Do You Have An Energy Efficient Home? [Week 18]

Posted On May 13, 2021

A home energy audit (or assessment) can save you money in the long run by finding areas of your home where energy is being misused or escaping. Have a professional come out to look at bigger issues or go through this checklist yourself to see how you can create a more energy efficient home.

Amanda Drews, 7 minute read

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Let’s start with the big picture. Where does the energy for your home come from?

Have you ever really sat down to think about it before?

You may have a good idea. Odds are, if you live in the United States, your home probably uses electricity and natural gas. In 2019, 41% of household end-use energy was from electricity and 44% from natural gas (US Energy Information Administration, 2020).

But where does that energy really come from? This post isn’t meant to teach you about the technical side of energy but I do want you to imagine the resources put into obtaining that energy. Ask yourself some of these questions:

• How did we reach that source?
• How do we harness and control that power?
• What had to be built in order to do that and where do those materials come from?
• How does it get to your home?
• Who was involved in all those steps?
• At the end of the day, who is profiting from you getting that energy?
• Is this source renewable or will it eventually run out?

These are just questions to help get you thinking about what all goes into you being able to charge your phone, boil some water or heat your home. When we think about where something comes from, that can help us appreciate where it’s going. I want you to think about the energy you are using each time you turn something on or don’t turn something off and build habits towards conserving it.

What are you using energy for in your home?

In the average home in the United States, heating and air conditioning take up about half the energy used in that home for the year (U.S. Energy Information Administration, 2015). That changes with the seasons, where you live, the structure of your home and how big your house is.

The next group of big energy sucks in your home come from refrigeration, water heating and lighting. The rest is all that other stuff that requires power; appliances, electronics, washer/ dryers etc. We’ll talk about all that next week but this week I want to concentrate the structure of your actual house.

Do a home energy audit

If you are dedicated to making your home as energy efficient as it can possibly be, and are prepared to spend some money, hire a professional to do an energy audit for your home.

If you are in your home for the long haul, doing an audit now can save you money on energy for the years to come. It could make your home be more attractive to buyers as well when you go to resell it. Plus, you will be saving energy and contributing less to greenhouse gases and global warming.

Our energy provider, Minnesota Energy Resources, was offering a deal where if you attended a webinar on conserving energy in your home, they would give you a big discount on a professional in-home energy audit. I attended the webinar and they sent out Greg from G.A. Ernst & Associates energy efficiency consulting services and solutions. Greg was super nice and patient with our kids running around trying to show him their toys while he went through our home.

Some of the things he did as part of the home energy audit included:

• air sealing diagnostics where he did a blower door test to check for air infiltration and leaks
• infrared camera scan to look for air leaks and heat loss
• provided low flow shower heads
• provided piping insulation
• visual inspection
• analysis of bills and potential savings

During our home energy audit, there were three major spots found in our home that could use some extra insulation. We decided the most practical solution for improving our home’s energy efficiency was to concentrate on our attic insulation. We hired out Installed Building Solutions to air seal our recessed lights and exhaust fans, weatherize our attic hatch and add blown insulation.

Cellulose insulation (basically recycled newspaper) is what we went with because it is more eco-friendly and performs better over time in climates that get super cold like Minnesota (FIXr, 2021). Bonus! We also got a big rebate check back from Minnesota Energy Resources for making energy saving home improvements.

Here are some big ticket projects to improve energy savings in your home:

• New windows and doors-here’s one item that buyers definitely look for when purchasing a new home. New windows or doors can greatly reduce how much air is leaking out of your home. We replaced the original windows and front door in our home last year. They were full of mold that I was reacting to every time I sat near a window, they didn’t all open and they were extremely drafty. Our new windows and door are great! But they come with a hefty price tag.
• Insulation– this could be for a number of areas. Your attic, around kitchen hoods, vents, porches etc. Anywhere that air might be escaping through or where a part of your house hangs off of the main body of the structure

If big projects aren’t in your budget right now, you can do some smaller fixes for your home to save energy.

Everyone has different comfort levels when it comes to DIY fixes for your home. You might feel perfectly fine crawling up in your attic and installing insulation or maybe you’ve never used a hammer in your life. Here are some less expensive fixes for your home that you may be able to do yourself.

• Place insulation around exposed piping
• Caulk up holes and seams around the outside of your home
• Use a door snake or install a door sweep for the bottom of your door
• Weather stripping, foam tape, foam insulation or foil tape
• Window film for drafty windows
• Hang up insulated curtains
• Use a hot water heater blanket-although this can help regulate your hot water heater, it may not be useful depending on where your hot water heater is located. Greg told us ours wasn’t necessary. You also have to be cautious on what it is covering and if your hot water heater can have one in the first place or if it will void any warranties by putting one on.

note: I’ve only bought the hot water heater blanket from below and I already had the copper insulator tubes but here is a good start for some of the things you may need.

1. Take a walk around your home, inside and outside, and make a list of any potential spots where you might be able to improve energy usage. Note any holes, vents, windows, doors, and overhangs.
2. See if your energy company offers any rebates for doing repairs around your home to make it more energy efficient.
3. Sign up for a home energy audit and decide what is going to be practical for your family to spend money on fixing.
4. If you can’t do big fixes right now, take care of some of the smaller, DIY issues.
5. Next week we’ll talk about some of the behaviors we can change to live more energy efficient lives in our improved energy efficient homes.