There are some situations in life where the “do it yourself” approach is the right one. Performing a building energy audit is not one of them. Unfortunately, many homeowners don’t realize this, and they try to diagnose their own energy deficiencies and needs. Turning off lights and lowering the heat to conserve energy are good ideas, but there’s more you can do.
A professional building energy audit will reveal areas where you can cut down on your energy use and could expose some faulty equipment that you weren’t aware of. The do-it-yourselfer will not catch that the motor on the refrigerator is working too hard and needs to be replaced. The average homeowner cannot tell when furnaces or heating ducts need to be cleaned.
Schedule an Energy Audit to Identify Problem Areas
Only a professional can identify the areas where energy is being wasted. He or she can evaluate your heating and cooling systems, optimize those systems, and make recommendations on the input of energy and output of your delivery systems. An energy audit can also be a good first step towards the reduction of your carbon footprint.
Of course, residential homes are not the only buildings that should be audited. Commercial and industrial building owners will normally contract an energy auditor as part of the inspection process before selling or leasing their properties. Prospective buyers and tenants want to know what the costs of maintaining the building will be. These audits typically involve:
- A walk-through of the building
- Identification of existing problem areas and potential problems
- Benchmarking of results to similar buildings
Some auditors may offer alternative energy solutions to “reduce” costs, but that path is typically a more expensive avenue to pursue if you’re doing a full conversion on a commercial or industrial building. In most cases you’re better off keeping your original systems and upgrading or optimizing them to be more efficient.
Building energy audits are reliable if they are performed by certified professionals. California, with the standards set by Title 24, has some of the strictest energy efficiency requirements in the country. Those standards have been in place since 1978, so many older buildings have not been through an energy audit in some time. Has your home or commercial building been audited recently? Call 408-295-2182 to inquire about getting one done soon.