My parents remember a time when getting enough energy into the home was very difficult. Firstly, any fuels that were available, such as logs, turf and briquettes were usually cut, chopped, shaped and transported by hand to the house from a local source. If we compare this with today, and look at both our energy usage and consumption, then we have diverged considerably from that early concept. Of course no one wants to go to the bog every day to cut their own turf, and we cannot expect people to! The modern lifestyles does not permit the time, nor would most of us be able for the physical challenge of cutting logs and digging bogs.  

So instead, why not focus on what we can do to reduce our energy requirements. Recent campaigns such as Power Of One in Ireland and the Energy Saving Trust in the UK are helping to promote the concept that we can all do our bit, regardless of how small that difference may be. Set against this, however, is the throwaway lifestyle to which we all subscribe: the "if something runs out, buy more of it" concept is anathema to most energy saving principals. There is even the snobbery effect of "I want to keep all the lights on, it's a statement that I can afford it!" to contend with.

Why Do An Energy Audit?

The main reason to undertake an audit is to enable us to identify where money is being wasted. If we spend less money on energy, then that gives us more disposable income to do other things. But the energy saving concepts must fit the lifestyle of today, or to put in another way, require minimal changes to be effective. Large scale changes to our living habits, while offering perhaps the biggest reduction in energy use, are usually impractical for most of us. So the bottom line is: let's be realistic in our approach to energy saving. By adopting a step-by-step change, that makes the transition more bearable.

In Ireland there are new home efficiency laws in place from 2007 which inform a new house buyer exactly how energy efficient a house is; this will create more awareness in the market, hence more people will be keen to obtain higher energy ratings, in order to make their house more attractive to buyers and ultimately achieve a quicker sale.

Who Can Do This?

For an electricity audit, the home owner can, as we shall see. For other parts of the audit, although the homeowner can make some changes, quantifying them will be difficult and is best left to a professional. They can can do heat loss measurements around the house, and then suggest remedies for rooms with higher heat loss, such as upgrading of insulation, altering doors and windows, or perhaps advising on alternative heating technologies to bring the heat loss value down. Further down the road, you could look into employing a professional, many of which are now being trained up to service the public under the Building Energy Ratings (BER) guidelines which is now in effect.

So lets get started: first we take a look at the electricity usage in the house, so that we can identify where savings can be made.