Archive for the ‘Home Energy Audit’ Category
Our Net 50 Energy Challenge – Part 4 – We Used Our Head
The next step in our Home Energy Audit was to investigate where air could be leaking into/out of our house. On this little adventure we discovered something: let’s just say that if our house was a kitchen gadget it would be a sieve.
Windows: We have several types of windows in our house. The original [...]
November 3, 2009
Tags: Energy Audit, Insulation, Weatherize, Weatherstripping, Windows Posted in: Energy Conservation, Home Energy Audit, Net 50 Energy Challenge, Weatherize 
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How to Save 25% to 30% on Your Electricity Bills.
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// There are hundreds of ways to save electricity, especially if you count all of the weatherization and building envelope improvements that you could employ. With all of those choices, it is hard to know where to start. Here are some simple steps to add to your Home Energy Audit to help you prioritize [...]
October 21, 2009
Tags: CFL's, Energy Conservation, Net 50 Energy Challenge Posted in: Energy Conservation, Home Energy Audit, Net 50 Energy Challenge One Comment
What Good is Finding a Baseline for Your Personal Home Energy Audit?
One important step to take when you start to make changes to your house to save energy, water and money is to figure out where you are starting from, or establish a baseline. If you want to know how much money that you save by making these changes, you need to know how much you [...]
October 11, 2009
Tags: Energy Audit, Energy Conservation, Utility Bills Posted in: Energy Conservation, Home Energy Audit, Water Conservation One Comment
Update – Our Net 50 Energy Challenge
Our utility bills have been paid through the end of August and our year to date savings has climbed to $700.67.
Progress: as of end of August 2009 vs 2007
Electricity – 65.6%
Natural Gas – 77.3%
Water – 83.5%
Utility Costs – 73.7%
Savings 2008 – $200.15
Savings 2009 – $700.67
Total Savings – $900.82
October 2, 2009
Tags: Net 50 Energy Challenge, Utility Bills Posted in: Energy Conservation, Home Energy Audit, Net 50 Energy Challenge, Water Conservation No Comments
Our Net 50 Energy Challenge – Part 3
In step 1 we set our goals: reduce our energy usage by 50% and invest up to $8,200 to accomplish this . In step 2 we investigated the exterior of our house and property.
Now in step 3 we collected information on the Building Envelope and filled in this chart:
Building Element
Cavity Insulation 1
Thickness (inches)
Continuous Insulation 1
Thickness [...]
September 29, 2009
Tags: Building Envelope, Energy Conservation, Net 50 Energy Challenge Posted in: Energy Conservation, Home Energy Audit One Comment
How to Assess Mechanical Systems for Your Home Energy Audit
This step in developing your own Home Energy Audit will help you examine the major working parts or the mechanical systems of your home. This may sound complicated, but below is a worksheet that will make it easy as 1, 2, 3 (repeat.) 1: Take a look at a system, 2: take a photo, and [...]
September 23, 2009
Tags: Energy Audit, Energy Conservation, Water Conservation Posted in: Energy Conservation, Home Energy Audit, Water Conservation One Comment
Our Net 50 Energy Challenge – Part 2
In step 1 we set our goals: reduce our energy usage by 50% and invest up to $8,200 to accomplish this.
Here in step 2 we will investigate the exterior of our house and property.
We don’t have a survey of our property, so we have developed one ourselves. We went to our county auditor’s website [...]
September 22, 2009
Tags: Energy Audit, Energy Conservation, Net 50 Energy Challenge Posted in: Energy Conservation, Home Energy Audit No Comments
How to Use Your Head and Examine the Holes in Your House for Your Home Energy Audit
Personal Goals: Check.
Site Plan & Photos: Check.
Building Envelope: Check.
Where to Weatherize: Let’s find out.
If you could move all of the little gaps, cracks and holes in the exterior walls and attic of your house all together you might end up with a hole that you could poke your head thru. Putting your head there [...]
September 13, 2009
Tags: Energy Audit, Weatherize Posted in: Energy Conservation, Home Energy Audit, Weatherize No Comments
Your Personal Home Energy Audit – Looking at the Building Envelope
The main purpose of an energy audit is to help determine which strategies to use in order to save the most energy for the smallest investment. Today, it’s time to turn your attention to the building envelope, otherwise known as the stuff that separates the inside from the outside: walls, ceilings, roofs, floors, doors and [...]
September 4, 2009
Tags: Energy Audit, Insulation Posted in: Energy Conservation, Home Energy Audit One Comment
Join Us and Take the Net 50 Energy Challenge
You may have heard about net zero energy homes that are being designed and built today. They are houses give back to “the grid” as much as they take out. “That’s great” you say, “but what about my 60 year old house?” For many houses, it would take tens of thousands if not a [...]
September 1, 2009
Tags: Energy Audit, Energy Conservation, Net 50 Energy Challenge, Net Zero Energy Homes, Water Conservation Posted in: Energy Conservation, Home Energy Audit One Comment
