You've come to the right place to find answers to your questions about building performance, energy efficiency and much more.
Q:
What is an energy audit?
A:
An energy audit is basically a thorough inspection and evaluation of your home or commercial building that results in a detailed report of where energy use can be improved.
Q:
Why should I get an energy audit?
A:
A complete evaluation of your home or commercial building will determine the current condition of your property. This is the critical first step to guide your decisions before any efficiency-related improvements should be considered.
Bascially, you need to know what is broken before fixing anything.
Bascially, you need to know what is broken before fixing anything.
Q:
What is involved in an audit?
A:
We begin each audit by interviewing property owners to get an idea of any existing problems. We need to know how an audit will help so that we may assist you in solving existing problems and prepare you for future improvements. Test procedures include:
- Inspection of the entire exterior, with particular attention to signs of water leakage to the interior and conditions that may be causing water instrusion.
- Blower door test - The indoor space is placed under either under positive or negative pressure to expose the amount and locations of leakage to the exterior.
- Infrared imaging - This allows air leaks, insulation deficiencies and other problems to be detected via minuscule differences in surface temperature.
- Complete report - This report is filled with color and infrared images. These images accompany detailed explanations of related trouble spots, combined with suggested remedies. We give you a choice of potential improvements in order of effectiveness and relative cost.
Q:
How long does an audit take?
A:
A residential audit of a home up to 3,500 square feet takes about 2 hours. Larger homes and commercial properties take more time.
Q:
What is your service area?
A:
We are based in Richmond, Virginia. Our residential service area includes most of Central Virginia. Commercial services are available nationwide.
Q:
What is a blower door test?
A:
A blower door is a fan door that can pressurize or
depressurize a space. The use of this door with special measuring instruments enables us
to determine the rate that outside air is leaking into or out of buildings.
Q:
What can you do with infrared imaging?
A:
An infrared imager is a powerful tool that
creates a visible image of invisible (to our eyes) heat radiation. These imagers can
detect extremely small differences in temperatures. This allows us to "see" insulation
defects, air leakage pathways, and evidence of water intrusion.
