First Step to Going Solar: An Energy Audit

A home energy audit is the first step to assess how much energy your home consumes and to evaluate what measures you can take to make your home more energy efficient. An energy audit will show you problems that may, when corrected, save you significant amounts of money over time. During the audit, you can pinpoint where your house is losing energy. Energy audits also determine the efficiency of your home's heating and cooling systems and can show you ways to conserve hot water. You can perform a simple energy audit yourself, or have a professional energy auditor carry out a more thorough audit. Click one of the following links for more information:

Please select three of the following:
 

Go Solar: Thinking about going solar? There are two types of solar. Solar photovoltaics and solar water heating. Solar water heaters work with your conventional water heater to reduce your natural gas or electric bill. After installing solar thermal panels on your roof, the panels reduce the need for conventional water heating by around two-thirds.  A solar water heater cuts approximately 12 percent off the average household monthly electric bill.
 

Orient a New Home:  If constructing a new home, use it as an opportunity to go green. Constructing a new home provides the best opportunity for designing and orienting the home to take advantage of the sun's rays. A well-oriented home invites low-angle winter sun to reduce heating bills and rejects overhead summer sun to reduce cooling bills. In addition, when you build with sustainable materials and energy efficiency as a goal, you’ll save money and help save the planet.
 

Reduce Drafts: One of the most cost-effective ways to make your home more comfortable year-round is to add insulation to your attic, which helps reduce drafts and provides a cooling effect during hot summer months.

Attend A Free Solar Workshop. Click HERE for more information. 

Attend A Free Solar Event. Click HERE for more information. 
 

Make yourself Comfortable: Set your thermostat as low as is comfortable in the winter and as high as is comfortable in the summer.
 

Light Improvement:  Making energy efficiency improvements to your lighting is one of the fastest ways to cut your energy bills. An average household dedicates 11% of its energy budget to lighting. Using new lighting technologies, such as compact fluorescent (CFL) and LED lights, can reduce lighting energy use in your home by 50% to 75%. Advances in lighting controls offer further energy savings by reducing the amount of time lights are on, but not being used.
 

Be An Energy Star: Look for the ENERGY STAR label on home appliances and products. ENERGY STAR products meet strict efficiency guidelines set by the U.S. Department of Energy and the Environmental Protection Agency.
 

Unplug Appliances: Plug home electronics, such as TVs and DVD players, into power strips; and turn the power strips off when the equipment is not in use (TVs and DVDs in standby mode still use several watts of power).

Turn It Off:  Turn off your computer and monitor when not in use.
 

Skip the Bottled Water:  Use a water filter to purify tap water instead of buying bottled water. Not only is bottled water expensive, but it generates large amounts of container waste, not to mention the carbon footprint of energy usage it takes to transport it from the manufacturer to your local store.
 

Recycle: Look on the bottom of your plastic items to see if they are recyclable. If the reduce, reuse, recycle triangle is there, recycle it. Remember, paper and glass is also recyclable. Low-flow:  Install a low-flow shower head and toilet. The benefits can be pretty impressive, particularly since water heaters account for nearly 25-percent of home energy use. Put several hundred dollars back into your budget each year and keep water use to a minimum.

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