What does a certified independent audit bring to the program?
Honesty, accuracy, oversight and integrity, a leveling of the playing field for the benefit of the home owner. At this time San Diego is still putting the finishing touches on the program. The city is in favor of the audits, as are most other cities with the program, however some of them are in favor after they initially left it out as a requirement. Why, first of all you need to understand that greed is still the most motivating factor, especially for the solar companies. They want free reign over the program when it comes to who decides just how many panels you need for your energy requirements. Their goal is to sell you as much energy as your house can hold, weather you need it or not! The same for the window guy, the insulation guy, the HVAC guy, the thermal hot water guy, the appliance guy and the roofer guy.
With $50,000 of your money at stake how should you spend it to get the best return on your investment dollar? As certified auditors we are trained to do just that for you. We do several tests on the various systems within your home and determine just how energy efficient they are. With our testing procedures we can give an efficiency rating to each system. We then are able to put together a report called a "Scope of Work" which show each of these systems and how the perform individually and as a interconnected series of systems working as a singular whole. Based on our conversations with you and what is important to you, the history of your utility bills and condition of your home we create what is called a "Scope of Work". In that report we layout a series of possibilities for you based on that information. We then work with you and the contractors that you choose for the work and make sure that all is done according to the agreed on improvements. We make sure that you are aware of the many rebates from public and private sources that you can qualify to receive.
What difference does having the audit report and the education about it mean to you in your energy pursuits. There are two main areas that we see as being the most vulnerable. First, the most money changing events in the process is the complete weatherization of your home with proper insulation, and properly sealed and isolated systems like the HVAC ductwork, and the opening from the house into crawl spaces, chases, plumbing and electrical opening into and out of the house. Second, solar is the most expensive and most vulnerable to being abused in the retrofit scenario. Generally it is a complicated and confusing set of terms and numbers that we do not work with very often. Watts, Kilowatts, Terms, types of panels, manufactures specks different types of current. So the person we listen to is the one who is going to tell us what we need. There are all kinds of business people out there from the very honest the the most corrupt. What separates them and who can help you through this maze. We the energy auditors are on your side and look out for you. Why? It is sort of interesting in that our purpose and how we are paid is determined by how much we can save you and how effectively we can achieve that end. Every one else gets paid more dollars the more they can convince you that you need bigger, heavier, costlier, more panels, and so forth.
Here is a simple example of what I am talking about. Our group of contractors have a higher objective in their business pursuits from saving the planet to performing the best possible service at the best possible price. So one of our solar contractors who always sends us on the job to do our basic audit function. Then we had the work done to make the systems within the house as close to 100% effective as possible. Then we calculated the amount of energy that would be required after the changes compared to the amount of energy needed before the changes. What we discovered was that we dropped the usage requirement by 2 Kilowatts. The current price by installed kilowatts is about $8000 to $12000 per watt. So that changed the bid for solar by $16,000 to $24,000 dollars. The next appropriate question is what did it cost to create the changes in the house to reduce the usage. An extensive weatherization job would be $7000 to $10,000 dollars, most are $3000 to $4000. Our audit costs are from $400.00 to $1200.00 if we did all our tests, which is rare. Most of our fees are about $700 to $800.00. The most likely situation is cost of retrofit and audit is $5000.00 and saving are about $15,000 with an energy bill for your home of under $50.00 per month.
We want to be your partner in your energy saving quest!
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