Energy Audit (Boulder: fit in, how much, house)

[formercalifornian]

Has anybody here at City-Data had a residential energy audit?

Who did you use? How much were you charged? Was it worth it? What changes have you implemented and have they made a difference?

[Noahma]

Originally Posted by formercalifornian

Has anybody here at City-Data had a residential energy audit?

Who did you use? How much were you charged? Was it worth it? What changes have you implemented and have they made a difference?

these are required in Boulder for any remodels. I have not been personally involved with them for projects we have done, I do know that they can be a pain in the rear.

[steveindenver]

We used a company called Advanced Energy Solutions -- not sure on the price, will dig through the cabinet but I don't think it was more than 150 or so.

This was after the build and our HERS was in the 40's -- but there are some arguments about that rating -- improvements have been made since then and with the solar we are adding now I hope to lower it quite a bit.

[Noahma]

Originally Posted by steveindenver

We used a company called Advanced Energy Solutions -- not sure on the price, will dig through the cabinet but I don't think it was more than 150 or so.

This was after the build and our HERS was in the 40's -- but there are some arguments about that rating -- improvements have been made since then and with the solar we are adding now I hope to lower it quite a bit.

ohh you will. the HERS rating system favors solar a great deal. We had a house that is at a 10 HERS rating just recently, we had a tough time getting the house to a 10 from a 28 due to its size (6000+ sqft.) We upped the solar which was cheaper for the client to do than the other things that may have helped, they are now going to be running a 16kw system with over 90 solar panels, and the home is a HERS rating of 10, which is 10 points from being a NetZero home, and 90% better than current codes. Quite a feat if you ask me

That company sounds very familar, that may be the one that we have a working relationship with for all of our Boulder new builds.

[nele]

I got an energy audit on my house yesterday. I purposely chose a company that does NOT offer to implement the fixes that may be suggested, to make a house more energy efficient. But now, I think that may have been a mistake. The vendor was rather non-committal about what could be done. For example, I have cathedral ceilings with tongue-and-groove cedar, probably not much airspace / insulation above them; vendor said he had no idea what could be done to make them more airtight.

I will hold off on mentioning this vendor until I get his final report, but I am thinking now I probably paid too much for the information I will get. Plus, I still don't know the best solution to my air leaks!

[Noahma]

Originally Posted by nele

I got an energy audit on my house yesterday. I purposely chose a company that does NOT offer to implement the fixes that may be suggested, to make a house more energy efficient. But now, I think that may have been a mistake. The vendor was rather non-committal about what could be done. For example, I have cathedral ceilings with tongue-and-groove cedar, probably not much airspace / insulation above them; vendor said he had no idea what could be done to make them more airtight.

I will hold off on mentioning this vendor until I get his final report, but I am thinking now I probably paid too much for the information I will get. Plus, I still don't know the best solution to my air leaks!

for vaulted ceilings (cathedral) you need to know what size joists were used or if they are using engineered trusses before you can know how much insulation you might be able to fit in them. One thing that may be possible , but would be pretty costly is to pull off the ceiling, use spray foam along all areas where the roof sheathing comes together. R-38 batt insulation should help seal it up more, how old is the house?

[wankel7]

To bad Xcel doesn't offer anything.

[Noahma]

Originally Posted by wankel7

To bad Xcel doesn't offer anything.

Xcel used to have a 55% reimbursement program for Solar, I believe they stopped that at the end of the year, Federal just introduced a better incentive than the 55% for solar.

they offer stuff, but you have to look for it.

[formercalifornian]

I appreciate the responses. The 30-year-old house we purchased this summer is leaking heat like a sieve, and we would like to rectify the situation come spring. We discovered very compacted insulation in the great room's cathedral ceiling while completing some electrical work in the fall, and we suspect the front of the house may well be missing insulation entirely because the outside walls of the upstairs bedrooms are absolutely frigid. Keeping the house comfortable during our recent deep-freeze required the furnace to run constantly, resulting in a shockingly high power bill. Obviously, we have some insulating to do, and I suspect new windows may also be in our future. Ah, the joys of an older home!

Once again, thanks for the information and suggestions. ...FC

[nele]

Originally Posted by Noahma

for vaulted ceilings (cathedral) you need to know what size joists were used or if they are using engineered trusses before you can know how much insulation you might be able to fit in them. One thing that may be possible , but would be pretty costly is to pull off the ceiling, use spray foam along all areas where the roof sheathing comes together. R-38 batt insulation should help seal it up more, how old is the house?

House is 40 years old. Gosh, I can't imagine pulling of the roof for that!

I got my final report, and basically, it recommends major caulking, including along the beams of the cathedral ceilings. But, they are tongue-and-groove cedar, to which I understand caulking does not adhere so well. But I'm going to try it.

Most of the recommendations in my report were for caulking and door-frame insulation. There does appear to be one leak in the air ducts that I will try to address. My house's air exchange is once every 1.5 hours, which is about half what it should be (2-3 hours).

The final numbers in my report were that I could spend about $1500 to save approximately $800 per year in energy costs, so a ROI of about 2 years.