Make Your Money Go Further!

We work hard to pay for the energy we use every day.  So saving energy will save money.  We all buy and use energy efficient cars and appliances.  We walk or ride bikes whenever possible, and turn off lights and appliances when not in use.  All things that save us energy and save us money.  Another way we save energy and money is by not letting energy (money) escape into or out of your home after we have paid for it. One of the best ways to make sure we use energy in the best, and most energy/money saving possible way is to do an energy audit on our homes.

I have often recommended The Professional Home Energy Audit Guide by David Anderson and The Home Weatherization Inspection Checklist by David Nelmes, for Do it Yourself energy saving audits.

What I have found, while running my own regular audits, is that these two work quite well together to help you find the best path ways to saving energy, and saving money.  David Nelmes book helps you find where additional insulation will help you save energy and save money, and David Andersen’s book helps you discover how you and your home consume energy – and then find good ways to cut back on energy use to save us money.

Both include data sheets to record a complete picture of energy use – and energy loss – in your home (this is important as you will save the most energy and money only when you base your energy saving on the realities of YOUR HOME and YOUR LIFE).

Nelmes fact sheets are printed ones that you can print as needed.  Andersen’s are computer spreadsheet files.  What I have started doing is taking Andersen’s spreadsheet files and ADDING information from Nelmes’ sheets to form a totally complete picture, from the walls and windows in, of each room in the house.  Then, I can determine which energy and money saving “fixes” will save me the most money while costing the least.  For instance, I’ve already replaced about 80% of the bulbs in my house, inside and out, with energy saving Compact Fluorescent (CFL) bulbs (the remaining 20% are not worth the money to replace, so that will be about it).  I’ve been doing this for years, so I can’t really see the savings on my electric bill – I can estimate, though, that I’m saving about $50 (US) each and every year.  I didn’t spend that much for all the CFL bulbs that I have, so I’m way ahead on those.  Also, when we had to replace our 18 year old hot water heater last year, I already had an energy saving model in mind, so it was a quick choice and very few cold showers.

So as I do my energy audits now, I not only see places where I can make changes to save energy and money, I also see where things I have been doing for quite a few years have been saving all along.  It shows me how glad I am that I have been taking energy saving steps all along.

So you definitely want to do your own Home Energy Audits.  And, definitely use both The Professional Home Energy Audit Guide by David Anderson and The Home Weatherization Inspection Checklist by David Nelmes. They will make your life easier, and help you save more money!