY home energy audit.

The Home Energy Saver is a DETAILED web-based calculator for home energy efficiency projects. The Home Energy Saver computes your home energy use based on methods developed at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, based on a detailed description of the home which you provide.

Here is a quick list of pros and cons for the Home Energy Saver.

Pros:
• It's Free!
• Energy use report is tailored to your zip code
• Questionnaire can be filled out in about an hour (it's detailed, can specify light fixtures, wattage and hours used)
• Saveable Session - the questionnaire and report can be saved and edited at will
• Upgrade Report gives a payback period for each upgrade and you can specify the upgrade and its costs
• Upgrade Report also calculates ROI on energy improvements

Cons:
• This isn't a comprehensive performance audit (e.g. no blower door test), it relies on estimates and averages
• Questionnaire didn't easily account for a LCD computer monitor or line-drying clothes.
• You need to have energy use info for each appliance, furnace, water heater, etc.
• Garbage In, Garbage Out*

* If you enter bad or incomplete data you'll get inaccurate results. I already know much of the efficiency info for our home but it still took a while to gather all the data needed for the questionnaire.

I've written more about the Home Energy Saver at EcoNewMexico.com. It's not perfect, but still a useful tool until we get a full performance audit on the house.

For comparison - our home's estimated annual carbon footprint of 8.2 tons.

Tim

[Ryland]

I've only gotten as far as the first page so far with the house size and age and number of people ect, but it is saying that an average house like mine in my area is paying $3478 per year and that my house utility bills could be reduced down to... $2168 per year... our total, heat and electricity is $1211 per year... I'm going to keep filling out there forms but so far I'm way below average!
After entering every bit of info I could it says that my current bills should be $3254 per year... I am baffled by this!
I've used http://www.energyguide.com/ before and it is nice because you do enter your bills in month by month then info on your house, not as many details but it at least knows what you are using.

[Daox]

I think I tried filling this audit out before and had problems with the website. I'll give it another go though.

I too am very excited about Ryland's audit comming up!

BTW, I just filled in my zip code so far. The average home around here is $1703/year. I wonder why the difference is so huge between us Ryland.

[Daox]

Kinda breezed through it real quick this morning. Seemed to work great this time around.

My top 3 things were (ranked by ROI):

- Insulate ducts in unconditioned spaces to at least R-6
- Have your ducts professionally sealed to reduce leakage
- When replacing siding, add external insulating sheathing beneath the siding


The first two I'm doing right now.

[Ryland]

Originally Posted by Daox

BTW, I just filled in my zip code so far. The average home around here is $1703/year. I wonder why the difference is so huge between us Ryland.

I live farther north then you, straight east of Minneapolis, also when I filled out the first form the number for my house jumped up as my house is from 1920 and is really big! around 2,600sf with a natural gas furnace from 1987.
but it should have dropped down more because my house is also a big cube, has all new doors and windows and 1 1/4" of foam under the steel siding, it also has good solar gain in the one south bed room with it's dark floor, great natural light and great light spread from room to room (pat of why I bought it) so a single light bulb after dark fills alot of our lighting needs.
They also did not have a slot for water heater timers, that cut our electrical usage by half.