Before you get too concerned about the money
without it. This infrared gun is a heat-sensing camera, basically. It will tell you where your
you’ll spend with this audit, think of it as an in-
home is losing heat in the wintertime and
vestment, rather than a cost. If your electricity
where it’s letting in heat in the summer.
and gas bills combined come to more than $100
The prices for these services range from
each month, having a professional perform an
$100 or $200 for a basic audit to $1,500 or
energy audit will pay for itself in a very short
more, depending on the size of your house
time—maybe even within the first year. Remember all the benefits this audit will
and the size of your property. Naturally,
property and do a detailed evaluation. • They look at your overall carbon footprint. • And then they play “what if ” using sophisticated computer models, so they can tell how much of a difference
give you—beyond the financial. You may be
it will make in your house—on your
quarter-acre of land will cost a lot less than
able to improve your health and the health of
energy bills—if you make a particular
an audit of a 6,000-square-foot home on fifteen
your family by performing a green audit. If you
change.
landscaped acres.
were able to reduce allergies and reduce other health issues, how much would that be worth to you? It’s invaluable, isn’t it?
price. And speaking of analysis, some compa-
They also bring in high-tech equipment to detect leaks or to find places where the insu-
nies will give you your audit results and also
lation may have settled in your walls, if the
take the next step: analyzing what various
indicators point to that type of a problem, and
changes will cost and how much money you’ll
finally they provide a useful report to you.
Low Impact Living’s Approach
save as a result. This cost/benefit analysis is incredibly valuable, since it basically provides a road map for you to follow as you make the
The Questionnaire Before the people at Low Impact Living
types of changes that will help you conserve
So what do you get when you pay a green home
perform an audit, they have the homeowner
field, and different companies within this field
energy and water and make your home even
auditor to work for you? If you’ve been watching
fill out a questionnaire and provide his or her
do things differently. Some will mostly look at
more efficient.
my TV show, Living with Ed, you’ve seen Jason
utility bills. “The utility bills are really criti-
Performing green home audits is a pretty new
Pelletier and Jessica Jensen, the folks from Low
cal,” says Jason. “By looking at all the bills over
Impact Living, in action.When Low Impact Liv-
the course of a year, you can really understand
blower door testers—to figure out how well your
Finding a Company to Perform an Audit
ing performs an audit, the team members leave
what the drivers of energy or water use are.
home is sealed and insulated. Some will look at
It’s not difficult to find a company that per-
no part of your home unexamined:
Is it irrigation? Is it heating? Is it cooling? Is
your appliances and your lighting, both indoors
forms green audits or energy audits (you can
and out. Some will look at your water usage and
do a Google search).
your heating and cooling systems. Some will bring out some fancy equipment—duct testers,
your carbon footprint as a whole.
it lighting? • They look at energy and water and
Low Impact Living, which is based in the
utilities and recycling.
“So before we even go into somebody’s home, from the questionnaire we’ve done and look-
Los Angeles area, has associates all around
• They look at indoor air quality.
ing at the utility bills, we have some sense for
make sure these folks have, and that’s an
the country, and if you visit their website (see
• They look at your behavior and how it
where we need to really focus our time. That
infrared gun that can measure heat. If your
Resources, page 340), you can search for repu-
home auditor doesn’t have an infrared gun, tell
table, highly skilled individuals in the energy
them thanks, but the audit isn’t worth a penny
audit realm near you.
There’s one specific tool that you want to
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• They go through your home and your
an audit of a 1,200-square-foot home on a
The extent of the analysis also affects the
Duct-pressure testing can show if there are any leaky ducts in your home.
• They look over your utility bills.
affects the overall picture at your home. • They even look at your transportation habits.
Conserve
being said, we don’t ignore any part of the home, but this information gives us a way to prioritize what we’re doing.”
the green home audit www.ClarksonPotter.com
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