Figuring out where your house leaks energy
You've heard about high BGE bills. Maybe you're seeing them personally. Today, Scott Calvert tells the tale of energy "auditors" going through homes to figure out where, exactly, warm air is escaping and cold air is getting in.
One homeowner, Kim Glaun, signed up not only to find out why her monthly bill is hovering around $1,000 but also because she's tired of always being cold in her house.
A state official says this is a growth industry -- one that out-of-work folks from a contracted industry could get in on:
"We do not have enough auditors and retrofitters trained in Maryland to do all this work," said Maryland Energy Administration Director Malcolm Woolf. "An unemployed construction worker in a matter of weeks can get retrained so he learns about insulation and ductwork and gets put to work implementing these retrofits."
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I also wondered whether there was a better way to reduce my energy usage and possibly lower my home energy bills. After a ton of research, I realized that there was no single source that detailed everything about energy conservation in a simple & comprehensive way. I developed worksheets that could demonstrate the most effective ways to conserve energy as well as measure the impact of action I might take. Friends liked what I did and suggested doing it for others; thus I developed a "lite" energy audit concept. Priced at a reasonable $80, I would do a personal energy audit of a home, review the major areas of energy consumption, recommend how to reduce consumption, provide info about energy bill credits & rebates, and summarize my findings and recommendations in a report. This idea developed into a business model that in today's recessionary time would offer a low-cost approach to energy conservation. When I conducted field tests, homeowners actually implemented my recommendations. The best approach--knowledge, support, and incentives. Feel free to call me for more information.
Posted by: Douglas Zinn | March 10, 2009 8:59 PM