Brr! It’s chilly outside, y’all! Time to get an energy audit

This morning seemed like the first morning this winter when it was truly COLD outside. The thermometer read 31 degrees at 7:45; no doubt it was even colder overnight. It’s warmed up some now that it’s mid-day, but this gave us a good taste of what’s to come: cold weather and probably the highest energy bills of the season.

I asked Mark, our lead auditor, what “good” heating/cooling bills looked like this time of year. Obviously, it’s going to depend on the size of your home, your personal comfort level, and your energy use habits, but he made a guess that less than $.10/sq.ft/monthly average sounded reasonable. $.10/sq/ft/monthly average being an acceptable amount of money to spend.

Of course, acceptable is relative. It largely depends on your pocketbook! But in our house, which is 100 years old, 2600 sq. ft. and fairly leaky (still…despite all the sealing and weatherization we’ve done), $260/month on average seems acceptable. But we’d love to spend less. And frankly, I’d love to turn the thermostat up a degree or two.

Here are some unacceptable scenarios we’ve seen recently:

• a co-worker lives in a 900 sq. ft. house – about 40 yeards old – that has a brand new (like 3 month old) HVAC system…their bills have averaged $150/mo.
• a new client lives in a 4000 sq.ft. home which was built within the last 5 years and their bills average $550/mo. And they’ve shut off the vents to a room that never gets above 55 degrees when the rest of the house is at 68. I haven’t seen the house yet, but I’m willing to guess the room they’ve shut off is the bonus room above the garage.

Both of these homes need energy audits, stat. I can guess what might be the problems (see comment re: bonus room) but to really know we need to get in there with our blower door and IR camera. For sure they need duct sealing, but beyond that? Home Performance NC to the rescue!