Save energy by knowing what you consume and detecting leaks

 

Audit your home

 

One of the best ways to save energy is to find out what you currently use. Your energy can be leaking away where you least expect it.  We found a great book, The Home Energy Diet , by Paul Scheckel.  

 

Paul is an experienced home energy auditor and he provides a wealth of practical advice and informed much of our thinking.  It’s amazing how many small things, when added together, can have a big impact on utility bills.

 

 

Measure your electricity consumption

 

When we were planning our home, we wanted to estimate how much electricity we would be likely to use.  Although many electrical items state their power rating, it is not always clear if this is a continuous or intermittent rating, and if so, what proportion of the time it is consuming power. A really useful tool which helped us is the Kill-A-Watt electricity usage meter.  

 

This plugs in to a power outlet, and you then plug in an electrical product (e.g. a refrigerator, or a table lamp) into the meter.  The meter shows how much power the product is consuming, and will add up the energy (in kilowatt hours) over a period of time.

 

We worked around all of our electrical items and built up an accurate picture of where our electricity is going.  If you are planning to install a solar electric system, this is a great way of analyzing much power you are using, and where you might be able to reduce consumption.

 

At the time of writing, a solar system costs roughly $10 per watt of power generation, so small power savings can add up to a big capital saving when you install a solar electric system.

 

Detect leaks and cold spots

 

Using energy is just one side of the equation, losing energy is the other side.  If a house lost no heat in winter, it wouldn’t need a heating system at all. That probably isn’t practicable in the climate we have here in Maine, but minimizing heat loss is a great way to reduce energy consumption. Another handy tool which can help you find heat ‘leaks’ is a Non-Contact Infrared Thermometer . With one of these, you can point to any surface to measure its temperature.  Use it to check for any cold spots on your walls, ceilings and floor, to detect drafts or gaps in insulation.  

 

As we were building a new house, we had the luxury of being able to install our insulation from scratch, so we focused on finding ways to use energy in the most efficient way.  In the following pages we describe some of the steps we took to reduce our electricity consumption, which could apply to almost any home.

 

 

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You can get the Home Energy Diet book from Amazon:

 

Kill-A-Watt meter:

 

Remote sensing thermometer: