A do-it-yourself home energy audit can provide you with important insight into the places in your home where you’re losing the most energy—and you’re losing money.
Like many homeowners, you might be looking for ways to reduce your energy usage and costs by making your home more energy efficient. But with so many potential improvements you could make, from upgrading your appliances to replacing your windows, doors, or roof, how do you determine where to focus your efforts first to make the most positive impact on your home and wallet?
Morse, of course, is here to make a recommendation: Before you dive into any energy-efficiency home improvement projects, consider gathering information through a home energy audit. This undertaking can be very valuable because it should help uncover key problem areas in your home.
Some Massachusetts homeowners may feel more comfortable scheduling a free home energy assessment by a qualified home energy auditor who has the special equipment required to provide advanced energy diagnostics. However, if you are more of the do-it-yourself type, you can definitely conduct an effective home energy audit on your own. There are four easy steps to performing a DIY home energy assessment and identifying ways to improve your home’s energy efficiency:
1. Check the inside and outside of your home for air leaks.
If your heating bills have been consistently higher than usual lately, a draft may be the culprit. By fixing air leaks in your home, you may be able to enjoy energy savings ranging from 10% to 20% per year. Following are some of the most common areas of a home where air might be seeping through:
- Windows and doors.
- Electrical outlets and switches.
- Lighting fixtures.
- Faucets and pipes.
- The baseboard or edge of the flooring.
- Junctures of the walls and ceiling.
- Open fireplace dampers.
- Cracks and holes in mortar, foundation, and siding.
Finding an air leak in these areas can be as simple as taking a good, hard look at them. If you see any cracks, gaps, or open seams, you’ve likely pinpointed a spot where there is unwanted airflow. Another way to seek out an air leak is to feel around with your hands. Or, if you want to get more high-tech about your investigative work, you can buy an air leak detector, which is a device that beeps when it finds a leak. Whether or not you uncover an air leak in any of these locations, make sure these areas are well caulked, weather stripped, or sealed with the appropriate material.
2. Make sure your home is sufficiently insulated.
If your home isn’t properly insulated, it can lead to higher heating and cooling bills—not to mention frozen pipes, roof leaks, and ice dams. To gain some insight into your home’s insulation levels, evaluate the following:
- Is the entire attic floor covered with at least the current recommended amount of insulation?
- Is the attic hatch as insulated as the attic itself, is it weather stripped, and does it close tightly?
- Are all attic openings for items such as pipes, ductwork, and chimneys sealed up?
- Is there a vapor barrier, like tar paper or a plastic sheet, under the attic insulation?
- Are the basement and any crawl spaces insulated with at least the recommended minimum level?
It’s also important for you to find out if insulation material was correctly installed and applied evenly between your walls. Since it’s not as easy to check the insulation in walls, it might be best to hire a local insulation company that can help with both conducting the assessment and adding more insulation if needed.
3. Determine how much electricity your home’s appliances and electronics use.
When you estimate how much electricity the products in your home are using, and how that usage is impacting your energy bills, it can make the decision to invest in more energy-efficient options very easy. There are a variety of ways you can calculate energy usage and cost. Or if you’d rather avoid doing any math, you can just look for the Energy Star® label on household products. If a product is Energy Star certified, it means it has met strict energy-efficiency specifications set by the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and will help homeowners save energy and money. Keep in mind that by making some energy-efficient upgrades to your current appliances and electronics, you may be eligible for the Energy Efficient Home Improvement Credit, a federal income tax credit available to homeowners through 2032 that helps lower the cost of these types of improvements.
4. Take a look at your lighting.
Did you know that lighting accounts for around 15% of an average home’s electricity use? So, one of the easiest ways to potentially reduce your energy bill is to switch from incandescent lightbulbs to energy-efficient lighting sources like light-emitting diodes (LEDs) or compact fluorescent lamps (CFLs). Other steps you can take to reduce the energy impact of your lighting include using:
- Timers that automatically shut lights off.
- Dimmers that allow for lower light levels.
- LEDs and CFLs in outdoor lighting.
- Energy Star–qualified fixtures and bulbs.
You can also choose smart lighting, which typically comes with automated set timers and can be voice and app controlled. With this type of lighting installed, nobody in your household will ever have to remember to turn off the lights again! In addition, you can pair smart lighting with your home security system to operate lights minimally if you’re away, which not only saves money but also serves as an added home security measure.
Morse, of course, will help make sure your home insurance gets any needed updates as you upgrade your home.
After performing your DIY home energy audit, it’s likely you’ll have a list of energy- and money-saving priorities that you want to tackle. This is a great time to reach out to the Morse team. Any enhancements you plan to make to your house are likely to increase its value, and, as a result, the cost to repair or replace it if you experience a loss. To make sure your new and improved energy-efficient house and all your updated home systems are properly protected, it may be necessary to modify your home insurance. In addition, homeowners who make certain energy-efficient home upgrades may qualify for a lower premium. Please contact Morse before you kick off any home project so we can take a look at your current homeowners policy and, if needed, make updates to your coverage and savings options.