Green Energy Options FAQ

• Our audit always includes a blower door test, which is the only way to determine the amount of air leakage your house has. You need to know this to know how much air sealing effort will be cost effective and where.
• Our audits can include a duct leakage test. Since duct leaks can waste up to 30% of your heated or cooled air this is an essential test that will never be part of a free or low cost inspection
• A free or low cost inspection will not include a thorough inspection of your attic. The attic usually is the site of the worst air leaks and they are normally hidden. Our audit includes a thorough end-to-end inspection of the insulation, air leakage areas, ventilation, duct condition and moisture problems in your attic.
• While a free or low cost audit may save you some money, our comprehensive audit could save your family’s life. If you have gas appliances we can check them for leaks and problems that could lead to deadly carbon monoxide poisoning.
• If you make energy upgrades after one of our audits, and the work affects major air sealing or combustion appliances, we will come back and do a post test to make sure that the work was done correctly and did not create a problem elsewhere. This is part of the BPI “house as a system” approach.

If you need to replace your system because of its problems, do so. However, if you have time to have a full energy analysis, and do energy efficiency measures before replacing your HVAC system, you may be able to purchase a smaller system because your house will be more efficient and use less energy. The savings on the smaller system often pays for the energy efficiency improvements. And your house continues to use less energy year after year.

First, our report stresses education - the many changes that you can make that will save you money on your energy bills with little or no expense in equipment or retrofits. More importantly, by looking at your house as a whole, we can prioritize the most important changes to save you money and make sure work is done in the right order to give you the most bang for the buck and to assure that one positive change won't lead to a negative effect somewhere else. Our recommended measures for your house will lead to a more comfortable house where you can set the thermostat higher in the summer or lower in the winter and still be comfortable. Finally, when you do need to replace your HVAC system you should be able to buy a smaller unit which will cost less and use less energy year after year.

While insulation contractors may know the recommended levels of insulation to install, they frequently do not stress the need to seal the attic “bypasses” first or may not know how important this is. Insulating your attic without sealing it first is a waste of money. A G.E.O. energy analysis will detail specific leakage sites to be sealed, and retest your house if you have the sealing and insulation work completed to confirm that the leakage was reduced.

It is a test that uses a fan, temporarily sealed into a doorway, to slightly increase or decrease the air pressure in the house in order to exaggerate the leakage through the envelope of the house. Measuring the pressure difference between the inside and outside with a scientific instrument called a manometer, we are able to calculate the total size of leakage area to the outside and the rate of air leakage. Using a detection aid such as a smoke puffer or an infrared camera while walking through the house helps uncover leakage areas that are hidden or not obvious. This helps prioritize the amount of time to spend on sealing those leaks in order to be cost effective.

While it is possible, it is extremely unlikely, especially with older very leaky houses. We prioritize the air sealing to the work that will save the most and be the most cost effective and don’t try to seal every little leak. More importantly, air sealing can change the airflow in a house in a way that will affect combustion appliances. We check the draft in furnaces and water heaters under “worst case” conditions before and after any air sealing to make sure that this will not occur. We also check the whole house leakage after air sealing to assure that the house meets Building Airflow Standards.

Even though your A/C system is able to cool your house, often A/C systems in Florida are oversized, which means they run for short bursts and cool the air down but never run long enough to remove the humidity from the air. High relative humidity, above 60% is an ideal condition for mold and mildew to develop. You should have the sizing of your air conditioner and the relative humidity checked as well as looking for other sources of moisture to the inside of your house. We would be happy to do this for you.

More than likely, you have mildew developing where cold air leaks from around the edges of the registers. If the ducts in the attic are leaking where they enter the register box or “boot”, humid air from the attic is condensing out on the ceiling near the register. Or a moist air in a bathroom or kitchen touches the cold vent and condenses leading to a good environment for mildew growth. Either duct sealing or room ventilation should resolve this problem.