Home Energy Audit

We got a large tax credit from the government for buying a house last year (there was a special stimulus bill for housing that applied from last April through this coming July, I believe; we didn't know about it until after we bought our house!) Next year there will be a $1500 federal tax credit available for weatherizing houses. And, we discovered, Georgia Power, our electric provider, has a variety of rebates to promote energy efficiency. So, we decided to have a Home Energy audit done by a professional, and start making our house a more efficient place to heat and cool.

Today we had a visit from Dan Flagg of Pinpoint Professional Services, a certified home inspector and Energy Star auditor, who came all the way out to Athens. He spent more than 5 hours in our house, with Michael following him around and learning the whole time. He did a blower door test, which was frankly kind of terrifying (gale force winds coming from our pocket doors), and a duct test, and probably something else I am forgetting. We got a preliminary briefing, and we'll get a long formal report in the next couple of weeks, which he will bring personally and sit down and go over with us, and we can decide what fixes have the best cost-benefit ratio.

I highly recommend Dan. He was professional and friendly and seemed very dedicated to making sure we understood what he was doing. Michael really enjoyed watching him and learning from him.

In brief, we have a very leaky, under-insulated house. This is hardly surprising, since it was built in the 1920s, but much of it can be fixed fairly straightforwardly, and fixing the big air leaks and working on the insulating and venting of the attic will probably have a very good effect on both our heating and cooling bills and our level of comfort in the upstairs, which gets hot in the summer.

For the record, since Michael pulled out the numbers for today:
Georgia Power bills, 2008-2009
July (we moved in July 25): 229 kwh, $30.61
August: 1047 kwh, $123.01
Sept.: 846 kwh, $96.54
Oct.: 461 kwh, $52.79
Nov.: 556 kwh, $61.87
Dec.: 840 kwh, $87.57
Jan.:599 kwh, $66.23
Feb.: 544, $60.96
March: 549 kwh, $61.44

Georgia Gas bills, 2008-2009
Oct.: 47.518 therms, $24.56
Nov.: 143.587 therms, $108.04 (that doesn't make sense, maybe a mistake?)
Dec.: 108.885 therms, $219.79
Jan.:177.327 therms, $336.75
Feb.:104.232 therms, $209.79

The house is about 1800 square feet (1769 or 1868, depending on whom you believe).