Have you seen the boiler commercial where a rusty old car is being towed out of a basement? It may have made you laugh, but when you got your next heating and electric bills the reality of this commercial might have hit home. The question is what can you do about it? Finding a fuel-efficient car is easy, but turning your home into one of the most efficient homes on your block requires advice from a pro.
I am an Energy Audit specialist trained to determine what is causing your energy bills to be so high and I will show you how to maximize your energy savings.
The first step in your upgrade process is to get an energy audit. The energy audit we provide focuses on six critical areas.
As part of your audit will go over energy saving habits and things you can do to save energy. This covers most of the basic information you would find available on the web and in energy saving books. As part of my Energy Audit I will go over most of these items with you and give you some documentation on what really works. The average home owner that adheres to our recommendations can reduce their electric bills by 30%.
The second area is identifying how unconditioned air is leaking into your home. Air infiltration can account for 30% - 40% of your heating and cooling bills so this is a very important part of your inspection. Air leakage, or infiltration, occurs when outside air enters a house through cracks and openings. This air leakage wastes energy and makes your home uncomfortable by allowing exterior air, humidity, and unwanted noise into your home. Another problem is that it lowers indoor air quality by allowing dust, airborne pollutants, and carbon monoxide into your home. Properly diagnosing infiltration and air sealing your home is critical if you want to maximize your energy savings.
Insulation keeps your home warm in the winter and cool in the summer. As part of this step we will determine if your home is properly insulated, if the insulation was installed correctly, and where we can add more insulation if needed. We are the only Energy Audit company in NJ that has actually installed every type of insulation available. Because we have installed all of the retrofit and new construction insulation products available we can offer an unbiased evaluation and upgrade plan based on what's best for your home and budget.
The forth area is to review how you are heating and cooling your home and what upgrade options exist to maximize your heating and cooling dollars. Heating systems that are over 15 years old tend to be very inefficient and may have inefficient delivering systems. As part of our audit we will go over these items with you, tell you how to maximize the efficiency of your current system, and review what heating and cooling upgrades exist.
The fifth area is to identify air quality and carbon monoxide problems. This may sound like a strange item to cover as part of an energy audit, but it's a critical part of your inspection. Poor air quality can cause allergies and low level carbon monoxide can cause health problems and can be fatal. The problems we identify under this part of your inspection could be life- threatening and need to be addressed before any other upgrades are made.
This may come as a surprise, but 95% of the homes that we perform energy audits on have gas leaks. As part of our energy audit we will check for gas leaks, show you where they are, tell you how severe they are, and tell you what needs to be done to repair the problem.
When your Energy Audit is complete we will know what's wrong with your home and we will review the energy saving opportunities that exist with you. We will also send you a report that outlines the energy saving opportunities we reviewed.
To learn more about getting a Home Energy Audit call us at 201-530-1553 or 914-623-0491