Knowing the way that your home uses energy can provide you with important insights into steps that can be taken to reduce the amount of energy that you use each month. Home energy audits can be an excellent way of providing you with this important information.

Understand The Various Sources Of Energy Waste That May Be Affecting Your Home

There are potentially many different sources of energy loss that can impact a home. While homeowners will often focus on old appliances or other obvious sources of energy loss, there are many sources of energy waste that will be more difficult to notice. One of these will be a lack of insulation in the home or small gaps in the roof and walls.

Check With The Local Energy Service For Rebates Or Service Providers

Homeowners that are wanting to minimize the costs that they will need to pay for this energy audit should contact their energy provider. Many electric services will offer their customers at least partial rebates on the cost of energy saving evaluations. Some of these services may offer these evaluations to their customers for free. If complimentary energy audits are available, the wait for scheduling one of these audits may be long, but it can be worth it to avoid needing to pay out of pocket.

Be Prepared To Take Action On The Recommendations From The Energy Audit

Some homeowners will schedule an energy audit with little to no thought about the fact that they will need to take steps to implement the recommendations from this audit. For example, the audit may reveal that additional insulation is needed in the garage or attic of the home. Additionally, some appliances may be identified as being particularly energy wasteful. Planning to undertake these upgrades in a series of stages can prove especially useful in helping you to implement these recommendations without becoming overwhelmed.

Schedule An Energy Audit After Any Major Work Is Done To The House

An energy audit will tell you important information about the way that your home currently uses energy. However, this information may no longer be relevant if major work has been done to the property. To account for these changes, you will need to have an audit performed following any major construction work to the house. This is especially true following periods where the home has undergone extensive repairs. In instances where you are remodeling or making other planned changes to the home, you should have this audit performed prior to the work so that you can include the energy saving recommendations in the initial designs.