Save some cash:

As we progress into the 2009-10 winter season,  it’s a great time to get an energy audit done and start saving money.  If not, then envision precious dollars slipping through the unsealed cracks in your house.

Home owners can either do it themselves or spend a few bucks up front to have a professional come in an give you a detailed assessment.  Residents should check with their local utility providers about incentive programs.  Energy providers are under increasing pressure to reduce consumption and are eager to pair owners up with local companies that provide energy audits.

A checklist for the DIY homeowner:

A basic guideline – wherever there’s a hole you’re probably losing energy.

Examples of that include windows, doors, fireplaces, and electrical outlets.  Look for cracks in insulation and caulking and mend as necessary.  In the basement consider insulating those hot-water pipes.

Other convective places to inspect include floors, walls, and ceilings.  Here you may want to check your attic  and wall insulation.  One should also evaluate replacement windows.  The return on the initial investment gets shorter as energy costs go up.

Your local home improvement centers offer a myriad of products to help you easily fix these a lot of these issues with little time and effort.

If you want to spend a little more you might consider a professional assessment.

What a pro can offer:

Thermographic Imaging. A picture is worth a thousand words.  What thermographic imaging provides is a picture of heat, colored by temperature differences. Professionals point the special hi tech camera at your walls, windows, ceilings and doors.  It becomes immediately obvious where the heat is going.  Sometimes simple caulking can make a huge difference.  You may also benefit by adjusting the dampers on your forced air venting.  Or a more expensive option may be recommended such as door and window replacements.

Fan suck: OK, that’s not what it’s really called.  That just seems like a good name for it – it’s really called a blower door test.  The procedure involves positioning a fan in a door and closing up the rest of the house tight.  An attached computer measures the air flow into your house from the outside as the air is sucked out.

Other tests that may be offered are duct leak testing that involves forcing air into the ductwork.  Additionally, workers do obvious visible inspections – most likely crawling into spaces you may not have thought of.

Do something

Doing nothing won’t save you money and as energy costs rise it just gets worse.  A bonus to the cost savings is that you should also be more comfortable having eliminated those pesky drafts.  Any effort should be realized in smaller utility bills.  It all adds up.

Have fun and let us know how you saved money on your utility bills this winter season.