Energy Audits Help Homeowners Lower Their Utility Bills

February 20, 2015- After a rough month of winter weather, homeowners are now bracing themselves for another chilling event: the arrival of the next set of energy bills.

For the almost 3,700 homeowners who tackled energy-efficiency projects in their homes however, the bills are likely to be a pleasant surprise.

Mary Ellen Podmolik , writing for The Homefront section of the Chicago Tribune reports on how an energy audit can help homeowners and owners of multifamily buildings determine how to better keep a property warm in the winter and cool in the summer by tightening the building's envelope. The fixes typically cost a few thousand dollars, and area utility companies offer rebates tied to the work.

Here are the highlights of Podmolik's Tribune's post, "Energy Audits Can Offer Big Paybacks":

• The Chicago Tribune looks at the experiences of homeowners who, alongside CNT Energy, a division of the nonprofit, Chicago-based Center for Neighborhood Technology, tackled energy-efficiency projects in their homes. Clarinda Valentine is one of them.

• Clarinda Valentine had undertaken several projects to make her two-flat building more energy efficient, such as installing new windows and exterior doors. She still felt a draft on certain days. After hearing about CNT Energy from a friend, she called the group, and an energy audit was performed on the building's furnace and hot water heater, and performed a blower door test to see just how leaky her home was.

• Included in the audit was a diagnostic test, which involved mounting a temporary panel with a powerful fan to an exterior doorframe. As the fan pulls the air out of the home, lowering the air pressure inside the building, the higher air pressure outside is drawn into the house, showing where the leaks are.

• Based upon the findings of the audit, Valentine hired a company in November to add 18 inches of blown-in insulation to the space between the second-floor ceilings and the building's flat roof. In addition, adjustments were made to the windows, and weather stripping was installed around doors that led into heated rooms. Also, the workers shut off the rarely used gas fireplaces on each floor and added a foam seal to prevent air from coming down the chimney.

• Valentine took advantage of a Peoples Gas rebate of $942 and a CNT grant of $1,800 (no longer available) to reduce her $4,713 project cost. Podmolik notes that diagnostic tests performed after the work showed that air leaks in the building had been cut in half.

• According to the report, CNT's Energy Impact Illinois program operates in the seven-county Chicago area and in Rockford, and is designed for single-family homes and two- to four-unit buildings. There are no income restrictions.

• Participating homeowners pay $99 for an energy assessment, which is free if a homeowner has a "house party," inviting friends or neighbors to the assessment. The group provides a list of vetted contractors to perform work, and rebates for improvements are available from Nicor Gas, Peoples Gas and North Shore Gas.

• Energy Savers, a separate program, is designed for owners of small, multifamily buildings. Staff members at CNT can help homeowners and building owners decide which program would be most appropriate.

"People are concerned about their energy bills," said Anne Evens, CNT Energy's CEO. "It's confusing. People don't know where to start.

• "It makes a lot of sense to make these investments," said Anne Evens, CNT Energy's CEO. "We're in our homes for so long and it's such a low-cost upgrade. You're not only getting the dollar savings, but you're getting more comfortable homes. Our homes are so old."

• "In Chicago, there's one other incentive for thinking about improvements," writes Podmolik. "For-sale listings of homes within the city now include a home's energy costs so potential buyers can get an estimate of not just how much it would cost to buy a house in the city, but how much it costs to operate."

Read Podmolik's full Chicago Tribune post here.

Carnow Conibear and Associates is a demonstrated leader in the occupational and environmental health professions since 1975. To find out more, click here or call us at (800) 860-4486.