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Do-It-Yourself Energy Audits

For many homeowners, electricity use is highest during the summer. So steeper energy bills are just around the corner.

But a lot of the energy you're paying for is squandered through air leaks around doors and windows or in cable boxes and appliances that sap up energy when no one is around.

Before you shell out the cash for a professional home-energy audit, however, here are some do-it-yourself ways to measure—and curb—your energy usage.

Measure It



What's running up that bill? A home power monitor is one way to find out, says Tom Simchak, a research associate at the Alliance to Save Energy.

Mr. Simchak says he purchased one—the Energy Detective, or TED (—for about $200. It's connected to his circuit-breaker box and to his Internet router.

The monitor records and calculates the cost of his electricity use and sends that information (current and projected consumption, plus cost) to a small box with an LCD display that he keeps in his living room. The monitor also sends the information to his laptop, where TED's proprietary software lets Mr. Simchak assess his energy-use history and projected use in greater detail. In addition, the monitor uploads the data to Google PowerMeter, a free online home-energy monitoring tool.

While the power monitor won't tell you how much energy each separate device is consuming, Mr. Simchak says the real-time data makes it easy to figure out. "When you hear the air conditioner click on," he says, "power consumption goes up by seven or eight times."

A cheaper alternative that does give you information on specific devices' energy consumption is a kilowatt meter, which measures the energy use of any device plugged into it. You plug the meter into a wall socket and then plug the device into the meter.

The kilowatt meter can't measure an overhead light or other devices hardwired into your home, but "it's still a useful tool," says Reuven Walder, a professional energy auditor in Rockville, Md. It might surprise you just how many kilowatts your cable box uses, he adds—it can be some $30 to $50 a year. Mr. Walder sells a kilowatt meter for about $30 at his store, Ecobeco (

Once you figure out how much energy your appliances are using, the next step is buying a smart strip, which eliminates vampire energy—the energy devices consume when they are switched off. A smart strip, which retails for about $30, plugs into the wall and doubles as a surge protector. The strip's sensor cuts the power to devices plugged into it when they are switched off.

Seal and Wrap

Next, check doors and windows for gaps around the frames. Mr. Walder suggests looking at windows and doors every season.

Black and Decker sells a thermal leak detector that shines a red light on walls, and the color of the light will change to blue to indicate a hot or cold spot.

But Mr. Walder says the $50 device has its limits: It can only cover a few inches of wall at a time so you may not always get a reading of exactly where the air is coming from. Many of the air gaps you find can be sealed with caulk or spray foam.

Covering pipes and water heaters with special wrapping is another cheap way to save on energy this summer. Water heaters usually are in basements that remain cool even during summer, so they must consume energy to maintain their high temperatures. Putting a thermal barrier around a heater helps it work less, and that can save you money.

Soon after buying a house earlier this year, Mr. Simchak says he spent about $10 buying foam to wrap exposed pipes. "I was able to get at about half of the hot-water pipes in my house," he says.

Messrs. Walder and Simchak also recommend buying a programmable thermostat to better regulate your use of your air conditioner—and the heating system in winter.

You can save around 10% a year on energy bills simply by lowering your thermostat by 10% to 15% for a minimum of eight hours, Mr. Walder says.

Little Things Help

Some other low-cost or free energy-saving moves:

  • Put thicker curtains around windows in summer (including in an unfinished attic) to keep out the sun.
  • Regularly dust off the coils under your refrigerator so it doesn't have to work as hard to stay cool.
  • Install low-flow faucets (with an aerator so the water doesn't just trickle out).
  • Replace incandescent light bulbs with more-efficient fluorescent or LED ones.

Mr. Simchak says all these steps don't require technical know-how. "I haven't done anything a normal person can't do," he says. "It takes a little time and effort. But with all these products available, regular folks can do them just fine."

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