This blog originally appeared on the Rockwool R-Class Program website. ROCKWOOL – R-Class Builder Program – United States (English)
Energy audit, energy assessment and building diagnostics, what are the differences?
Part of my work is in a niche discipline in the residential construction industry where I test and inspect both new and existing homes for construction errors and other deficiencies that cause a home not to meet its owners’ expectations. A home can have a comfort or cost to operate issue. There may be moisture or indoor air quality issues that cause health problems for the occupants, or maybe there are structural durability concerns due to water infiltration. Sometimes this testing and inspecting simply becomes an education session to teach the homeowners how their homes work.
There are three different types of analysis I perform, an energy assessment, energy audit and building diagnostic. They are all related, but a little different. The first two deal with the movement of energy in a structure, the last is usually more about the movement of moisture, but not always. Let’s dig a little deeper into each.
