The average American household spends about $2,000 annually on energy costs, according to the Energy Information Administration. As your home gets older, your home’s equipment, such as your heating and cooling system, gets older, too. As the years go by and you don’t upgrade your home or equipment to more energy-efficient models, you’re likely wasting lots of energy – and money. To determine if your home is energy efficient, you can hire an certified energy professional to perform an energy-efficiency audit to determine what areas of your property need improvement.

A home energy savings audit, also called a home energy assessment, is a room-by-room review to assess how much energy your home consumes. While you can perform a rudimentary assessment yourself, a professional energy assessment performed by a certified energy auditor is more in-depth and uses more scientific diagnostics, such as:

• A blower door test. This test identifies where your home is leaking indoor air. All doors, windows and fireplace flue vents are closed in your home. The heating and cooling system is turned off. A flexible, airtight door is affixed over an exterior door frame with the exterior door open. A powerful fan in the blower door shroud removes all the indoor air in your home, lowering your home’s air pressure. Once sufficient negative air pressure is achieved, the inspector will use either a smoke pencil, which produces a wisp of smoke, or a thermography scanner to identify where air is leaking into and out of your home. Note: A calibrated blower door test that measures the actual amount of air being pulled out of your home is better than an uncalibrated test, which only identifies leaks and doesn’t measure air volume.
• A thermographic scan. This scan measures the coverage and effectiveness of your home’s insulation. A camera or video camera is used to make infrared energy visible to the naked eye. The surface temperature of various components in your home are inspected. Areas with cooler temperatures, especially on exterior walls, may indicate that area has inadequate or missing insulation.

To thoroughly inspect your home, the energy auditor may use other tools like gas leak detectors, carbon monoxide detectors, kill-a-watt meters and lead-safe testing kits.

Once your home’s evaluation is complete, the certified energy auditor will make recommendations for energy-efficiency improvements you can make to your home, like:

• Sealing areas where air is leaking from your home
• Adding more temperature-resistant insulation to certain areas of your home
• Replacing your refrigerator, furnace, A/C unit or water heater
• Installing a programmable thermostat

Remember, an energy-efficient home is a comfortable home. Plus, you can save 5% to 30% on your energy bill by making efficiency upgrades recommended by a professional energy auditor. Now, who doesn’t love to save money?

If you need a home improvement loan to help you make energy-efficiency improvements to your home, contact the mortgage specialists at Grandview Lending in Indianapolis to see if you qualify for a FHA 203(k) Rehab Home Mortgage. Available to both home buyers and homeowners who want to refinance, the 203(k) loan combines a traditional home improvement loan with a standard FHA mortgage, so homeowners can borrow their renovation costs. A FHA 203(k) mortgage loan may be the perfect option for you.

Photo credit: 123RF / Alexander Kharchenko (modified)