Conducting a home energy audit is a smart way to cut your
utility bills. Many people forget, however, to look at
fireplaces, attics and other less obvious spots.
Home Energy Audit - Fireplaces, Attics and More
The purpose of a home energy audit is to make your home more
energy efficient. An energy efficient home is going to result in
reduced utility bills now and for years to come. Depending on
the size of your utility bill, auditing your home can save you
thousands or tens of thousands of dollars over the years. While
windows and doors are obvious energy waste locations, there are
less obvious areas where you can lose a lot of heat.
Attics in a home are a great place to store you junk...err,
valuable stuff. That attic, however, can be costing you big
bucks. While most attics have insulation, they also have
open-air vents to maintain circulation. Failing to circulate air
in the attic can destroy roofing and the things in the attic.
Fortunately, the ceiling of your home has insulation to keep
energy from escaping up through it into the attic. Still, most
people defeat this insulation by failing to take a look at the
entrance to the attic. If you have the proverbial "hole in the
ceiling" entrance to the attic, how much heat or air
conditioning is escaping through the gaps surrounding it into
the attic and out the attic vents? Placing temporary seals
around the edges of the entrance can immediately cut your
heating or cooling costs by 25 percent.
Fireplaces offer a whole host of problems when it comes to
regulating the temperature in a home. By definition, a fireplace
is designed to move smoke out of a home by using the rising heat
as a means of propulsion. The problem, of course, is when you
aren't using the fireplace, it still conducts the hot air out of
your home.
The first step in dealing with a fireplace is to make sure the
flue is closed when not being used. If you leave it open, you
might as well turn off the heat in your home because the heat is
going to come out of your vents, cross the room and blow up and
out of the fireplace. Obviously, that is a utility bill
nightmare.
Energy audits are a must if you hope to fight off rising energy
costs. Fortunately, common sense steps can save you a ton of
money.
|
Categories 
