Would you buy a car without knowing its MPG?
Most people would probably not feel comfortable making such a large purchase as a vehicle without knowing its fuel economy, yet for those same people when buying a home–a much larger purchase–the topic of the home’s energy consumption rarely is addressed.
The California Energy Commission is working to change this by getting homeowners to become more aware of and care about their home’s energy rating. As one of the first steps, it is now possible to have a certified home energy rater conduct a home energy assessment of a home in order to give it a rating between 250 (poor energy performance) to 0 (best energy performance). The best score is 0, signifying a home that is “net zero energy,” meaning on an annual basis, it creates the same amount of energy onsite that it uses.
According to Energy Upgrade California, a majority of existing homes in California, typically score around 101-250. So even if you think your home’s energy usage is manageable or reasonable, chances are there is still plenty of room to improve!
The home energy rating, however, is more than just a score. In addition to the overall score, a homeowner can learn the estimated operating costs, which features or systems of the home use the most energy, and recommendations for improvements and upgrades.
If you would like more information on this subject, or are interested in having a home energy assessment (some free vouchers are currently available), please contact me below. I will be happy to help by being a resource to you!
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[…] large number of existing homes in California score average to poorly on the home energy rating system, so there can definitely be room for improvements. Currently, Energy Upgrade California is able […]