OUR ENERGY AUDIT RESULTS ARE IN .....

 We have our results of the energy audit back! The analysis states that the energy usage is based on the “average operating conditions” of our home. I asked the auditor what this meant. He said it is a typical use of a house and doesn’t include the temperature we set our thermostat at, hot water usage, where in the country we are, or even the number of people living in the home.  So, it is a pretty generic value that is useful for comparative purposes but doesn’t give an accurate value of our individual circumstances. It predicts that we use 171 GJ of energy per year. The audit compares this value to a “typical new house” (I assume of a similar size) of 84 GJ per year. So they predict we are above a new build which is not surprising. Our usage of 171 GJ, translates to 162 MBTU.

I was curious to compare this to our actual energy usage. Again, thanks to the excellent record keeping of my wife, I know that over the past 10 years, our average energy for heat and hot water has been 100 MBTU. We have averaged 3200 kwh in electricity to power lights etc. which brings the total to 110.9 MBTU (i.e. 1 kwh = 3412 BTU).  So, the energy audit prediction is much higher than our actual use. I assume this comes down to how we operate our house. The thermostat settings, two people, the length of our hot showers, the fact that we run our washing machine with cold water, etc., maybe also the Nova Scotia climate. I’m particularly proud of the fact that my own heat loss calculations of 103 MBTU outlined in my last blog come much closer to our actual energy use than the energy audit does.

The table below summarizes the recommendations for upgrades that the Audit listed to reduce the energy consumption of our house.

Table 1: Audit Recommendations for reducing our energy usage.

	Insulated exterior wall with R 7.5	Insulate Basement walls with R 18	Adding a Heat pump to 1st & 2nd floor	Add an electric heater with heat pump assist	Perform air sealing	Insulate Attic by R 30	Add 10 new windows
Energy reduction	14 GJ	17 GJ	51 GJ	25 GJ	8 GJ	16 GJ	16 GJ
% reduction	8.2%	10%	30%	14.5%	4.5%	9.4%	9.4%

 The audit does mention that the analysis is based on energy reduction only and does not consider a reduction in heating costs or greenhouse gas emissions. So again, a pretty generic result that doesn’t include the local costs of electricity or the %  of fossil fuels used to produce it. This requires a more specific analysis which I will cover in my next blog. I think an energy audit is worth the $200 and provides information that is useful. It is also needed to get government rebates on any you make from their recommendations. I also understand that the analysis is done by a Federal government organization, where it would be difficult to include regional or local conditions. However, it is only one piece of the puzzle.