Blog
Industry NewsHome energy audits help homeowners go ‘green’
There’s so much talk these days about Green it’s hard to know what is fact and what is fiction. The cotton in my new T-shirt may be organic and therefore claim to be Green but cotton requires a lot of water to grow so have I really lessened my impact on the environment by buying an organic T-shirt?
When it comes to our homes it’s much easier to quantify how Green we are by doing a home energy audit. The audit will identify which parts of your home use the most energy and target areas that will be the most affected by energy efficient improvements. PECO offers an online Energy Audit tool as does Energy Savers, a division of the US Department of Energy (DOE).
The Department of Energy also has tips on hiring a professional to perform an energy audit of your home.
You can find local companies that perform home energy audits by checking the local telephone directory or local energy organization. Your local electric company may also provide the service. I did a Google search “home energy audit, Harrisburg, PA” and found several professionals in my area.
Once you identify where your home is wasting energy you can decide which improvements you want to make and prioritize them. You want to ask yourself:
- How long do I plan to stay in my home?
- How much money am I willing to spend on energy improvements?
- How long will it take for the improvement to pay for itself and save on energy costs?
- Can I do the job myself or do I need to hire a professional?
GREENandSAVE.com has a chart to determine the return on investment for a number of common energy efficient improvements.
Once you have identified the energy issues you want to improve you can prioritize and formulate a plan. As always if you can’t do the job yourself and need to hire professionals try to get a referral from someone trusted, check their references and check with the Better Business Bureau.
|
Brenda Florida is the Director of Member Services at the Pennsylvania Association of Realtors®. |
Related posts:
Print This Article
Don’t forget that PAR members get a discount on GREENandSAVE.com membership!
http://www.greenandsave.com/registered_agents/pa
Pat, you are right. There is a paradigm shift and it is one our planet desperately needs! It gives me hope.
Brenda, Great advice and information. GREEN is certainly the new color in real estate as well as in the media. Heard an interesting generational comment from a 10 year old this week. He heard his parents talking with me and when he heard green he asked about the environmental impact–we were talking color. There’s a paradigm shift for you.