Turning off lights and maintaining your HVAC system are great starts to improving energy efficiency. But there’s more you can do. Unfortunately, other sources of energy loss aren’t as apparent as a light left on in your Corpus Christi, Texas, home. To stop wasting energy and start saving money, conduct a home energy audit. Doing so will help you find where you can improve your efficiency.
What Is a Home Energy Audit?
Audit might not be the most likable word in the English language, especially for those in the business sector. Audits generally mean that corporate is coming down to check anything and everything to ensure money is going where it should. You may sometimes be afraid of such audits in the workplace, but that shouldn’t mean shying away from a home energy audit.
Plain and simple, a home energy audit assesses your home’s current energy status. It identifies areas where you may be losing energy to poor efficiency, insulation or a number of other issues. There are two primary types of home energy audits: do-it-yourself and professional.
What Does a Home Energy Audit Entail?
Before calling for a professional energy audit — which we’re happy to perform — we recommend that you conduct a preliminary audit on your home. This do-it-yourself task will give us a foundation for our more in-depth comprehensive audit.
When you conduct your preliminary audit, search for air leaks around windows and doors, cracks in caulk, or excess dust and dirt. In the easily accessible areas of your home, check that insulation is adequate, especially around hot water pipes, water heaters and furnace ducts.
Once you’ve given your home a preliminary once-over, we’ll be ready to provide you with a professional home energy audit. During our audit, we’ll identify specific areas of energy loss and provide practical solutions for improving energy efficiency. Our team has participated in the Energy Star Home Performance program, which ensures a trained eye and the skills needed to resolve energy-efficiency problems.
Throughout your audit, we’ll conduct a room-by-room visual inspection. We’ll look for air leaks, insulation issues and other sources of energy loss. We’ll take a look at your old utility bills to uncover trends that may point to problems in the home or inefficient habits.
Our service technicians will also conduct a blower door test, which measures the extent of leaks in the building’s thermal envelope. Many audits also use infrared cameras, which reveal otherwise invisible areas of air infiltration and missing insulation.
Why Schedule a Home Energy Audit?
We understand. Spending money is difficult, even if there’s the chance that you’ll save money in the process. However, home energy audits come with a host of valuable benefits.
The audit will reveal sources of energy loss in your home, providing you the opportunity to tackle specific areas and improve efficiency. Energy audits also improve your HVAC system’s performance, which leads to improved comfort and even lower utility costs.
Audits can uncover other issues in your home, too, such as potential health hazards and even structural damage. They also help reduce your carbon footprint.
You have enough to worry about without adding expensive utility costs to the mix. With a professional home energy audit, you can build a better home and a more stress-free life. To experience the benefits of our home energy audits for yourself, call Bodine-Scott at (361) 883-9900. One of our expert service technicians is standing by to schedule your appointment immediately.
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