Energy bills are very effective for tracking energy usage and costs, but they won’t tell you where your home is wasting energy. A professional home energy audit is a sensible tool to locate energy leaks, and make your home more energy efficient, comfortable and pocketbook friendly.

Home Energy Audit

A home energy audit is a series of tests and evaluations that assess how much energy a home uses, how and where the energy is being used and/or wasted, and determine where energy consumption and waste can be reduced or eliminated. The following summarizes the areas and systems that are evaluated during a home energy audit, the equipment used and the process:

• Insulation barrier — Home insulation hinders heat exchange between the living spaces and the unconditioned spaces, such as the attic, exterior walls, and the basement or crawl space. A thermographic scan detects heat loss/gain through the home shell, which indicates lack of insulation or damaged and ineffective insulation.
• Air leakage — A blower door test is used to pressurize or de-pressurize the home in order to locate air leaks. Common areas for air leaks are through cracks and gaps around doors and windows. The attic hatch is a another critical area which commonly allows air exchange.
• Ductwork — Identifying and repairing air leaks, damaged ducts or uninsulated ducts in the attic or basement can save substantial energy dollars, boosts performance of the cooling and heating systems and provides better home comfort.
• Appliances — Home appliances, such as the water heating system, are checked for function and efficiency. Many homeowners may not realize that water heating can account for as much as 20 percent of energy consumption in the home.

High energy bills and discomforts in the home are distressing. The good news is, however, many home-efficiency upgrades don’t put a big dent in the budget. Moreover, boosting insulation and sealing air leaks saves energy for decades — a nice ROI.

Plug the drain on your pocketbook by scheduling a home energy audit for your Peachtree City home with a reputable HVAC contractor. Please contact Powers Heating & Air for the answers to your energy budget woes.

Our goal is to help educate our customers in Peachtree City, Georgia and surrounding areas about energy and home comfort issues (specific to HVAC systems).

Image courtesy of Shutterstock