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Green Collar Careers - Calculate the Savings

Demand Management module courses provided the most practical potential energy conservation actions for five the seven classes of appliances shown in Chart 202.  The list below provides a realistic projection of the energy reduction from each of the actions typically found in 3/4's of American homes today.

HVAC
• Seal Door and Window Leaks – 20%
• Programmable Thermostat – 6%
• Clean Evaporator Coils – 5%
• Clean Condenser Coils – 5%

Kitchen Appliances
• Cleaning Refrigerator Coils – 3%
• Seasonal Cooking 1%

Water Heating
• Reduce Thermostat – 16%

Lighting
• Replace incandescent bulbs with Compact Florescent Lights – 64%

Laundry Appliances
• Lower Dryness Setting – 20%

Next we'll choose a an upper middle class home in Dallas Texas as our client with the following parameters:

• Annual Electric Bill - $4208
• Home Size: 3800 Square feet
• Home Age: 16 years
• Occupants: 4
• Pets: 2
• AC SEER #: 13
• Programmable Thermostat: Yes
• Outside Doors with defective seals/gaskets: 2
• Windows needing Solar Film: 0
• Attic Square Footage needing Radiant Barrier: 0
• Outdoor Gas Grill with stove burner: Yes
• Water Heat: Electric
• Number of Light Fixtures with Incandescent Bulbs: 102
• Number of Light Fixtures that will accept CFL Bulbs: 81
• Dryer Electric Heat: Yes

The Home Energy Audit Report Worksheet has been prepared to forecast the energy cost savings and the revenue potential available from the perspective client.  Opening this workbook may prompt to "Update from another Worksheet" and select "No Update".

The Home Energy Audit Report Worksheet contains ten worksheets:

1-Customer Data is used to input customer data taken from an interview with the customer.  The customer will need their latest electric bill and an electric bill from 12 months prior.

2-HVAC is used to provide data relevant to evaluating the efficiency of the total heating/cooling factors. The HVAC mechanicals are rated only from a normal maintenance perspective although SEER ratings of the system are important to identify should the customer be inclined to consider a near term (2-3 years) replacement.  You may want to use the Custom Search Engines at the bottom of these pages to learn more about SEER ratings to advise the customer.    SEER data is located on the Service Tag attached to the outdoor Condenser Unit. HVAC data includes examining attic insulation for R Value and Radiant Barriers.  You may want to use the Custom Search Engines at the bottom of these pages to learn more about Radiant Barrier to advise the customer - in most cases anyone can install a radiant barrier in just a few hours. 

3-Kitchen is used to inspect and evaluate kitchen appliances. You will need to discuss cooking and food preparation habits with the customer as the majority of people waste energy, particularly during summer months.

4-Water Heating is used to inspect and evaluate water heating appliances.

5-Lighting is used to inspect and evaluate lighting.  While CFL bulbs are available in many shapes, note the number of fixtures that will accept them as not all will.  Also for floodlights that are mounted high up there may be benefit for the customer to install LED floodlights.  One of the main benefits is the long life these lamps provide, often 20 years.  Typically the higher cost of an LED will take up to 10 years to pay for itself from electricity savings alone.

6-Laundry is used to inspect and evaluate laundry appliances.  You will need to discuss laundry usage habits with the customer as the majority of people waste energy from not optimizing their washloads.

7-Home Energy Audit Report is what you'll use to summarize the findings and recommendations.  Sheets 1 & 2 are fully automated and sheet 3 is manually created as every home is a little different.  You may want to consider adding a page for your invoice.

Master this worksheet collects the key data from worksheets 1-6 and applies various proven formulas to assist with conducting the analysis.  There are some rate and materials pricing calculations that are commonly used to estimate prices for "handyman upgrades" that you may decide to add to your service portfolio.

Summary this worksheet is a manually generated worksheet that you'll create to provide a table summary of the recommended upgrades, upgrade cost estimates, and savings.  The table will be imported to worksheet 7 Home Energy Audit Report.

Report Data is automatically imported from the Master with some formulas to derive the chart found on worksheet 7 Home Energy Audit Report.

The example on this template is the result of an actual Home Energy Audit performed in April 2008 by one of George's students who now operates his own successful business.  (The names and addresses have been changed).  Six months after the audit and upgrades were installed, the Home Energy Audit consultant went back to validate savings and found that the actual savings were much better then projected.  That is often the case as once a home owner decides they are ready for a Home Energy Audit they become more committed to eliminating their electricity waste among all their various habits.  The consultant spent about 18 hours at this home doing both the inspection and "handyman" upgrades with a net profit of $1300.  Six months into starting his business, the consultant reports that his net earnings are over $7500 a month and growing.