Over  the past winter, you likely noticed that there were some spots in your house that were a bit cooler than you would have liked. These drafts are often most noticeable around windows and doors, but don’t think these are your major sources of wasted heat and energy. Rather, in most homes, the most significant air leaks are hidden in the attic and the basement.

You may already know where some air leaks occur in your home, such as an under-the-door draft, but to find many of the smaller culprits, the Department of Energy recommends that you get an energy audit that includes a blower door test. A blower door test, depressurizes your home and reveals the location of many leaks.

If you don’t want to opt for a professional energy assessment or blower door test, the DOE suggests a number of less costly approaches that also provide meaningful and actionable results:

• DIY Depressurization Test – On a cool windy day, turn off all fans, blowers, exhausts, furnaces in the house and shut all windows and doors. Use a wet hand (cool with a draft) or an incense stick (wavers in drafty area) near suspected leak areas.
• Flashlight Test – At night, shine a flashlight over potential gaps while someone observes the house from outside. Large cracks will show up as streams of light. This method does not work well small cracks.
• Paper Test – Shut a door or window on a piece of paper. If you can pull the paper out without tearing it, you’re losing energy. This method does not address other air leak culprits.

Once you find air leaks many are rather straightforward to repair. Energy Star provides a good DIY guide to repairing common home air leaks including, recessed lighting,  plumbing vents, and wiring holes.

The nice thing about energy-saving investments is that they can show results quickly and can often pay for themselves in two heating seasons or less.

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In a recent blog post covered by The Daily Energy Report, Sohbet Karbuz writes about the energy consumption in the US military. He shares some interesting facts from his research which shed light on the hidden costs of our armed forces.

In 2009, the Department of Defense consumed 932 trillion BTUs of energy. This equates to 2 percent of the US energy consumption and more than 93 percent of government energy use. If they were a nation, they would be the 36th largest consumer of energy. However, less than half of oil consumption is in the continental United States. Looking deeper into our area of interest, space heating,  the military consumes over 200 trillion BTUs of energy in buildings annually.

The military is acutely aware of these figures and while they comprise less than 2 percent of the Defense Department budget, the Defense Secretary has identified energy as one of the department’s top 25 priorities. The DoD is already a leader in a number of alternative energy areas and continues to search for alternatives so that it can reduce its reliance on oil and improve our energy security.

For more information about this topic visit the post here.

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The Department of Energy announced the release of the new Workforce Guidelines for Home Energy Upgrades.  Energy improvement programs and homeowners can adopt these guidelines to increase the consistency and effectiveness of energy upgrades, and training providers can use them to improve course curricula and training materials.  These guidelines were developed through a collaboration between energy efficiency contractors, building scientists, health and safety experts, technicians and trainers in the weatherization program, and other professionals in the building and home energy upgrade industry.

The Workforce Guidelines include standard work specifications required for high-quality work, a reference guide for technical standards and codes, analysis of the job tasks involved in completing various energy efficiency improvements, and the minimum qualifications workers should possess to perform high quality work.  Identifying the knowledge, skills and abilities required to perform efficiency upgrades represents an important step in developing a nationwide framework for training program accreditation and worker certification.

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Anyone contemplating a big home improvement project to make their homes more energy efficient has missed a rather significant window. Beginning January 1st, the federal government slashed the tax credits for energy efficiency home upgrades from 30 percent to 10 percent and reduced the total available credit to $500. For more check out the 2011 Federal Tax Credits for Energy Efficiency.

As a manufacturer, we like to stay on top of these developments and are also interested in how these changes in incentives will change buying behaviors. Suzanne Shelton, a contributor to Fast Company magazine, summarizes the impact as, “approximately one third of the population who made their home more energy efficient would likely not have acted or would not have purchased the more efficient unit if it weren’t for the incentives offered.”

I guess that leaves it to creative marketers, manufacturers and local utilities to create the proper motivation for purchasing greener appliances.

Green America recently published a list of ten ways that a homeowner can reduce their energy use by 50% (and thereby also cut their energy bill as well). The list includes some obvious choices — turn off your lights, wash your clothes with cold water and using a programmable thermostat.

What makes the list more interesting is that also includes “the easy” fixes, but also more “advanced” fixes for those that want to really attack their energy use. Unlike other lists of this type, the Green America list also provides a sense of how much energy you will be saving by making the recommended improvements.

One that stood out for me was. “Install Ceiling Fans” — I would not have imagined that running a fan would save 19% of my home energy use. Thinking about it more, it does make sense, but I had not connected the dots.

Take a look at the poster that summarizes the list and see if you are also surprised by what small changes can do for your pocket book.

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The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill has developed an edutainment web application that allows you to be in control of the United States energy. The goal of the game is to rework the U.S. energy portfolio to double the energy production in the United while decreasing the total carbon emissions.

Try the Energy Cocktail to see if you can produce enough energy to power America while balancing carbon emissions and costs.

Based on my trial and error — to keep costs in check, and provide adequate production, nuclear and biomass energy are integral to the solution. Let me know what you discover.

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Earlier this month, Vice-President Biden announced the launch of the Home Energy Score pilot program. The Home Energy Score offers homeowners straightforward, reliable information about their homes’ energy efficiency, similar to a vehicle’s mile-per-gallon rating. A customized report provides a home energy score between 1 and 10, and shows how a home compares to others in the region. The report also includes customized, cost-effective recommendations that will help to reduce home energy costs and improve the comfort of the home.

Under this program, trained and certified contractors will use a standardized assessment tool developed by DOE and Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory to evaluate a home and generate useful, actionable information for homeowners or home buyers. Using about 40 inputs and taking about an hour, the Home Energy Scoring Tool lets a contractor evaluate a home’s energy assets, like its heating and cooling systems, insulation levels and more. That means a homeowner can see how their home’s systems score regardless of their personal behavior — low/high thermostat or bath versus shower.

A score of “10″ represents a home with excellent energy performance, while a “1″ represents a home that will benefit from major energy upgrades. Along with the score, the homeowner will receive a list of recommendations for home energy upgrades and other useful tips. For each specific improvement, the estimated utility bill savings, payback period, and greenhouse gas emission reductions are included. To see a sample copy of the Home Energy Score and get more information on how it is calculated, visit HomeEnergyScore.gov or visit here to see an example PDF (702 kb) of a score and recommendations.

The Home Energy Score initially is being tested in ten pilot communities across the country, in both city and rural areas that cover a wide range of climates. During this pilot phase, the DOE and its partners will gauge how homeowners respond to the program, and whether the information encourages them to get energy improvements done on their homes. After the pilot concludes in late spring 2011, DOE expects to launch the Home Energy Score nationally, based on the findings from the pilot program. To participate in the pilot, contact a testing location in your local area.

Myth: The kids will kick off the covers and get cold.
Fact: Children older than a month or two can regulate their body temperature just like adults, so they don’t need a different temperature than adults. If they kick off the covers, dress them a bit warmer prior to putting them to bed.

So what should you set your thermostat to? Polling a number of energy company websites, the consensus is 68°F (or the temperature your health care professional recommends) during times when you are present and active. When you go to sleep, set the thermostat at the lowest comfortable setting.