Due to rising energy costs as well as homeowners’ desire to support both “living green” and national energy independence, there has been a surge of interest in home energy efficiency.

After years of accepting ever increasing home heating and other energy bills, you, the consumer has reached the point of needing to take action to control these costs. Unlike other areas of rising costs, energy costs are indeed areas where most of us can make a difference, but where do you start? What do you do beyond lowering the thermostat to unbearable levels?

Part of the answer is to start with a comprehensive Energy Audit by National Property Inspections.

A national company serving over 350 areas of United States and Canada, NPI is one of the oldest property inspection companies. While well-known for residential and commercial property inspections, NPI also offers a wider range of services including Energy Audit and Assessments. We are trained and certified in Infrared Thermography and Basic Building Science and have been inspecting residential and commercial properties on the Eastern Shore and the Annapolis, Maryland area for over five years. NPI utilizes both Infrared Thermography and the Calibrated Blower Door, tools recommended by the U.S. Department of Energy for a professional energy audit. These are sophisticated tools that can, with a trained inspector, be used in your home to pinpoint areas of heat loss in the winter and gain in the summer. An Infrared Camera can “see” subtle changes in heat in the non-visible infrared light spectrum. The Blower Door puts a mild negative pressure on the interior of the home allowing the trained inspector to discover leaks that can be easily corrected to save you potentially hundred of dollars in energy costs.

How will NPI perform the Energy Audit?

• Prior to starting the audit, your NPI inspector will ask you some basic questions about your concerns and goals for energy savings and comfort. You will prove some basic information about your energy “lifestyle” as well as recent energy bills. This allows your inspector to enter specific information into the report relative to your needs.
• NPI will begin by conducting a general review of your existing home’s “building envelope”, that part of your home that keeps the weather out and the heated and cooled air in. This includes levels of insulation, windows, basic ventilation, etc. From this information, NPI may make recommendations on how improvements can make a significant difference in you homes energy consumption.
• NPI then goes further by incorporating sophisticated tools not used by many home energy auditors. Both Blower Door technology and Infrared Themography are utilized together to give you a clearer picture of exactly where your energy loss is occurring. The Infrared Camera allows you to actually see this heat transfer by converting the otherwise invisible infrared heat to visible light while the blower door sets up the conditions to simulate air loss commonly found during the slightest windy days. In the hands of trained inspectors, these can give you valuable, quantitative information about your home.

What will I learn from my Energy Audit?

• NPI will provide a detailed report with both digital and infrared photos showing areas of excessive warm or cold entering your home, directing you to the best places to stop these energy leaks.
• Your report will also include specific data regarding the volume of air leaks noted in your home which can serve as a base for comparison to other homes or to compare to some future follow-up test to see the improvement gained.
• While NPI prides itself in having nothing else to sell, we will make general recommendations about the kinds of action to take on your home to make it more comfortable and affordable.

The cost of an energy audit starts at $300 but varies based on the square footage of the home. The energy audit/assesment takes about three hours, and may by your first step to substantial energy savings.

For more information, please contact
National Property Inspections

410-673-2050
or
inspectnpi@comcast.net