NRG Blog

Anatomy of an Audit

The energy audit includes:

• Building Load Calculation - The Air Conditioning Contractors Association’s Manual “J” is used to determine you home’s precise heating load.

The following factors are used to determine your homes unique heating load:

• Volume
• Building Materials
• Duct Leakage
• Number and Placement of Windows
• Number of occupants
• Insulation levels
• Architecture Type
• Environmental Factors
• Total Air Infiltration
• Local weather patterns

• Blower Door Testing - A blower door is utilized to determine the tightness of your home and is used to find air leaks

• Combustion Appliance Zone Safety Testing - A sophisticated instrumentation is utilized to determine if combustion appliances such as your water heater or furnace is ventilated properly and has the proper amount of make-up air for proper combustion.

• Duct Blasting - The duct blaster is utilized to determine the amount of air leakage occurring within your duct system. Unfortunately, most duct systems are not sealed or insulated properly.

• Combustible Gas Detection and Analysis – A combustion gas analyzer is used to determine whether or not your gas furnace is firing properly. A gas leak detector is utilized to locate any propane or natural gas leaks

• Physical Inspection - A physical inspection of your property is performed to identify potential energy saving improvements.

• Energy Bill Analysis

• Home Energy Analysis - All of the information gathered from the various reports are utilized to produce an informative report that provides you with a comprehensive energy improvement plan. The Energy Analysis Report includes what-if scenarios and Savings to Investment ratios for each proposed energy improvement. This gives you the power to determine most cost effective improvements for your budget.

• Re-testing - After energy saving improvements are implemented, we perform the Blower Door, The Duct Blaster and The CAZ test again to prove our results

Thermal Image comparison of CFL vs Incandescent

Thernal Image of Standard and CFL

This is an image of an incandescent and a compact fluorescent bulb taken with a Testo 880 Infrared camera. The highlighted areas HS1 and HS2 are Hot Spots. HS1 measured 215.2 F and The Compact Fluorescent measured 191.4 F. Doesn’t seem like a lot however, the CFL only consumes 12 Watts and compared to 60 Watts. Using CFL’s will save you $35 over the lifespan of the bulb which is about 7 or 8 times that of incandescent bulbs.

Rebates and Tax Credits

A fundamental change has happened in our country as a result of our dire economic consequences. Energy and Conservation organizations are now fully funded thanks to the American Reinvestment and Recovery Act. The result is that it now makes economic sense to choose the Energy Efficient option when you are replacing Appliances and Heating and Cooling systems.  It used to be that the “Green” alternatives where only considered by eccentrics. Now we can all participate and not have to suffer from labels like, “Tree Hugger” or conversely, “Baby Seal Killer”, for not choosing the “Green” alternative. A good example is CFL’s or Compact Fluorescent lighting. The bulbs used to be so expensive it did not make economic sense to use them unless you where a committed environmentalist. Now the bulbs are an inexpensive, long lasting alternative to energy hogging incandescent lighting. A 13 watt CFL will emit as much light as a 60 watt incandescent and will last 7 times longer and burn for 10,000 hours. This equates to 470 kw of energy savings. The bottom line is that you save $35.74, that is a 71% cost savings, why not?

One might argue that the only way that purchasing the Energy Star alternative is economically feasible is because it is subsidized by the Government. My take is that we must start somewhere. If we all start making better decisions, the costs associated with the “Green” alternative will come down and the Government will not have to intervene. Just like the CFL.

Here is list of Tax Credits and Rebates available to residents in Missouri and  locally  ere in Kansas City.

Missouri Department of Natural Resources. 1000.00 State tax credit for improvements recommended by BPI or Resnet certified auditors.
http://www.dnr.mo.gov/energy/residential/homeenergyaudits.htm
http://www.dsireusa.org/

Kansas City Power and Light.  $600 Rebate for improvements made by Certified BPI Auditor.

Energy Star Home Performance -> http://www.kcpl.com/residential/homeperf.html
KCP&L Printable Rebate Form -> http://www.kcpl.com/Brochures/hpwes.pdf

E. Charles Linberg, The NRG Detective is a certified Energy Star Building Performance Auditor and NATE Certified HVAC technician. He can be reached at 816-812-8229

What is Home performance with Energy Star?

Home performance auditing is a means to calculate and quantify how well you home is utilizing energy.  The purpose of the audit is to empower homeowners with valuable information that they can use to to make energy saving improvements to their home. If you are a homeowner and would like to take advantage of the American Reinvestment and Recovery Act’s $1500 energy improvement tax credit, an energy audit is a great place to start.

Who needs an Audit?

• If your home is not comfortable. ie cold in the winter, hot in the summer
• If you are sick and tired of paying high energy bills
• If you are considering replacement of a Furnace or Air Conditioner
• If you are considering replacement windows
• If you are considering remodeling projects including roof repair, water damage, siding, drywall replacement, major plumbing repairs.
• If you suspect that your energy bills are too high
• If your house does not maintain a consistent temperature from room to room within 3 degrees
• If you are concerned about reducing our dependence on foreign oil
• If you would like to reduce your carbon foot print

There are other reasons that a Home Performance audit might be a good idea. Some new houses are so tight that it becomes unhealthy for the occupants because there is not enough fresh air coming into the house.

Other reasons to have a Home Performance Audit:

• Damp, musty, moldy conditions
• Your family complains of headaches, nausea or they  just feel bad when they are at home but are fine outside the home
• Your furnace is tucked away in a tiny utility room
• You suffer from severe allergies

What the audit entails:

• The Combustion Appliance Zone test. This test assures that your combustion appliances have enough air for complete combustion and that the flue byproducts always travel up the flue instead of into your home.
• The Blower Door test.  A Blower door is used to depressurize the house so that leaks in the building envelope can be detected and  repaired.
• A physical inspection of the property to identify noticeable problems.
• A utility bill analysis

After the initial audit is completed the Auditor will crunch the numbers and provide you with a report offering suggestions for inprovement. The report outlines the following:

• Suggested Energy Improvements
• Savings to Investment Ratios for each proposed improvement
• Suggestions regarding safety concerns

Empowered with this information you can make the improvements yourself or hire a contractor.  Once the improvements are made the Home Performance Auditor returns to perform an additional Blower Door Test to prove the results.

Power Companies such as KCP&L here and Missouri Gas Energy have always had Energy Programs but now they are requiring that a Certified Energy Star Home Performance Auditor perform an audit before they will pay out for the improvements. The reason is simple. The Audit provides them with a comprehensive report of the condition of the house before and after the improvements are made and the results are quantifiable.

To contact a Home Performance Auditor check your Energy companies website for Energy Star Home Performance programs.

Here are a couple links if you would like to investigate further:

www.missourihomeperformance.org
http://www.kcpl.com/residential/homeperf.html

The Accidental Environmentalist

Ok, I admit it, I’m obsessed. I can’t stop checking up on it. My charges keep racking up. No matter how hard I try, my family keeps working against me.The best I can do is tread water. It’s the wee hour of the morning, I’ve done all I can do.

What am I talking about? I just purchased TED. The Energy Detective. It’s a little device that wires into your circuit breaker panel that allows you to monitor your power consumption in real time.

As soon as I was able to install and configure it (without reading the manual of course), I noticed that we were consuming 2.6 kilowatts of energy and the Heat Pump was not even working. Ouch, that’s the equivalent of 26, 100 watt incandescent light bulbs burning in your house.

I took immediate action. I whizzed around the house looking for anything that “glowed”. I unplugged the plethora of wall warts that have invaded my electrical outlets. I turned off lights, computers, unplugged coffee pots, printers, night lights. With each “Victory” I ran downstairs to see what effect I had. Just when I figured that I had done all I could do, I noticed a blue light behind a computer I had just turned off. It was the Uninterruptible Power Supply (UPS), which admittedly is a good idea, However this particular unit was drawing 200 watts without the computer even being turned on.

TED was still displaying 1.6 KW. The family was watching American Idol on our 50″ plasma TV. I refrained from turning it off immediately but later I found that it was drawing 800 Watts. My next investment is going to be a coin slot for the television so that we all understand what the real costs are.

I installed TED on one of our kitchen counters, the next day I noticed that my wife had been paying attention to it.

VICTORY!!!!, That’s it. I’m all in. Compact Fluorescent light bulbs, Energy Star rated appliances, High Efficiency Heating and Cooling equipment, whatever it takes. You can’t measure what you can’t see.

Every homeowner needs to invest in energy monitoring. It pays!

How should I spend my $1500 Energy Tax Credit?

The American Recovery and Reinvestment act is chocked full of goodies. You’ve determined that you are going to do the “Right Thing” and stake your claim on a juicy $1500 tax credit for investing in energy efficiency. But what should you buy? There are sooooo many choices. You need a recipe book like they give you with a bag of Jelly Belly’s.

Before you pick up the phone and call your Heating and Cooling contractor consider hiring a Certified BPI Home Performance auditor. A building performance auditor will inspect your entire property, make recommendations and provide you with Savings to Invesment calculations so that you can make informed decisions. The auditor utilizes a sophisticated instrument called a blower door to depressurize your house so that he can locate the air leaks.

The first rule of Home Performance is to reduce the load. Before you purchase expensive HVAC equipment it may be that you could spend a modest amount of money on insulating, sealing your ductwork as well as your building envelope so that your energy dollars are not being flung into the atmosphere.

Once your house is nearly airtight (Even humans require a little bit of air now and again) the auditor will return to verify that insulation contractors did their jobs effectively. Once your house has been sealed and insulated properly it is quite possible that you can invest in smaller heating and cooling systems that are less expensive to purchase and much less to operate.

It is also very likely that your Utility company has a program to pay all or a portion of the Home Performance Audit. Here in Kansas City, KCP&L offers a rebate up to $600 for energy efficiency improvements recommended by a BPI Certified Home Performance Auditor.

Top 5 Energy Losers

1. Incandescent lights - Some countries are actually outlawing them. Consider retrofitting with Compact Fluorescent. Write the installation date on the base with a permanent marker. Manufacturers are happy to replace them should they fail before their life expectancy. They might even send you 2

2.  The refrigerator that you inherited from your parents - Old refrigerators never die they just retire to the garage to keep 1 six pack of beer. Consider upgrading to an Energy Star refrigerator and save up to 50% of the power consumption of that old beast.

3.  A leaky drafty house - Leaks and openings to the outdoors from your building envelope are robbing you are your comfort and your hard earned cash. If you live in an 800 sq foot house and your utility bills are over $250 per month, you aren’t living in a home, you are camping out. A modest investment in spray foam and blown cellulose insulation will make you snug as a bug. And if bugs are a concern in your home I suggest that you purchase the Borate treated cellulose. Borate, Boric Acid is the same stuff that is in Borax. It’s fairly benign to humans but deadly to vermin.

4. Leaky ductwork - For some reason ductwork is never installed properly. There is a very good chance that your ducts are closely related to Swiss cheese. Leaky, improperly sized ducts are responsible for murdering many a compressor and disrespecting your pocketbook. Leaks cause your compressor to work overtime trying to keep up with a heating or cooling load that never gets satisfied. Most ductwork is undersized which is hard on the blower section of your furnace or air-handler.

5. The “They don’t make em like this anymore furnace” - There is a good reason they don’t make it anymore. A typical standing pilot furnace delivers 60% of its heating capacity to your home and donates a generous 40% of its heat to “Global Warming”, Literally. Today’s furnaces can deliver 90-96% efficiencies and they are much safer than the technologies of the past. However, Before you replace your furnace you need to determine whether or not it is operating properly. Your furnace and air conditioning system should each be serviced every year. If it is in good working order your money may be better spent insulating and sealing your home and your ductwork.