Can anyone recommend a Home Energy Audit service? What services are important and what are unnecessary? Is it better to hire one that is independent and only does the analysis and recommends improvements but doesn’t do the work? What did it cost?

Thanks

My husband and I have been working on improving the energy efficiency of our house for the past 5 years. I looked into the audit option, but honestly all those seem to do is identify whether your house is air tight or where the air leaks might be. We could tell that, especially during the winter. So we just started with the basis, first we had insulation added to our attic and looked for other places that were lacking insulation. We repaired the attic fan. At the time we still had windows with storms, so we replaced missing storms and had the storms caulked (actually pretty cheap). Then we made sure all of our exterior doors were in good shape. We replaced the door going into the garage and replaced the slider. We even replaced our dryer vent and added insulation around it. We didnt stop there, but I wont bore you with the details.

I am actually shocked about the number of my neighbors who dont have enough insulation in their attic and dont seem willing to add it. Its so cheap and for us it dropped the temperature on our second floor by 5 degrees during the summer.

Anyway, hope that helps. The federal govt actually has a great website about energy proofing your house.

I am RESNET Certified energy auditor and live in Glen Ellyn. If you would like to learn more about my company please give me a call at 630.460.9323.

Paul Isaac

Forward Risk/Forward Energy