Home Energy Audits: Fort Myers, Naples, Cape Coral, Estero

The first step to reducing your electric consumption and your power bill is to understand where you are using energy. Turning off power to idle electronics and installing compact fluorescent lights is a step in the right direction. However, the big reductions are gained in sealing air conditioning ductwork, replacing old inefficient air conditioners, installing solar water heating, adding insulation and tinting windows to reduce heat gain. We specialize in all of these services for homeowners in Fort Myers, Naples, Cape Coral, Estero, and surrounding areas. In addition, we install solar electric systems and high efficiency pool heat pumps among other energy saving products.

Energy Audits and Tests:

1. Computerized Home Energy Survey by a Florida State Certified Energy Rater
This is the place to start. Our free energy audit analyzes your current energy consumption and determines steps to take to conserve energy and reduce your electric bills. Noah Blanco, one of our State Certified Energy Raters, wrote a computer modeling program which breaks down your electric bill and shows exactly where your home uses energy. We then provide you with a detailed list of household items to update or replace to conserve energy in your home, in order of most cost effective to least. A cost for each item, the estimated savings for each and the return on your investment will also be provided. Also any Federal, State or utility company incentives available to encourage you to conserve energy will be outlined.

2. Blower Door Test
If your ductwork is less than 10 years old, we will conduct a Blower Door Test. An energy rater will depressurize your home (see picture 1)
Blower Door Test and test each air conditioning register for leakage.

3. Duct Blaster Test
Typically, if your ductwork is 10 years or older a duct blaster test will be used to measure the total leakage rate. (See Pic 2 or video). We seal off each register to measure the actual rate of leakage in the duct system. This test is similar to the Blower Door Test except the duct system is depressurized instead of the entire house.

4. HERS Rating
HERS, Home Energy Rating System, is a test performed only by a State Certified Energy Rater. This test includes a Blower Door Test and a Duct Blaster Test. The R value of the home's insulation, the type of windows, construction type, overhangs, home orientation, water heating source and a host of other data will also be collected. This data is loaded into the Florida Energy Gauge software producing a Building Energy Rating Guide (see HERS Index Chart)
HERS Index 400w. The efficiency of your home can then be compared to other houses of similar size. The HERS Rating test is required for “Energy Star” designation.

5. Manual J Load Calculation
Manual J load calculations determine the exact size Air Conditioner your home requires. If you have altered your home or employed some energy efficiency measures, your air conditioning system may be oversized or undersized. A load calculation analyzes the current heat load of your home as it currently exists. A properly sized air conditioner is extremely important especially in Florida where we have very warm temperatures and high humidity. A system sized too large will cool your home properly but will not run long enough to sufficiently remove humidity and undersized system will not be able to cool properly during very hot weather. The idea is to find the “right size” for an air conditioning system. If you don’t measure, you are just guessing.