Home green home: energy audits increase the comforts of home.

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Tired of sleeping in a room that will never properly cool or cooking in a kitchen that is unbearably hot? An energy audit can alleviate these problems while reducing the amount of energy your home uses.

Though relatively new in this area, the process is easier than you may think. Ron Hughes, president of Home Energy Rating Systems Inc. (HERS Inc.) explains that a home audit is an assessment of a home's energy use, cost, comfort, health and safety. It can vary from a visual walk-through with a clipboard to a diagnostic audit that includes testing the building envelope and ducts for air leakage. Recommendations can be general or more specific with specifications, estimated costs and calculated savings using computer modeling.

"My goal is to solve problems and find ways to make houses more comfortable and healthier to live in as well as lowering the utility bills," Hughes said. "I try to change the way people perceive their home. The house is an interactive system and all the parts are interrelated. There is cause and effect. Close a bedroom door when the HVAC is operating and pressures change in different zones of the house and this causes things to happen."

Most people know what the symptoms are, such as the smell of mildew or a room that will never heat or cool properly, but lack of knowledge of how to fix the problem keeps any significant changes from being made.

"I've been in the business for 20 years and I've seen a significant increase in interest in energy audits just in the past six months. I think it has a lot to do with people wanting to be more green. When they investigate photovoltaic panels or solar water heating or what green even means, they learn they should first reduce their load in their own homes, and that should start with an energy audit. I had a call two months ago from a homeowner who actually said she wanted to 'reduce her carbon footprint,'" Hughes said.

Two such homeowners are Lisa Ferrell and her husband, Jim Jackson, who are developing an energy-sustainable neighborhood on the Arkansas River called Rockwater Village. As they learned how to design and build an energy-efficient neighborhood, they realized that they could improve their existing home. The couple belongs to the Arkansas chapter of the Green Building Council and heard Ron Hughes speak at a meeting. They called him soon after.

"We began to realize all the changes that we needed to make in our own home, and in our kitchen in particular. It gets so hot in the summer, no matter how much we run the air conditioner, and we knew that could be improved," Lisa said. "A home audit allowed us to save money and help the planet."

To complete the audit, Hughes came to their home while they were out for a few hours and tested various aspects of the house, including air flow, tightness of the envelope and leakage around ductwork. He also did a thorough visual inspection of key areas while taking pictures to illustrate the problems. A few days later, Ron provided Lisa and Jim with a report on the areas that could be improved and a list of suggested changes. He also met with the heating and air conditioning professional who would be making the changes.

"The process was easy and convenient from start to finish," Lisa said. "It is much simpler than I thought it would be to make the necessary changes, and we have already noticed a difference with the automatic thermostats that he recommended. We can be sure that when we go to bed at night that the rooms that we aren't using aren't being heated or cooled unnecessarily. With three children, we need things that make our lives easier."

Ron predicts that the changes he recommended for Lisa and Jim will pay for themselves in a year or two at the most. "Energy improvements are the only home improvements on the home that can give you a return on your investment every month for as long as you live more comfortably in that home," Hughes said. "Sometimes an energy audit confirms what you already know, but other times you find the problem is something else entirely."

To diagnose the problems in your home and reduce the cost of bills, find an energy auditor in your area. The best qualified energy auditors are Energy Raters or certified Home Performance contractors. There is a standard for Home Performance contractors and Energy Raters that requires training, passing an examination and continuing education. In addition, many utilities in Arkansas offer energy audits to their customers. Check out our Resource Guide on Page 81 for a list of auditors in central Arkansas.