By A Renewable Energy Enthusiast

In my last blog post, I wrote about the benefits of doing a home energy audit before investing large amount of money on a home solar power system. I wrote about 2 ways of getting the energy audit done, either by hiring a professional home energy auditor or doing the auditing yourself.

If you were to get the service of a professional auditor, where do you find them?

One way to find them is to call your local power company and ask them if they provide home power auditing service. Most probably they will do the auditing for you for a small fee.

Another way of performing the energy audit is via a mail-in type. In this approach, you basically have to prepare all the information needed to complete the analysis. Personally, I think this is a silly approach because by the time you’ve finished compiling all the data, you’ve pretty much done the energy audit yourself.

If you’ve hired a professional power auditor, most probably he will impress you with cool stuff and gadgets. One of their standard tools is an infrared device used to measure the temperature of your interior surfaces and also to pinpoint any air leakages.

One area that you must get him to inspect is the furnace because large amount of energy are used on this area. Any improvement done here will reduce your monthly electricity consumption quite substantially.

The fact is, the biggest energy inefficiency in your house can easily be detected. Most houses have very obvious areas where energy is being wasted. For example, there may be a big gaping hole where air is escaping through the attic or a heater which is more than 20 years old.

So, is it worth hiring a professional energy auditor for your home? Well, if you have a big home and you don’t wish to survey every inch of your house, by all means, pay someone else to do it.

If you have an average size house and you have the time to survey your house and look into every corner closely, you might as well do the auditing yourself. In actual fact, the process is not that difficult.

DIY Home Energy Audit Guide

Do you need help to do your own home energy audit? If you do, check out the Easy-Energy-Audits guide.

The manual will show you step by step how to do perform your own residential power audit in a couple of hours. For more information, click on the link below.

==> Click here to visit DIY home energy audit guide now!

Some people may find the subject of economics very boring. I know I do because I remember sleeping through economic classes at school. Studying all the charts and graphs did not interest me at all.

If I am so turned off by the subject of economics, why am I writing an article about it right now?

Well, back then, the subject of economics didn’t concern me because it does not affect me. However, today’s article is on the topic of energy economics at home, which has a direct affect on my pocket.

If you are planning to build a home solar power system to supplement your energy usage, you know you have to set aside quite a large sum of money. Wouldn’t it make sense to get the best Return On Investment (ROI) for your money?

That’s what I thought and the studies of economics became very interesting.

Getting The Best Out Of Your Money

When you are making investment in both time and money planning and building a home solar energy system, you should be focused and deliberate in order to ensure a good payback.

Unfortunately, many home owners do not have a good grasp on the specific of how and where energy is being consumed in their homes. Before you start buying solar components, it is best to deduce how much you are paying for electricity at home.

As the saying goes, “The devil is in the details.” Do you know where you are spending the most on electricity? Is it the air-conditioning unit, heater or refrigerator?

If you were to study your heating, ventilation and air-conditioning (HAVC) system, you may discover certain areas which you are wasting money.

The biggest issue with HVAC is your home insulation. If your house is not properly insulated or if there are air leaks, your air-conditioning unit will kick into action to achieve your desired temperature setting. Due to air leaks, the system has to work harder to compensate hence costing you more money.

If you were to install a home solar power system without first studying the energy economics of your home, most of the power generated by the sun will go to waste.

Performing Home Energy Audits

So, here’s the conclusion of this article. Always perform a complete energy audit of your home before you start buying the solar parts and components.

There are 2 ways you can do this. You can either engage the service of a professional home energy auditor which will cost you a couple of hundred dollars or do the auditing yourself.

By doing your own DIY energy audit, you will locate where are your largest energy wasters. There is a step by step guide which will show you how to perform your own home energy audit. It only takes 1 hour using common tools found around your house and it will give you a better result than using a professional auditor. Click on the link below to check out the DIY home energy audit guide.

==> Click here to visit DIY home energy audit guide now!

A lot of home owners may not know about this. The heating, ventilation, and air conditioning comprise, on average, about 25 percent of a typical household monthly electricity bill.

As you may already guess, any measures you take to improve this area will reduce your total monthly utility bill substantially.

The Solar Challenge

In my case, I live in a place with 365 days of sun coverage a year. It can be pretty hot some times.

The biggest issue we experienced is solar radiation that will heat up the interior of the house. A large amount of money is spent on air-conditioning. How can we improve this?

As I was doing my research on DIY solar homes, I found out a simple way to overcome solar radiation at home is by using “window covers”. The cheapest form of window covers is via blinds, awnings and shades.

In most cases, our home can achieve better insulative properties by simply covering the windows with appropriate materials such as sun reflectors, insulation webs, heavy colored fabrics etc.

Another approach we can take is to acquire the habit of opening and closing blinds and curtains at a certain times of the day.

For example, close the shades during the afternoon session or late evening, especially if the main living room is facing the west direction where the sun sets.

Block Out The Sun With Blinds

If you want to reduce you home energy bill, why not use blinds on the windows. You don’t have to install blinds on every window, just the one letting direct sun light into the room.

Depending on the type of blinds you use, they can be excellent absorbers or reflectors of sun light. If you are staying in an area with cold climates, you want the blinds to absorb as much sun light as possible to warm up the room.

If the climate is hot, you want the opposite effect by getting the blinds to block the sun ray.

What is the best way to use blinds at home?

During summer time, many people made the mistake by placing the blinds inside a window to keep sunlight out. If you do this, the blinds will soak up the sun energy and releasing it into the room. You are still experiencing solar radiation.

A better approach is to fix the blinds over a window on the outside. By doing this, the sun light will be stopped by the blinds and the heat will be dissipated outside the room.

Of course by placing the blinds outside the room, it will get very hot. Chances are, the blinds may not even last very long.

But who cares?

We can just buy inexpensive blinds from the hardware store and do a replacement when it is worn down. You can use the money you save from your reduced monthly power bill to do this.

Popular Blinds At Amazon

When I was doing my research for this blog post, I decided to do a quick search on Amazon.com to see what are the top selling blinds in their inventory.

Apparently, many home owners are buying the 8 feet length SunSetter shades. To read more about the top selling blinds in Amazon.com, click here

Home Solar And Wind Power Videos

Do you want to know how you can use solar modules or wind generator to reduce your home energy consumption? If you do, check out the 30 solar and wind power for home videos e-book we’ve compiled. It’s free to download.

==> Click here to download the free e-book now!

Related web pages:

1) Earth 4 Energy Review – A quick review on the top selling renewable energy guide from Clickbank.

2) Magniwork Reviews – Is Magniwork Generator System A Scam?

3) Green DIY Energy Reviews – Is Green DIY Energy Another Scam?