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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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
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
Your Personal Home Energy Audit – Looking at the Outside
Typically most water and energy saving products and strategies focus on the interior of your house. However, if you start by taking a survey of your property and the spaces around it, you will gain a better understanding of the environment around your house and the natural resources that are available to help you make [...]
August 23, 2009
Tags: Alternative Energy, Energy Audit, Energy Conservation Posted in: Energy Conservation, Home Energy Audit No Comments
A Personal Home Energy Audit – Where to Begin?
One of the best ways to get started on making your home more energy efficient is to determine where your house uses the energy that you pay for every month. A great tool to accomplish this is a Home Energy Audit, it will help you determine which energy saving products and strategies you should invest [...]
August 13, 2009
Tags: Energy Audit, Energy Conservation Posted in: Energy Conservation, Home Energy Audit No Comments
Product of the Week:
Home Energy Audits: There are hundreds if not thousands of products and strategies that you can purchase and employ to make your home more energy efficient and eco-friendly. The problem is to decide where you should start first. Furthermore, many products claim that they can save you hundreds of dollars a year, but how much will [...]
May 10, 2009
Tags: Eco-Friendly, Energy Audit, Energy Conservation Posted in: Energy Conservation, Strategy/Product of the Week No Comments
