Home Energy Audit

A Home Energy Audit We spend most of our time in buildings -- homes, schools, offices, and stores. But most people hardly notice details about the buildings, such as how they are designed, how they are built, and how well they are maintained. These details have a strong effect on how much we enjoy a building and how much it costs. An "energy-efficient" building is more comfortable than a wasteful building. It needs less fuel for heat and less electricity for cooling. A building that is badly designed and poorly kept up wastes money. Why? Because it is trying to heat and air-condition the outdoors as well as the indoors. This activity turns you into an instant BUILDING INSPECTOR. Your assignment: Identify whatever helps or hurts energy conservation in a specific building. You can become a kind of detective looking for "bad guys" that waste energy and money. Objectives At the completion of this activity, you should be able to • identify the major construction, maintenance and design features that make a building energy efficient; • define and use each of the vocabulary terms discussed in this unit; • explain energy saving steps to a homeowner. Skills and Knowledge You Need Ability to make observations and to record them Materials 2 Vocabulary sheets: "Heat Bandits" and "Energy Savers" 2 Energy Audit Data Sheets: Interior and Exterior Materials to make a draft detector as shown in the diagram: pencil, tape, and tissue paper or thin plastic ...