Residential Services

Helping You Feel at Home with Energy Efficiency

Living an energy-efficient lifestyle offers many benefits for your home environment – as well as for the planet we all share.

Our services address the following aspects of your new or existing home:

• Building materials
• Basement, if applicable
• Heating and air conditioning systems
• Water system as it affects your building’s energy usage
• Appliances: age, efficiency and maintenance
• Landscaping as it relates to energy use
• Insulation: type and amount
• Lighting
• Renewable energy potentials

Services Overview

Energy Audits

A thorough inspection of your home designed to help you improve energy efficiency.  Audits include:

• A blower door test which focuses specifically on airflow, and helps determine if your home has leaks. We use a specialized fan to create a slight vacuum, then measure the air movement against a standard air infiltration rate. To find out more about what a blower door test can do and to see a diagram click on the link to the U.S. Department of Energy's website.

• The use of thermography, which measures surface temperatures by using an infrared camera. Temperature variations are seen as varying colors on the camera. Click here to see a thermal photograph of an energy efficient home situated next to one that loses large amounts of energy.
• Combustion Appliance Zone Testing (CAZ), which analyzes the venting of the carbon monoxide and other combustion fumes on gas appliances.  As the home envelope gets tighter, combustion fumes become an important safety issue.
• An easy to understand report providing you with an analysis of our findings backed-up by the data specific to your home.

Design Assistance

Assuring that the home you build or remodel is the home you want. Below are just some of the ways we can assist you:

Energy Strategy Review - We offer you a concise and effective way to improve your plans for energy efficiency and give you a taste of how your project will benefit from an integrated team approach.  Read more....

Interdisciplinary Project Planning Meeting – A team of experts is gathered to problem-solve and optimize your design.  By working with a team early in the design process you will reduce costs significantly, plus have a superior building design. We provide the analysis, guiding your options.  Read more...

Computer Simulation

This valuable analysis tool illustrates how different combination's of features affect energy use in your building.  To learn more about the process and value of computer modeling read this article from BuidingGreen.com.

This diagram shows the results of a computer analysis we performed showing how different construction materials interact with varied heating systems and window types (triple glazed-TG vs. double glazed-DG). This kind of model provides invaluable data to clients looking for solid, science-backed knowledge to guide their building materials choices.

Green Verification – LEED, GBI, ANSI, Energy Star

Certification Strategy Review –We help you identify which certification programs best fit your project goals, budget and time frame.  A Certification Strategy Review will save you weeks of research by presenting a compiled summary of each certification process and the levels and benefits of each. 

Project Management of a green home certification - We are qualified in all of the residential green verification/certification programs and can help you navigate through the complex details of the certification process. (Highly recommended for Builders who are new to the green home process.)

Diagnostic Analysis and Consulting

Whether you are building new or doing a gut-rehab, we will work closely with you to tackle materials and systems questions inherent to your project. We provide recommendations and guidance toward the most cost effective and/or environmentally sound solutions. For new homes and those being remodeled, we provide needed ongoing analysis, research, coordination and/or oversight of decisions and installations throughout the later parts of design and the building phases.  Consulting could include but is not limited to:

• Comparisons of specific systems
• Review of heating ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC) system design and layout
• Analysis of products and technologies (We investigate whether products do what they say they will do, and assess their functionality, value and appropriateness for your building.)
• Review of construction drawings for specification of relevant energy practices (e.g. air sealing)
• Review of contractors' work or installation
• Final estimates of energy performance

Project Management

Our services can, and often do, span the lifetime of the project.  It is not uncommon for us to be involved with our clients for over a year or longer.  We can manage the energy efficiency components and/or the entire project from the earliest stages of your dream to the final solar panel going onto your roof.