Why Should I Have an Energy Assessment Done?
Having an energy assessment done on your home makes a lot of sense, for a few different reasons:
1) Because our services are not tied to any product, you can rest assured knowing that you will receive expert unbiased advice; no sales pitches here.
2) Having a professional assess your home allows for your home’s greatest potential to be realized. Following the energy assessment, a list of recommendations made specifically for your home will be provided to you pinpointing which upgrades will prove to be the most beneficial in order of priority.
3) The advice of our experts can save you from making costly retrofits that have only a minor effect on your home’s energy efficiency; you will experience peace of mind knowing that your money has been invested wisely.
4) A second follow-up evaluation is scheduled after your renovations are completed to track the overall benefit of your upgrades. We will provide you with an official EnerGuide Label for your home, which acts as proof of your improvement, thereby raising the equity/value of your home.
5) Investing in an energy assessment will also qualify you to receive government grant dollars towards any qualified improvements you make on your home through the ecoENERGY Retrofit Program. An application will automatically be submitted by ATCO EnergySense on your behalf as a part of your follow-up evaluation. For further information, please visit the Grants and Rebates section of our website.
With all of these great benefits, as well as the personal satisfaction of reducing greenhouse gas emissions you can see why we’re excited to help Albertans assess the energy efficiency of their homes. It makes great sense, and EnergySense is happy to get you started!
*Assessment services available to ATCO Gas and ATCO Electric customers
What to Expect
After a brief introduction, the energy evaluator will generally start outside by obtaining external measurements and noting building characteristics of your home. Moving inside, the evaluator will take internal measurements as well, recording the number and location of doors, windows, etc, creating an accurate “blueprint” of your home. Special attention will be paid to insulation levels throughout the residence, including basement walls, crawlspaces, and attics (when applicable). The evaluator will inspect your current heating and cooling system so we are able to recommend the best possible options for reducing energy usage in your home. Each and every room of your home will be visited to ensure that we don’t miss ANY opportunity to improve the comfort and efficiency of your home.
After a general assessment of your home, a “blower door” test is administered. A blower door is a diagnostic tool designed to measure the air-tightness of your home and to help locate air leakage sites. A blower door consists of a calibrated fan for measuring an air flow rate and a pressure sensing device to measure the pressure created by the fan flow. The combination of pressure and fan flow measurements is used to determine the building air-tightness.
With the blower door test running, the evaluator will visit all areas of your home to identify specific air leakage sites. The most common culprits include windows, door, potlights, electrical outlets, fireplaces, and baseboards. Each problem area will be identified to you, and you will be advised on effective methods for correction.
The second stage of the Blower Door service includes an “Exhaust Devices Depressurization Test”. With all of the doors and windows closed, the advisor will turn all exhaust devices in your home and measure the pressure difference this creates. This test is evaluating the risk of drawing harmful fumes from combustion appliances into your home.
The third part of the test uses the data gathered from the blower door fan operation to evaluate the overall leakiness of your home. The equivalent leakage area is the overall area of the home’s air openings in square inches.
To get the maximum benefits of the evaluation, we strongly encourage you to accompany the energy advisor on the inspection of your home, and ask questions! The energy advisor will be happy to address any and all concerns, and should leave you feeling satisfied and eager to begin making your home more energy efficient! You will receive a comprehensive report which summarizes your home’s energy assessment results and provides a list of recommendations for upgrades.
Once all retrofits have been completed, a second follow-up assessment is conducted (up to 18 months after your original assessment, or until March 31, 2011 - whichever comes first). This assessment serves to visually confirm the work you have done, and to administer a second blower door exam to measure how the air-tightness of your home may have improved. After the follow-up assessment, ATCO EnergySense will apply for your ecoENERGY Retrofit grant on your behalf, and will send you a second report outlining the positive impact your improvements made on the energy efficiency of your home. We will also include a label rating your home's energy efficiency.
The initial home energy assessment costs $300 plus GST, and the follow-up evaluation costs $150 plus GST. If ATCO EnergySense is completing your follow-up evaluation but did NOT complete your initial home energy assessment, an additional $50 fee will apply.
IMPORTANT NOTE: The federal government announced on March 31, 2010 that the grant portion of the federal ecoENERGY Retrofit Program has ended effective immediately.
Grant dollars are still available through the provincial rebate program.
To view a video outlining the initial home energy assessment service, developed by Climate Change Central and featuring ATCO EnergySense, please click here.
For the follow-up home energy assessment video, click here.