Using Energy Wisely
Step One
Follow our three steps to an efficient and comfortable home and you will save energy and your dough, while increasing your comfort. Step one is to seal your home from air leaks.
Where you start is not really important. If your heating or cooling system needs replaced, start there. I suggest sealing your home as step one as it is the easiest, least costly and will provide immediate savings and comfort.
How do you know where to seal? The easiest is to have an energy audit 
conducted that includes a blower door test. (We charge $50.00 for energy audits that include blow er door tests and an infra-red camera scan.) A blower door is a large fan that is sealed into one of the exterior doors and blows outward, creating a vacuum in the home. Gauges measure air-flow and pressure differences and software tells how many cfm of air your home actually leaks. A walk around the home identifies where the leaks are.
You can find some of those leaks yourself with a little time and ingenuity. If you have an attic ceiling fan, close all the doors and windows and turn it on. Walk around the house using the back of your hand to detect and feel where air is leaking in. You may even want to go up into the attic. (If your attic access is from inside the building envelope, turn the fan off, go into the attic, close the access hole and then have some one turn the fan back on.) While in the attic, look for places where air is being sucked into the living space below. You can use caulk and spray foam to seal these holes. Look around plumbing vent stacks, wiring holes, exhaust fans and chimneys to find common air leaks.
Inside the home, look for places where the wall and ceiling material have seams or where different materials come together, like at the edge of fireplaces where sheetrock and brick meet. Check plumbing penetrations through walls and floors, such as vanities and kitchen sinks. There are countless products at your local home improvement center that are designed to help you seal your home.
The average home has leaks that add up to a hole that is about 12 inches by 12 inches. In that average house with a 12 by 12 hole, that amounts to over three-fourths of the air in the home being replaced every hour in the middle of winter by cold air from outside!
Take this first step and start sealing your home. Do the easiest first if you want to, but at least take the first step. It is never too late to begin developing your plan to start using energy wisely .
For more information on sealing your home, visit the DOE Energy Star Web site.
