What is a home energy audit?

An audit or home energy assessment shows you how much energy your home consumes and what you can do to make your home more energy efficient. In the end, these assessments will help you save money and improve the comfort of your home. Some of the benefits of a home energy audit include:

• Home Comfort and Energy Checkups
• Attic Insulation
• Whole House Air Sealing
• Interior & Exterior Home Weatherization
• Increased Indoor Comfort
• Crawl Space Encapsulations
• Increased Indoor Air Quality
• Increased Life Expectancy of Your Heating and Cooling Equipment
• Decrease Annual Energy Bills
• Help Processing Over $3,800 in Available Rebates from Local Utility Providers
• Increased Home Value

At Snappy, we like to help homeowners and go beyond a simple audit. We like to specialize in home comfort.

The first step in a home comfort and energy checkup includes an energy audit so we can measure the improvements! In the checkup, we also perform a health and safety test to ensure the house is properly venting the carbon monoxide to the outside of your home. At this point we can provide any and all recommendations based on priority for you to have fixed by us or yourself to start cutting your annual energy bills! The improvements can dramatically improve the comfort and safety of your home while also cutting the overall cost to heat and cool it throughout the year so that you can use that money elsewhere!

Snappy helps homeowners find ways to save energy and savings with our home energy checkups.

1. Address Drafty Doors & Windows

During your home energy audit, a technician will pinpoint any drafts and air leaks. You'll notice a difference in the comfort of your home as well as the comfort of your energy savings.

Why?

We don't know how much energy we are expending when we have leaky doors and windows in our home. This is especially true during the summer and winter months when we use our air conditioners and heating systems. As the air inside leaks out through drafty windows and doors that are meant to keep that air in, our systems expend more energy trying to keep our home cool or warm.

We know how important it is to you that you keep your family healthy and safe. By having your doors and windows checked for leaks, you can rest assured that the allergens of the summer and the icy fingers of the winter can't get into your home and make your family sick.

2. Check & Maintain Your Water Heater, Furnace, Heating and Cooling

During your home energy assessment, a technician will perform a safety check on your water heater and furnace. The ductwork in your home will be checked for leaks to improve your forced air heating and air conditioning.

Why?

Heating, cooling and hot water take up quite a lot of our home energy usage - more than half! If you look at that in terms of your utility bills, the spending could be frightening. But, the savings can be fantastic as well. Keeping up with your heating and cooling systems throughout the year is a vital step to keep costs and energy usage under control!

3. A Home Energy Audit Validates Insulation

Do you ever spend nights covering yourself with blankets, shivering, only to toss them off soon after, covered in sweat? This may be a problem with your insulation.

Why?

By making sure your insulation is up to code, you are not only protecting your home and energy, but your family as well.

You could be losing heat through your ceiling and walls if your insulation is less than the recommended minimum, which is measured by r-value. Older homes may not meet the minimum as they would have been built when the minimum was different. Many people living in an older home don't think about the insulation, but this is a potential energy and money saving opportunity.

4. Update to Energy-Efficient Lighting

A home energy audit includes checking the light bulbs, which may be replaced to incorporate low energy bulbs. We have all heard over the last decade or so about how switching to energy-efficient light bulbs helps reduce our carbon footprint, but if being environmentally friendly isn't enough to get you on this bandwagon, how about the money saving benefits?

How?

Lighting costs make up about 20% of a home electric bill. Energy-efficient light bulbs use 75-85% less energy than incandescent and halogen alternatives. These lights use less energy, but they are just as bright. That's a pretty dramatic savings and a good reason to switch to energy-efficient lighting.

5. Consider Water-Saving Faucets & Showerheads Upgrades

Hot water usage can be a burden on your energy savings, so your technician may also assess and offer a solution to save energy here by installing slow-flow showerheads and faucet aerators. Over time, these things will save you money and help you to consume less energy!

Teenagers tend to take long showers. Young children often play in the sink, running the water as they make mass amounts of bubbles. And what adult doesn't enjoy the peace and quiet of a hot shower or a long, leisurely soak in the tub?

But that running faucet? The long shower? The hot bath? Those things use energy and cost money and upgrading to water-saving faucets or showerheads will help you save!

Not sure if you need or qualify for a Home Comfort and Energy Checkup? Give us a call to schedule a FREE Assessment and let one of our Energy Advisors determine the efficiency of your home.