Home Energy Audits Help You Save Through Conservation and Tax Credits

Diagram of a home energy audit, showing thermographic scan and blower door test. (image: howstuffworks.com)

HEAT USA always advocates energy efficiency and conservation. Last fall, HEAT This Week offered some cheap and easy ways to make your home more energy-efficient. Once you have followed all those do-it-yourself steps, what’s next? Call in the pros and get a professional home energy audit.

Home energy audits are inspections that use hi-tech tools to determine exactly how energy-efficient your home is, and identifies specific actions you can take as a homeowner to maximize efficiency. The two main methods energy auditors use to determine a home’s efficiency are thermographic scans and blower door tests.

Thermographic scans are performed using an infrared camera that shows temperature variations in different parts of a room. If cold (or hot) air is leaning into your home from the outside, the temperature difference near the source of the leak appears on the infrared camera—hot areas appear red and cold areas appear blue. Once they are located, these air leaks can be plugged with weather stripping, caulking, and/or insulation to help your home’s heating and air conditioning systems work more efficiently and use less energy.

A blower door test uses a fan to suck air out of your home through the front door, creating a vacuum. The vacuum draws air into the house from the outside, creating steady streams of air coming through even the smallest cracks and pinholes, making them easier to locate and seal up. Some energy auditors will seal small air leaks as they find them, while others will simply point them out to the homeowners to take care of on their own. In the case of larger problems (such as entire rooms or homes in need of new insulation), auditors will usually refer homeowners to qualified contractors who can do the job.

To see a home energy audit that includes a thermographic scan and blower door test, check out this video on the New York Times website.

Home improvements stemming from home energy audits can save homeowners hundreds of dollars a year on home heating and cooling costs. Even better, Uncle Sam will help pay for those improvements. Speaking with the New York Times, Kateri Callahan, president of the nonprofit Alliance to Save Energy explained how homeowners can take advantage of the energy tax credits included in the economic stimulus bill approved by Congress in February. The new tax law offers a credit of up to $1,500 for money spent on improving home energy efficiency. Covered expenses include new windows, weather stripping, new insulation, and many other energy-saving improvements, both large and small. The tax credit is good for 30 percent of the total expenditure on energy improvements, with a maximum of $1,500—so if you install new, energy-rated windows for $3,000, you will receive a federal tax credit of $900. The tax credit also applies to the purchase and installation of more efficient cooling and heating systems and green energy devices such as home wind turbines.

Between the savings on energy bills and generous tax credits that home improvements offer, the energy audits that can tell you exactly where those improvements are needed is a pretty smart investment. Many local utilities and state energy agencies offer free or low-cost professional energy audits so check with them first. If you can’t find an agency in your area that offers low-cost or no-cost audits, check for private companies that perform audits. For a list of energy auditors in your state, visit the Residential Energy Services network directory. Full energy audits can cost between $200 and $500, depending on the size of your home. Low-income families may qualify for a free audit and improvements. Visit the Department of Energy’s Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy website to find out if you qualify for free weatherization and to learn how to apply.

Visit these websites for additional information on home energy audits:

The DOE’s Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy site

The Federal government’s EnergyStar agency site

The Energy Doctors (the self-described “America’s largest thermal imaging energy audit firm.”) site