BEFORE THE AUDIT:
This is a typical two story home with a garage wall sharing at least one wall with conditioned area. The homeowners noticed that in the room that wall is in (the living room) it is much cooler in the winter and hotter in the summer. This is a result of unsealed seams that allow air to penetrate and cool or heat the air inside the walls which in turn affects the temperature of the walls exposed to conditioned space, making that space harder to condition. As a newlywed couple, this family was concerned with starting off their new life on the right foot financially. They knew that upgrading their space heating/cooling and water heating equipment was a good place to start in the hunt for savings, so they called us to help.
AFTER THE AUDIT:
Our energy analyst ran tests for the leakiness of the home and found that their attic was not properly sealed off from conditioned space. He visually identified other problem areas such as the "hot wall" (a wall affected by exterior heat or cold) by using an infrared camera to identify temperature differences throughout the house. He also performed tests for occupancy safety and found that their home was being improperly ventilated.
WHAT WAS SUGGESTED:
In his findings our auditor reported that it would be beneficial for the homeowners to have us execute measures to improve their new home. These homeowners opted to have their outdated Air conditioning, Furnace and hot water heating units replaced with modern, super-efficient equipment including an electric heat pump hot water tank. This high efficiency piece of equipment is full of benefits because it heats water using the heat extracted from the air by the AC system, it is not using or burning any extra fuel in comparison to a stand-alone hot water tank and also has a life of 30 years versus a standard hot water tank life of only 8 years. Air sealing and insulation measures were also taken in order to make the building envelope tighter and prevent against conditioned air loss and contamination. One of the most important steps to implementing those measures was helping this cost conscious couple understand how they could afford to take on what could be a very expensive project so early in their occupancy. We brought to their attention the New Jersey Home Performance with Energy Star program. This program allows home owners to finance up to $10,000 at 0%APR and allows for an additional $5,000 rebate if the measures save more than 25% off of their energy bills. The chart below shows the changes made and the percentage of change due to the measures.
