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Cost-Effective Measures to Make Your Home More Energy Efficient

Wed, 04 Sep 2024 20:16:06 GMT

Improving your home’s energy efficiency lowers the amount of electricity, gas, and water you use, which directly reduces your utility bills. By consuming less energy, you decrease the demand on power plants and reduce greenhouse gas emissions, helping to protect the environment. This not only benefits your household but also contributes to global efforts in conserving natural resources and mitigating climate change.

Check video below for more detailed tips just for you!

Why have an energy audit?

Thu, 22 Aug 2024 13:13:05 GMT

Having an energy audit performed on your home is a great way to begin making your home more energy-efficient and comfortable.

There are a couple of types of audits you can have done. A "walk-through" audit is what Duke Energy will do. They will send someone out to look around and make suggestions for reducing your energy usage. This is okay if you are just looking for some basic ways to improve the energy efficiency in your home. No equipment is used to test the house. We offer a slightly more detailed assessment called a Home Energy Score. For a cost of $150, you can actually have your home scored and evaluated for its energy efficiency. The report also suggests which improvements will save you the most money. At Apogee, we also conduct a blower door test for this service, which will quantify how leaky your home is and compare it to the current building code. The Home Energy Score can also qualify your home for an Energy Efficient Mortgage (EEM). And best of all, it qualifies for a $150 tax credit, so it's FREE! Click here to see an example of the report.

Here at Apogee, we offer a comprehensive energy audit as well. This service costs $300, but it is much more detailed and involves some in-depth testing of the home, including combustion appliance testing, blower door testing, duct leakage testing, and infrared imaging. The report will describe in detail how your home is performing, what can be done to improve it and at what cost, and it will even show you how soon those improvements will pay for themselves in savings. Provide your email above, and I will send you a copy of an example audit report showing all the details. The comprehensive audit qualifies for the $150 tax credit as well.

The other big benefit of our comprehensive energy audit is that it will give you a pathway to the most energy-efficient home possible, showing which improvements are the most cost-effective and exactly how much they will cost and pay for themselves. The Inflation Reduction Act gives great tax credits for almost all of these improvements over the next nine years, so you can plan based on what your most pressing and immediate needs are.

And probably the most important benefit of our comprehensive audit is that it could save your life. If you have any combustion appliances in your home, such as a gas stove, gas fireplace, gas water heater, etc., it could be emitting carbon monoxide. This gas is colorless and odorless, and IT CAN KILL YOU! Our combustion appliance testing can determine if you have a problem and put your mind at ease.

So call us today at 864-492-1344 to schedule your appointment for an energy audit near you!

What is a residential load calculation?

Thu, 22 Aug 2024 13:12:30 GMT

A Manual J load calculation, residential load calculation, or load calculation for a house is a tool used to properly size heating and cooling equipment for your home. So you may ask, " Why do I need a load calculation? " The answer is simple: it will make your home more comfortable. MUCH more comfortable. Imagine walking into your home, walking around, and not noticing anything. What I mean by that is every room seems the same temperature and comfort level to you. No room seems hotter or colder, and at no time do you feel the need to adjust your thermostat. That is what a properly sized and commissioned heating and cooling system will do for your home. And when it is accurately sized, it operates at optimal energy efficiency, saving you a great deal of money on your utility bills.

So how does the load calculation accomplish this? Well, the calculation itself figures out how many BTUs of heat will move in and out of the house at any given time of the year. It is based on local weather, the orientation of the house to the sun, the building materials used in construction, including the number, sizes, and quality of the windows, and the number of occupants in the home. Now, if you do this for the house as a whole, it is called a block load calculation.

At Apogee Consulting, we break the load down further to each room in the house. This ensures that every room will maintain the same temperature and level of comfort no matter what it is used for, the number of people occupying it, or how large or small the windows are, all of which can influence the calculation. This calculation will show exactly how much airflow is required in each room.

A load calculation is required for all new residential construction in the Carolinas. Call us today to do one for your new home to ensure a remarkably comfortable and energy-efficient new home based on your lifestyle.

And if you are considering replacing your heating and cooling system, call us first to determine the right size, whether the ductwork needs to be replaced, and what envelope work (insulation and air sealing) might need to be done to your home to make it perform optimally once it is installed.

Why is duct testing important?

Thu, 22 Aug 2024 13:12:29 GMT

When people ask me what measures can be taken to optimize energy efficiency in a home, I tell them to prioritize air sealing and insulation of the attic first. This is because the largest temperature differences occur between that area and the living space, and, as a result, the most rapid and intense heat loss and gain occur. A very close second priority should always be to optimally seal the ductwork for your heating and cooling system and then do duct testing. There are two reasons for this: leaky ductwork costs you money and affects your indoor air quality and possibly your health. Also, leaky ductwork will dramatically reduce the overall efficiency of the mechanical heating and cooling equipment in your home.

At Apogee Consulting, we use software to measure the adverse effect of duct leakage on the efficiency of the homeowner's heating and cooling system. I have seen somewhat astonishing reductions in the efficiency of heating and cooling systems caused by leaky ductwork. For example, if you invest a lot of money into a 17 SEER heat pump and have 30% duct leakage because the air handler was attached to the existing 20-year-old ductwork, the system will perform at a 10 SEER level! And you will spend 30% more than you would have with a new, airtight duct system. This is because the air is leaking out of the ductwork, and most of the time, it is into your attic or crawlspace and NOT your home. And it's leaking out under a lot of pressure, so it is leaking out quickly.

The other problem leaky ductwork can cause is discomfort. If the return side of your ductwork is leaky in the summer, hot air from your attic will be drawn into the system, causing it to work harder and not remove humidity as effectively.

From an indoor air quality standpoint, leakage can also draw air from the attic, including air contaminated with insecticides, pesticides, fiberglass, and air tainted by the feces and urine of vermin like mice.

So needless to say, there isn't a whole lot to like about leaky ductwork! It's expensive, causes discomfort, and can make you sick. At Apogee Consulting, as part of our energy audit, we will measure the duct leakage in your home and compare it to current building code and Energy Star for Home standards, then recommend a contractor to fix it for you. So call or text us today at 864-492-1344 if you are seeking duct testing near me and book an appointment for an energy audit in your home to put you and your family on the path to better health and lower utility bills.