Give Your Home an Energy Audit

The IRS has turned the word ‘audit’ into a bad thing. But don’t worry – this home energy audit won’t cost a dime, and no one will go to jail.

Through a link via Jeff Barrie’s documentary Kilowatt Hours, I found a site that lets you give your home an energy audit. It takes you through several steps, asking questions about your appliances, your light bulbs, and what your house is made of.

I began the audit once and then realized I needed to be at home with all of my info (utility bills and appliance info) to really give my house an audit. So I stopped and saved my session. That’s right – the audit allows you to stop and start again by assigning you a session number. Brilliant!

After rifling through the questions and even putting the occasional ‘I don’t know’ down, I was hit with the cold hard truth:

I spend $5,626 every year on energy for my home. That’s what it costs to turn on light bulbs, leave the hair dryer plugged in, and watch TV. That’s what it costs to heat and cool my home with the kinds of windows, roofing, and insulation we have. That’s what it costs me to live as I do with what I do. Ouch.

The good news, however, is that this handy audit showed me ways in which I can lower the energy cost to $3,536 per year – that’s a savings of $2,090!!! I need to seal some ducts, replace some windows and get a few new appliances. While that is expensive, the report shows me how I can recoup that cost in a year, five years, or even twenty years, depending upon my budget.

Now that I’m aware, I know exactly what I need to do to save money and precious natural resources.