Residential Energy Audits

Are you paying TOO much for your utility bill?

Is your home drafty?

Do you have areas in your home where it is too hot in the summer or too cold in the winter, but is comfortable everywhere else?

Do you have moisture or humidity issues?

Your home can be improved in many ways to help save energy and increase comfort.  A Certified Energy Auditor from KW Solar will guide and educate you on the most cost efficient ways to improve your home's efficiency, customized to fit your specific needs.

A home energy audit is the first step to assess how much energy your home uses and to evaluate what measures are available to improve efficiency and comfort.  But keep in mind, knowing what the problem is and how to fix it will not correct the problem.  Implementing the recommended improvements will.  Is money tight and you need to know which improvement to make first?  No problem!  KW Solar's Certified Energy Auditor will provide you with a detailed written report, which will breakdown an estimate for each improvement and its corresponding payback period.

Home Energy Auditors are not the same.  It is beneficial for the home owner to know what the audit entails.  Is the auditor certified?  What equipment is used to evaluate the home?  What information is in the report?

A KW Solar energy audit  includes:

• A BPI (Building Performance Institute) Certified Energy Auditor
• Blower Door pressure-testing to estimate air leakage in homes, which is strongly affected by window construction and quality of door seals, such as weather stripping
• Infrared Thermal Imaging Camera for hard-to-detect areas of air infiltration and missing insulation
• Combustion Analyzer testing for all gas appliances to estimate steady-state efficiency and    safety
• CO (Carbon Monoxide) testing for health and safety
• Duct System inspection to ensure no air leaks and proper amount of air flow to all rooms
• Documenting various characteristics of the building envelope including the walls, ceilings, floors, doors, windows, and skylights. For each of these components the area and resistance to heat flow (R-value) is measured or estimated
• Documenting basic information on all major appliances in order to help analyze energy consumption

The audit may also assess the efficiency, physical condition, and programming of mechanical systems such as the heating, ventilation, air conditioning equipment, and thermostat.  Your home may qualify for energy efficiency grants.

A KW Solar energy consultant will provide a written report estimating energy use given local climate criteria, thermostat settings, roof overhang, and solar orientation. This could show energy use for a given time period, say a year, and the impact of any suggested improvements per year. The accuracy of energy estimates are greatly improved when the homeowner's billing history is available showing the quantities of electricity, natural gas, fuel oil, or other energy sources consumed over a one or two-year period.

Some of the greatest effects on energy use are user behavior, climate, and age of the home. To gain a better understanding into our customers use of their home we interview the homeowners to understand their patterns of use over time. The energy billing history from the local utility company can be calibrated using heating degree day and cooling degree day data obtained from recent, local weather data in combination with the thermal energy model of the building. Advances in computer-based thermal modeling can take into account many variables affecting energy use.