Monday, September 26, 2011

Buildings and Energy Audits in Virginia

The idea of performing an audit of one’s home may seem like a new concept but the practice has been with us for ages. It is a common practice for residents within wintering regions to have their homes profiled to determine how much energy is lost from the gaps in the building. As a result, they increase or lower the heat when necessary and perform energy audit Virginia style in their homes.

In layman's words, energy assessments diagnose imperfections in your home's structure and facilities which can contribute to unnecessarily high energy consumption and propose ways to lessen it. This is beneficial for you and your family to have a safe and cozy place to come home to. This assessment will allow you to focus your energy use on areas that need it the most.

This is what you can expect from an energy audit. An auditor will perform a room by room examination of your house taking into account even minute details of individual house elements like window size, floor type and wall construction. He tests the effectivity of your insulation systems and measure air infiltration rate within the house.

The audit also checks the heating, ventilation, air conditioning equipment, and thermostat to determine overall system efficiency and conditions. The auditor may also predict energy consumption based on the forces that act upon the house from the outside. Gas and electricity bills also give hints as to what equipment consumes the most energy at a given time.

Your insight, as a homeowner is a valuable part of the assessment process. The auditor will need to know usage frequency and duration of each of your appliances. The number of people and available electronic (heating/cooling) gadgets inside your home certainly has an effect.

The goal here is to eliminate all irrelevant expenditures without sacrificing comfort. The government offers opportunities to obtain grant money for home energy efficiency needs. In other words, going through home energy audit does more good than harm, if there is any harm from it at all.

Home energy audits cane done by certified energy specialist who may be affiliated with utility and energy service companies. Some, like Energy Max Solutions provide a detailed report from the evaluation in your home with accompanying recommended solutions for your specific needs. They will be able to help with your heating or cooling systems that they deem as inefficient or faulty.

Energy audits are done in three different ways. A walk through survey starts with visual inspection of the features of the facilities and a quick inquiry of its performance with the homeowner. Auditors call this the walk through.

A general audit differs from preliminary audit in the sense that it includes the use of professional tools to produce more accurate diagnosis of the structure. A copy of your previous electric bills may be used to calculate the amount of energy wastage. Commercial buildings employ investment grade assessment to ensure that the money they spent will not be wasted.

For more detailed information on energy audit Virginia, get in touch with Energy Max Solutions or any similar company. A poll conducted across the country concluded that Virginian homeowners have become more energy savvy. The growth of energy audit firms in the place may have been one of the best reasons why.

For more information and additional tips, checking this online site
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