What's Wrong with the Home-Energy Audit Industry?

Couldn't agree more!
by Adrienne Bashista

My partner and I own a home performance company in central NC and we couldn't agree more about energy audits on existing homes. It's very satisfying to help someone who owns a modest, older home find the places where they can make repairs, add insulation, work on their ducts, crawlspace, etc. because we know these people will see real results in their energy bills.

The trick is to convince people that they need to have this done. Slowly but surely it's happening. Right now it's hard to convince people to spend money on anything, but most people see the value in getting an energy audit for long-term savings.

I only have one problem with your post - just because a company is small doesn't mean that the auditor operates "out of a beat-up truck and keeps his laptop and answering machine in his spare bedroom. You’ll call and if you’re lucky he’ll get back to you within the week, and maybe he’ll be able to get to your house within the month. He may or may not get your report and recommendations written up and returned to you, with an invoice, in a timely fashion."

Ouch. Sorry that it's been your experience that there're either the big companies who seem to have all the local builders sewn up tight, or some random, sloppy, handyman-type guy who doesn't return phone calls. That's not how we run things, although we are a very small operation (for now). Perhaps the larger company quit doing older homes because it wasn't as profitable as other things they do. Perhaps, because they operate out of a big office and have a fleet of vehicles, energy audits didn't help them cover their overhead so they stick to the things they can charge big money for.

In our experience our customers like to have personal service. They like the owner of the business be the one they deal with most of the time. They like that we started our business out of our experiences weatherizing our own 100 year old home, which was essentially as hole-ridden as a colander when we bought it.

It seems like the value of energy audits and weatherization by qualified professionals is in the news more and more. This is really the best way for most people to achieve energy-efficiency. The houses you build are gorgeous and exciting and ingenious...and expensive. Plus, what better way to save the planet than by "recycling" old structures?

Hopefully between increased awareness in the media as well as the stimulus money that will broaden the reach of the low-income weatherization grants we'll see more people seeking out services like ours.

Adrienne Bashista
Home Performance NC
www.homeperformancenc.com

on mkaing a living doing audits
by Steve Clark

Hear Hear Adrienne,...

I think that there is a lot of confusion out there because there are many takes on what an 'audit' is. Here are 4 audit levels using RESNETs recent definition:

701.2. National Standard for Home Energy Assessment Levels There are two categories of assessment defined in this standard:
1. Home Energy Survey
a. On-Line Home Energy Survey
b. In-Home Home Energy Survey
c. Diagnostic Home Energy Survey
2. Comprehensive Home Energy Audit

It is clear to me that most of us are talking about 1c and 2 (1a and 1b are of very limited value to anyone) RESNETs defnition of 2 is the full REMrate or equiv modeling of the house where every detail of the thermal boundary needs to be quantified, entered into software and QAed to tight standards. This is certainly not sustianable for existing home at less that $1000/rating.

But the RESNET 1c level has a lot of potential: what is the best mix of blower door, caz testing, IR or energy bill analysis performance testing? software? cutting holes in walls? ....that will enable you to get maximum benefit for both the 1c auditor and the homeowner?

I hope that it is possible to take all these diagnostic tools into a house and quickly figure out the most efficient mix to maximize benefit VS follow exhaustive, heavily prescribed #2 Comprehensive audit.

Steve

Improving older homes
by Chuck

I believe audits are very important however and see the importance of them. However, the existing home market and those with the income to afford $600 for an audit is still pretty small.

For homeowners I provide Raleigh, Durham, Chapel Hill and surrounding North Carolina communities with an array of lower-cost services that will improve their homes energy performance . Solutions for reducing their home energy and water consumption -- saving the planet while reducing monthly utility bills!
We don't do HERS audits or the like but we do work with those that provide audits to actually implement the auditors recomendations.

Our service focuses on the ‘low tech’ and ‘low-cost’ yet ‘high energy-saving’ and ‘high cost-saving’ strategies. Many of the strategies we utilize include:

* Use of energy efficient compact fluorescent lightbulbs (CFL)

* Best weatherization, building envelop sealing, and insulation practices.

* Upgrading and maintaining heating, ventilation, and air conditioning systems (HVAC).

* Upgrading, maintaining, and managing water heating systems.

* Upgrading and managing water usage

* Promoting use of EnergyStar approved appliances and other products.

Perhaps it's where you live.
by M.E.Smith III

" If you want an energy audit performed on a home you are living in you most likely will have to deal with an auditor who is operating out of a beat-up truck and keeps his laptop and answering machine in his spare bedroom. You’ll call and if you’re lucky he’ll get back to you within the week, and maybe he’ll be able to get to your house within the month. He may or may not get your report and recommendations written up and returned to you, with an invoice, in a timely fashion."

This is not how it's done in New York, perhaps it's because you live where you live...auditors have to be educated, look professional and don't drive beaters. I attempted living in Charlotte once, lasted about 30 days.

The fundamental approach is wrong
by Ted Inoue

Background: I've been involved in a consulting approach to home performance analysis for several years and have a couple hundred clients. While I'm not as experienced as some of you who have done this for decades, I think I've seen an wide cross-section of existing homes and discussed these issues with others in the industry.

I've also been working with an environmental engineer who has been doing extensive research into the problem of retrofitting the existing building stock. The conclusion - the fundamental approach of "one home, one audit" is deeply flawed.

Let's look at round numbers. Suppose we have 10,000 energy auditors and 100,000,000 homes that need to be audited and retrofitted. An auditor can do about 150 audits per year, and even that is pushing it. But let's be optimistic.

150 audits * 10,000 auditors = 1.5 million audits/year. That's 67 years of audits at this pace. Even if your goal is to audit half the homes, you're looking at 30+ years with a boatload of auditors. And what about qualified contractors to do the repairs? I live in a affluent county, one of the larger, more populous ones in the Philadelphia metropolitan area, and I can count on one hand the number of contractors whom I trust to do this type of work.

As the author noted noted, from a business perspective, the work needed to do a comprehensive audit, as defined by the current HERS/BPI standards is untenable. Moreover, it is my assertion that it is unnecessary. Here's why:

If you begin to survey the designs of homes and construction styles, you find that virtually nothing is unique - the same techniques and styles are replicated millions of times. Take the Levittown communities in my area. Approximately 50,000 homes were built in the 50's and 60's using only a handful of designs. The fundamental designs are identical, as are the problems. You don't need a highly skilled energy auditor to go into a home and spend six hours in order to determine that the knee-walls will be constructed in a certain manner. Before you even go to the house, you know what's wrong.

Yes, one needs to be concerned about combustion issues. Absolutely. But that can be addressed more efficiently.

What we are endorsing is the concept of the "community scale retrofit". Most of the development home built, which is a significant fraction of the existing homes in the United States, were built using the assembly line principles put into wide-spread practice by Levitt. Common designs, a few variations, the same mistakes.
Instead of analyzing every home individually, we need to create standard packages of renovations for development homes. This is the missing link to reasonably priced, safe, consistent quality energy efficient retrofits.

Right now, every Joe or Jane with a pickup can sell themselves as a home performance contractor, but there's no consistency. Some of these operators are incredibly careful and gifted at weatherization, others are hacks, making it up as they go. By having standardized retrofits built into building codes that contractors are required to follow, you either do it right or you lose your ability to do business.

The packages take into consideration the HVAC systems and potential combustion hazards. They take into account what we know to work from a building science perspective. They account for known paybacks and project priorities.

Most of us in the business can walk a home and within 20 minutes could tell you the top 5-10 items that need to be addressed that will give 80% of the energy efficiency benefits while considering potential hazards. And yet we continue to spend 4-6 hours in the home and many hours writing reports. In most cases, It's unnecessary.

The only way we're going to address the existing building stock in a timely manner and make a living doing it is by taking the same approach used to build the houses - many houses, one solution. This is a case where the cookie cutter solutions are extremely effective.

Absolutely, couldn't agree with you more.
by Michael Chandler, GBA Advisor

Ted

I can't agree with you more. In fact I have a white paper that sums up a lot of what you are proposing and offers an alternative to the PACE program and Efficiency First that I've been circulating and had a lot of help from this site in developing. You can take a look at it here: http://www.chandlerdesignbuild.com/files/Market_Driven_Weatherization_01...

I realize that it may not be popular to offer an alternative to those very valuable programs but please take a careful look at what I'm proposing and send me any feedback you may have. I'll be at the Resnet conference in Raleigh later this month if any want to hash it out in person. We don't get there without a massive, production-oriented approach and the current stratagies just aren't there yet.

On the same page
by Ted Inoue

Michael, that's a great document, I'm glad we're on the same page.
Here's a couple pages we've put together describing our vision
https://sites.google.com/a/virescentcommunities.org/general/intro
https://sites.google.com/a/virescentcommunities.org/general/signup

Also see the documents at the bottom of the intro page for more detailed information on the studies we've already done. "Residential Housing" and "What Will We Do About Levittown?" are the key documents.

If you want to take this off-line, send me a direct email to "ted" at my domain, etccreations.com

Keep up the good work!

Great comments!
by thefutureisnow

Just wanted to add that this is an excellent article.. I've gain even more insight through the individuals who have posted comments.

The City of Houston is doing exactly what you're speaking of, viewing the challenge of Home Energy Auditing as a community effort.

Please take the time to watch this link:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sutWtadatbM

Thanks again for your guidance!

Think retrofit not audit
by Matt Golden

We need to change the way we think of the Home Performance process. It is not about auditing, it is about solving problems by getting the work done.

In a healthy market for Home Performance Retrofitting, the price of an audit falls rapidly. In San Francisco, we are now charging $199 for a comprehensive audit, and without any subsidies or special financing yet in play, 45% to 50% of audits undertake the retrofit.

As incentives and financing comes into the market, we expect adoption to increase and audit costs to continue to drop -- maybe even free.

We find that while a very small number of customers have concerns that we are a turnkey shop, the VAST majority of consumers are thrilled that we can make the process easy, and will stand behind our solutions results.

Auditing, as a profession or program design is going to continue to have a hard time competing in a market where integrated companies do not have to charge for these initial evaluations.

Audits don't solve problems or save energy, and create few jobs. It is about getting customers to adopt actual measures.

These guys are doing it and doing it well
by Spencer

I had a home energy audit by National Energy Audits, www.nationalenergyaudits.com which took about 4 hours. They did a full analysis on my home and many tests including the blower door, thermal imaging, ducts, combustion and they were great. The auditor walked me through everything as i followed home throughout my home. He found parts of my home were not insulated and airsealed. This company came back within 3 days and did all the work. The audit would have cost me $150 (i had a BBB mailer coupon) BUT they waived the audit fee since I went ahead with the work. The auditor was BPI certified and was able to translate all the technical chatter into lamens terms for me. The crew that came to do the recommended solutions were actual employees of National Energy Audits. They were very professional, in uniform, and cleaned up when they were finished. I was very impressed. I have learned that they have been in business for over 2 years now and i was shocked that this company does not receive any media attention. If President Obama were smart, he would get in touch with them and find out how they are being so successful at this.

The solutions needed to make my home more energy efficient came to $2300. After tax credits i believe it was around $1,600. I would have to find the paperwork.

I highly recommend you check this company out and have an audit performed by them.
go to their website at www.NationalEnergyAudits.com