{"id":1016,"date":"2011-10-17T17:34:19","date_gmt":"2011-10-17T17:34:19","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/juliekrealestateblog.wordpress.com\/?p=1016"},"modified":"2011-10-17T17:34:19","modified_gmt":"2011-10-17T17:34:19","slug":"diy-energy-audits","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/jurus.net\/juliemeggat\/diy-energy-audits\/","title":{"rendered":"DIY Energy Audits"},"content":{"rendered":"

The first step to saving\u00a0 energy and money<\/a> around the house is to find out how much you are already\u00a0 using.<\/p>\n

Energy costs continue to rise, placing ever-greater pressure on households.\u00a0\u00a0 And the energy you use to heat and cool your home is a large part of your carbon\u00a0 footprint.<\/div>\n

By knowing what to look for you can conduct your own home energy audit.\u00a0 Here’s how to get started.<\/p>\n

1. Get to Know Your Energy Bills<\/strong><\/p>\n

Bills are never fun, but don’t forget that they contain valuable information\u00a0 along with the pain. Compare your heating and cooling costs by month for as many\u00a0 years past as you can, and look for trends in usage or obvious changes. Do you\u00a0 see any spikes? Can you remember why? Your utility can make older bills\u00a0 available to you by calling customer service.<\/p>\n

Note both the kilowatt hours you are typically using as well as the amount\u00a0 your utility is charging per KWH. Get to know what it is that you are paying for\u00a0 every month.<\/p>\n

2. Check out The Daily Green’s Checklist<\/strong><\/p>\n

Download our checklist here<\/a> so you’ll be able to keep track of what you find, and\u00a0 prioritize improvements based on importance and your budget.<\/p>\n

3. Locate Air Leaks<\/strong><\/p>\n

Simple leaks can sap home energy efficiency by 5 to 30% a year, according to\u00a0 the U.S. Department of Energy. So take a close look at places where two\u00a0 different building materials meet, such as corners, around chimneys, where pipes\u00a0 or wires exit and along the foundation. Make sure good seals form around doors\u00a0 and windows, and that no mortar is cracked. Any gaps or holes should be plugged\u00a0 and\/or caulked.<\/p>\n

Use the incense test: carefully (avoiding drapes and other flammables) move a\u00a0 lit stick along walls; where the smoke wavers, you have air sneaking in. And\u00a0 heating or cooling sneaking out.<\/p>\n

Make sure the floor of your attic, including the hatch, is insulated, and\u00a0 that the material isn’t crumbling or compacted, which means it has lost its\u00a0 effectiveness. Similarly, check your basement ceiling, as well as basement\u00a0 walls. Hot water pipes and furnace ducts should be insulated. So should exterior\u00a0 walls (determine this by carefully removing the cover from a power plug, or\u00a0 drill a small hole in the back of a closet).<\/p>\n

If you live in snow country, a simple test of insulation levels is to see if\u00a0 snow melts from your roof faster than from neighbors’ roofs. If so, you are\u00a0 probably losing too much heat.<\/p>\n

If you find any problems, call in a professional, or go DIY and buy some\u00a0 fresh insulation yourself. Learn more about insulation here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

4. Examine Heating and Cooling Equipment<\/strong><\/p>\n

Not surprisingly, heating and cooling usually account for the biggest home\u00a0 energy loads. To reduce waste, check to see if your furnace filters look dirty.\u00a0 If so, swap them out (usually needed every month or two during the heating\u00a0 season). Or invest in an electrostatic permanent filter, which cuts down on\u00a0 waste and does a much better job of cleaning the air. If you have central air\u00a0 conditioning, check the coils both inside (usually in the basement) and outside.\u00a0 If they have dirt on them, carefully vacuum it off (you may need to first remove\u00a0 the protective grilles).<\/p>\n

Make sure all your vents are open in rooms you want conditioned, but close\u00a0 the ones in rooms you hardly use. Ensure vents are clean and unobstructed.\u00a0 Vacuum away any dust.<\/p>\n

Examine ductwork for dirt streaks, which mark leaks. You can often fix\u00a0 problems with duct tape or insulation. If your ducts look very dirty or worn,\u00a0 call a professional to get an estimate on a thorough cleaning or replacement.\u00a0 Also put on your calendar: annual pro inspection of your entire heating and\u00a0 cooling system.<\/p>\n

5. Analyze Your Appliances<\/strong><\/div>\n

Appliances are major energy users, so your task should be to identify models\u00a0 that may be costing you a lot, and to find ways to trim waste. Buy or borrow a Kill A Watt Electric Usage Monitor<\/a>. All you do is plug it into\u00a0 a wall socket, and then insert the plug for the electronic device that you wish\u00a0 to monitor. It will give you detailed info on energy use, and even has a “money\u00a0 button” to show you how much the unit costs you to operate.<\/p>\n

Begin by checking your major appliances with the Kill A Watt. If older units\u00a0 are found to cost you a lot, you have motivation to upgrade to a new\u00a0 high-efficiency model (and make sure it is Energy Star certified).<\/p>\n

If your fridge and freezer are using too much juice, you may simply need to\u00a0 turn down the temperature dials, or clean or repair seals. In general the EPA\u00a0 recommends keeping refrigerators at 37 degrees F and freezers at 3 degrees.\u00a0 You\u00a0 may also not have realized how much certain appliances require, from hair dryers\u00a0 to heated water beds, so you may decide to use less important items more\u00a0 sparingly.<\/p>\n

If you don’t have a Kill A Watt, you can still estimate how much energy an\u00a0 appliance uses with the following formula: (Wattage x Hours Used Per Day \u00f7 1000\u00a0 = Daily Kilowatt-hour (kWh) consumption (1 kilowatt (kW) = 1,000 Watts). The\u00a0 wattage of an appliance will be stamped on the item. To get the annual\u00a0 consumption, multiply this by the number of days you use the appliance during\u00a0 the year (divide the time by 3 to account for the idling time of your\u00a0 refrigerator). Calculate the annual cost to run an appliance by multiplying the\u00a0 kWh per year by your local utility’s rate per kWh consumed.<\/p>\n

6. Look for Energy Vampires<\/strong><\/p>\n

Ever heard of an “energy vampire” or “phantom load”? When electronics like\u00a0 TVs, DVD players and cell phone chargers are plugged in but not on, they still\u00a0 draw power, resulting in about 8% of our annual electric bills.<\/p>\n

It’s simple to stop the drain: look around your house, and unplug any unused\u00a0 devices you find! To make it even easier, plug your electronics into a power\u00a0 strip, and switch that off when you are finished channel surfing, jamming or\u00a0 charging up. It will keep the energy vampires at bay.<\/p>\n

7. See the Light<\/strong><\/p>\n

Lighting eats up about 10% of a typical electric bill. Swap out high-wattage\u00a0 bulbs with lower users, ideally CFLs<\/a>.\u00a0 Start with one or two bulbs in the places where you have lights on the longest;\u00a0 you don’t need to rush out and try to replace every bulb all at once. Also be\u00a0 aware that rapid on and off switching decreases the life of CFLs, so it may not\u00a0 be worth it to install the pricier bulbs in places like closets, where you\u00a0 rarely have the lights on.\u00a0 In such areas, try a lower-wattage regular bulb,\u00a0 like a 40 W instead of a 60 W.<\/p>\n

Consider how you use lighting in each room. Instead of always hitting the\u00a0 main overheads, would your lifestyle be better served by installing some\u00a0 low-wattage task lighting? Think desk and reading lamps or even night-lights\u00a0 instead. Get rid of halogen torch-style floor lamps, which use a tremendous\u00a0 amount of energy. Also consider installing motion detectors, which are\u00a0 especially good for halls and exterior lights, since you don’t have to worry\u00a0 about people accidentally leaving them on.<\/p>\n

8. Gauge the Results<\/strong><\/p>\n

After you have made some improvements, revisit your audit steps in a month or\u00a0 two. Get our your energy bills, and compare. Did your usage drop? Consider going\u00a0 back through the steps above, looking for any appliances or areas you missed\u00a0 before. Want more savings? Go deeper with a Web-based audit tool, such as this one<\/a>.<\/p>\n

It also may be time to bring in the pros for a full-service, high-tech energy\u00a0 audit. Call your utility to see if it subsidizes the service (some offer it free\u00a0 during part of the year), and ask if it can recommend local providers. Learn\u00a0 more about the industry here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Read more: http:\/\/www.thedailygreen.com\/green-homes\/latest\/DIY-home-energy-audit-2#ixzz1b3pSwKhE<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Source: www.Thedailygreen.com<\/a>
\nRead more: http:\/\/www.thedailygreen.com\/green-homes\/latest\/DIY-home-energy-audit#ixzz1b3p7pmIJ<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The first step to saving\u00a0 energy and money around the house is to find out how much you are already\u00a0 using. Energy costs continue to rise, placing ever-greater pressure on households.\u00a0\u00a0 And the energy you use to heat and cool your home is a large part of your carbon\u00a0 footprint. By knowing what to look […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[1113,75,192],"class_list":["post-1016","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-real-estate-news-tips","tag-hollywood-hills-real-estate","tag-julie-kryukova","tag-west-hollywood-real-estate"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/jurus.net\/juliemeggat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1016","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/jurus.net\/juliemeggat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/jurus.net\/juliemeggat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jurus.net\/juliemeggat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jurus.net\/juliemeggat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1016"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/jurus.net\/juliemeggat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1016\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/jurus.net\/juliemeggat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1016"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jurus.net\/juliemeggat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1016"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jurus.net\/juliemeggat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1016"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}