Tag: energy assessment

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Types of Home Energy Audits

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.

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Diagnostic Tools-Monitoring Electricity Usage

Randy Williams and Travis Brungardt

This post originally appeared in the November, 2022 issue of Fine HomeBuilding Magazine.   You can read the FHB print version here:  Options for Smarter Home-Energy Tracking – Fine Homebuilding

A home’s electricity use is affected by many factors.  The efficiency of the home, the type of equipment in the home and the habits of the occupants all play a role.  Up until recently, monitoring electricity use took complicated equipment.  That’s all changing.  New technology allows for monitoring whole electrical panels or individual circuits through technology included the electrical panel or the overcurrent device (breaker).  Other technologies that have been around a while are aftermarket products that can be installed inside panels.  There are also options that include point of use metering or utility usage monitoring performed directly though the utility meter.  These electrical monitoring options can be installed in both new and existing construction. Continue reading “Diagnostic Tools-Monitoring Electricity Usage”