A Quest for an Energy-Efficient House

Preventing energy waste has become a household preoccupation in the era of nearly $4-a-gallon gas and rising prices for everything from airline tickets to milk. Whether motivated by environmental impulses or a desire to reduce utility bills, many Americans are researching ways to create a more energy-efficient home.

Statistics from a range of sources provide plenty of motivation. The U.S. Department of Energy's office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE) estimates that draft reduction within a home can lower energy costs anywhere from 5% to 30% annually. Meanwhile, according to Department of Energy data provided by the U.S. Green Building Council, homes account for 21% of U.S. carbon dioxide emissions. And claiming a green home remodel makes for great neighborhood bragging rights.

Eager to lessen our carbon footprint and plan a responsible remodel, we undertook four so-called "energy audits" on our 1966 Seattle home, which has a finished 1,100-square-foot main floor and a partially finished 1,100-square-foot basement. We wanted to learn both how to improve the finished portion of our home and how best to add insulation and factor energy efficiency into an eventual basement remodel.

Marcellus Hall

Energy audits -- assessments of your home's energy efficiency -- run the gamut from free do-it-yourself audits offered online to paid inspections in which professionals with varying credentials spend up to three hours scrutinizing the home and determining what gestures will improve its energy efficiency and which fixes will reduce energy expenses. More sophisticated professional audits employ high-tech devices, including "blower door" fans, which lower indoor air pressure and enable technicians to measure draft levels, and infrared (thermographic) scanning, which can measure surface temperature variations and thus spot air leaks and poor insulation.

We started with two do-it-yourself energy audits offered free online, including the Home Energy Yardstick offered by Energy Star, the organization that promotes energy efficiency and endorses energy-efficient products, and Home Energy Saver, a free online audit from the Environmental Energy Technologies Division at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, a Department of Energy lab operated by the University of California.

The free Home Energy Yardstick was disappointingly basic -- especially given how much data we had to provide from 12 months' worth of utility bills. However, it's not a bad starting point. The Yardstick calculated that we have a 1.7 efficiency score on a scale of 1 to 10 (oops). Tips for making changes were basic, such as using a programmable thermostat (already in use), energy-efficient bulbs (check), and Energy Star-endorsed appliances. Nice tips, but rather generic.

Next up, Home Energy Saver put us through more paces, asking us to answer 20 categories of questions ranging from insulation levels in attic walls to our furnace type. We had to guess at some answers, but, assuming we guessed right, the data provided were detailed: The program spat out nine pages worth of information on possible improvements, including the cost to implement each, and how much we would save in energy costs. For instance, insulating our basement to R-11 (insulation-speak for thickness levels -- the higher the better) would cost only $480 but could save us $115 per year in reduced bills. These were estimates, to be sure, but they helped us shape priorities.

The professional inspectors drilled deeper, looking more at the "building envelope" of our home and making more concrete recommendations. The Home Detective, a home-inspection company that also performs energy audits, sent an inspector who checked our exterior, climbed in our attic and perused our basement, but didn't bring out some of the higher-tech gear. The upshot? It suggested that we increase the "R" value of attic insulation to R-30 or more, insulate interior walls surrounding our non-insulated garage, and insulate the perimeter of the basement's ceiling -- an area known as the house's "rim joists." Minor fixes would include sealing ducts and any spot where pipes intersect with a floor or ceiling. The cost: $169.

Pinnacle Inspections used both a blower door test and infrared scanning to investigate how airtight our home is. The blower door test, which the technician ran twice to make sure results were solid, revealed that our home is relatively airtight for its age -- possibly due to our new windows. The technician seconded Home Detective's recommendation to insulate rim joists and walls adjacent to our garage, but also was able to use infrared scans to point out non-obvious sources of drafts on our main floor, all needing only minor fixes. These areas included the front door (which needs weather-stripping), switch plates (which need fireproof electrical insulation), window trim (which needs insulation), the attic trap door (which could use weather-stripping or other insulation), and a bathroom fan that is vented into the attic (and could be better insulated).

In the end, we felt that Pinnacle's high-tech energy audit was worth the $550 price tag, since it gave us short-term and low-cost repairs we could make now as well as guidance for future insulation projects. Now, we're ready to tackle that basement.

AUDIT/WEB SITE	TYPE AND COST	FINDINGS	COMMENT
The Home Detective, Seattle www.thehomedetective.net	Professional audit without blower door test or infrared scanning, $169	Suggested that we add blow-in attic insulation, insulate interior garage-facing walls, add insulation to the perimeter of basement ceiling (rim joists) and seal ducts with "mastic" goop.	Inspector gave us specifics to mention when contacting insulation contractors; lacking tech gear, inspector had to make some assumptions to deduce air leaks. More detailed than DIY but less certainty than full audit with scanning/blower door test.
Pinnacle Inspections, Bellingham, Wash. www.pinnacleinspection.com	Professional audit with blower door test and infrared scanning; $550	Advised us to add blow-in attic insulation, insulate interior garage-facing walls, and insulate perimeter of our basement ceiling (rim joists). Quick fixes: Add weather-stripping to exterior doors and attic trap door, insulate behind window trim and in gaps around master bathroom fan.	Inspector gave specifics on how to bolster efficiency and building tips on completing our remodel; he took extensive time to explain and share data gathered on air leaks in home.
Home Energy Saver http://hes.lbl.gov	Self-audit; free	Said we can halve energy spending from $1,250 to about $616 per year by making select investments in new appliances or working on better sealing the house. Best return on investment: Switching to natural gas dryer, replacing dishwasher, using compact fluorescent bulbs.	Homeowner must answer detailed questions about home systems. Results were specific and quantified "return on investment" for different efforts.
Energy Star Home Energy Yardstick www.energystar.gov	Self-audit; free	Told us we can cut energy costs by replacing five most-frequently used light bulbs with energy-efficient bulbs, using Energy Star-endorsed appliances, servicing heating system annually and using programmable thermostats, and sealing air leaks in home.	Information was very basic and mostly pointed to Energy Star programs, but was a good starting point. Report stated that our home energy use pollution equals that of 2.3 cars and that 17% of U.S. homes consume more energy than we do.