The price is $300 to $500, but suggestions can result in substantial savings.
By LLOYD FERRISS, For the Maine Sunday Telegram September 14, 2008
Lloyd Ferriss/for the Maine Sunday TelegramStephen Carr of Wydevue, an energy assessment company based in Poland, uses a variety of high-tech equipment to figure out where homeowners can save on energy costs.
Before the energy crisis – before oil shot up to $3.94 per gallon and a cord of seasoned firewood climbed to a record $300 – preparing for winter was simple. You had your boiler or furnace serviced, then went through a checklist of house-tightening improvements.
The fall checklist is still important, as is getting expert help to service heating equipment. But with record high energy costs threatening to sink households, some families are taking the next step. They’re calling in certified energy auditors who zero in with laser-like accuracy on heat loss and cold infiltration problems at your house.
Licensed auditors do more than define problems. They leave you with a list of energy-saving home and heating system improvements, beginning with the most important.
If you follow their checklist by making recommended upgrades, cutting the dollar drain for fuel and electricity can be dramatic.
“Our goal is to save the homeowner 30 percent on their energy bills,” says Stephen Carr, owner of Wydevue Energy Services in Poland.
“At that level,” he adds, “you start paying back our services – and quickly.”
The cost of an energy audit at Wydevue runs between $300 and $500 for a ranch-size house. The $500 energy assessment involves use of diagnostic tools including a negative pressure blower door, digital infrared photography and heating system evaluation, among other things.
Dan Simpson, spokesman for Mainehousing in Augusta, said that $330 to $500 price is in line with energy audits performed in Maine by more than a dozen licensed energy audit specialists.
Like Wydevue in Poland, services offered by most energy auditors are third party transactions, meaning that the auditors’ job is simply to come up with energy-saving recommendations. It’s the homeowner’s responsibility to find a contractor to do the upgrades, or make it a do-it-yourself project.
But some energy auditors are also contractors, creating what Simpson calls a potential conflict of interest. He advises homeowners to get more than one estimate for house and heating system upgrades suggested by an energy auditor.
Mainehousing trains and certifies energy auditors, and does random screening. Many in the profession also belong to professional organizations with ethic codes, including the national Residential Energy Services Network.
Carr, the energy auditor in Poland, points out that factors like insulation and windows are just a part of a home’s overall energy picture. Even in the case of two ranch houses identical in every respect, his recommendation to occupants for heating and hot water upgrades will differ a lot depending upon who lives in the houses.
“If it’s a family of two retired people at home all day, they’ll have a different usage than a mother and father and three kids away all day,” he says. “If the kids are home-schooled and the parents work at home, that’s another energy use.”
In his approach to a house, Carr first checks health and safety issues. If he finds asbestos insulation or evidence of lead paint, he strongly recommends professional removal before embarking on any job that could stir up toxic dust.
Next comes a complete diagnosis of what Carr calls the home’s “thermal envelope.” In this step he examines attic floor insulation, the attic hatch and knee wall, weather stripping, temperature difference between the first floor and basement and, among other things, whether there’s a basement moisture problem. His recommendation takes these factors and more into account.
An examination of a family’s boiler or furnace is next in line. According to Carr, people often tell him that they want to “get off oil.”
“But,” he says, “they should have started that plan five years ago.”
Carr’s advice for the 2008-09 heating season usually focuses on getting maximum efficiency out of the heating system already in place. He often recommends insulating furnace ductwork, or water pipes in the case of a boiler.
A fascinating thing about a Carr energy audit is the surprisingly detailed infrared digital photos he displays on his computer desktop. In brilliant color, they reveal heat leaks, including spaces in walls where blown-in insulation failed because of obstruction by electric wiring.
In Cumberland, architect Steve Ruszkai says he was very satisfied with his Wydevue energy audit. It revealed insulation problems in his upstairs and attic, and loss of heat between chimney fire brick and brick veneer.
“He (Carr) was pretty much dead on,” says Ruszkai, who completed every change recommended by the energy auditor.
If there’s a weakness in the modern energy audit system, it may be that some energy-saving recommendations tailor-made for modern houses may be harmful to homes 150 or 200 years old.
Les Fossel, a contractor and owner of Restoration Resources in Alna, specializes in repair and maintenance of old houses. He’s been in the business 33 years and, with a crew of 13 employees, does $1.6 million in renovations yearly.
According to Fossel, owners of old houses should be cautious of recommendations that involve use of cellulose insulation.
“It’s denser and there’s less air exchange,” he says. “If you don’t have a dry house, it retains more water.”
Fossel is also bullish about conserving energy though repairing – rather than replacing – storm windows put in place 100 or more years ago. Citing window tests by Maine Preservation, he says that vintage storm windows in good repair outperform replacement windows.
“Calling a (replacement) window maintenance free is another way of saying it can’t be repaired,” says Fossel. “The gaskets and seals wear out, just as they do in old automobiles. Welcome to life.”
Still, he thinks energy audits are a good idea, provided they’re not put forth by someone selling a product. And that auditors understand old houses.
“You should look at all sides of the issue,” he says.
Lloyd Ferriss is a writer and photographer who lives in Richmond.
