Photo courtesy of http://www.sustainablespringfield.org/

A number of months ago I wrote a post about the huge number of rebate and incentive programs that are available to homeowners and businesses that choose to undertake projects (both big and small) to make their buildings more energy efficient. One thing I failed to stress was the fact that many of these incentive programs require an initial energy use assessment by a certified energy auditor. This was pointed out in an excellent comment that I received from Robin Green, who said:

“There are often local, state/provincial, or national grants available to people who have a home energy audit done, then do some home energy upgrades, then have a second audit done to gauge the progress they made making their home more energy efficient.

I had this done about six years ago, and I was surprised at how much the energy auditor found for me to do to improve my home. We started with the equivalent of a 14×14 inch square hole in our home - in terms of the amount of drafts - as measured by a blower door test. We were given a score of 40/100, low but not bad for an 80-year-old house. Two months later on the second audit - after extensive sealing of baseboards, door and window frames, and the attic hatch, plus window upgrades and insulation injected into ground floor walls - we had that square down to 6×6 inches and got a score of 60/100. The financial incentives were big enough without any grants - I would guess that our heating bill dropped about 20-30% that year - but we also got something like $1200 in rebates from the federal government and from our local gas utility.

Just remember to have the first energy audit done before you do any serious home energy upgrade - most grants based on an upgrade only qualify if an audit is done first by a licensed or recognized energy auditor.”

A lot of people don’t like the sound of the word ‘audit’, probably because it makes them think of the IRS (or Revenue Canada for my Canadian readers). To put you at ease about the process, I found an article in one of my favourite magazines, This Old House, that goes through the energy audit process in layperson’s terms.

To make it all the more enticing to get audited, there are a lot of programs that offer free or cost-shared energy audits. Here are just a few that I am aware of, but there are a lot more so check your local government or utility:

For Homeowners:

Ontario, Canada (Home Energy Ontario)

Washington, DC

Tampa, Florida

Cincinnati and Northern Kentucky

Wabash County, Indiana

For Businesses:

Ontario, Canada (Power Savings Blitz)

Tampa, Florida

My wife Jenni and I launched Kuzuka.com earlier this year as an on-line marketplace for carbon offsets. At that moment my life as a blogger began. My blog, “The Buzz”, will provide commentary on the carbon offset industry and other climate change-related things that pop into my head that I want to share.

Before Kuzuka took over our lives, I was a scientist at a leading research institute who used satellite images to answer questions about climate change. I would look at pictures of the Amazon to see how much rain forest had disappeared. I would also look at pictures of Asia to see how much rice was being grown, since rice agriculture is a big source of greenhouse gas emissions.

Now that you know my background as a science geek, hopefully you will understand if it takes me a few blogs to transform my writing style. I’m used to writing for ultra-dry, put-you-to-sleep science journals. This is a big shift in styles for me, but I’m up to the challenge.

I hope to hear from many of you over the coming years. Please feel free to email me with questions or comments about anything related to offsets or climate change - your inquiries will be posted in ‘The Buzz’ so that all readers can benefit from them. And if I can’t answer your questions I’ll try to find someone who can.

Thanks for reading - Steve