On an unseasonably warm December morning, a group of 20 house inspectors descended upon an 80-year-old, single-story home in Belmont to complete their training as energy auditors. This was the first test for their Home Tune-Up certification, a program started by CMC Energy Services in 2003.
 Energy jailbreak: Jim Gannon, training coordinator for the Blue Ridge chapter of the American Society of Home Inspectors, checks a Belmont attic’s insulation, which is in terrible condition. |
The instructor, Stephen Luxton, began the mock inspection at a little after 9am, leading the group around the outside of the house to measure it and inspect the windows. Next, the group went down to the basement, huddling in a cramped room to examine the furnace. Unfortunately, because of the heat or a mechanical problem, the furnace wouldn’t light to be inspected in use.
As Luxton looked over the water heater, some of the students started looking at other energy problems—mostly uninsulated duct work and walls. Luxton again asked about the year and efficiency of the heater and checked the insulation on the tank by knocking it with his fist and listening for any rattling. The trainees seemed comfortable—all but one was a house inspector, and as training coordinator Jim Gannon pointed out, inspection and auditing are "two different disciplines with overlap." The only real question the students had is whether to recommend ceiling or wall insulation for the basement—a point Fulton conceded has no easy answer.
Once back upstairs, the pace picked up considerably. The trainees pointed out the strip heaters as opposed to the ductwork elsewhere—a second heating system. They were installed beneath the windows, and Luxton explained that this led to making a window, even one properly insulated, feel drafty in winter. The bathrooms had no heat at all.
Next, they moved to the kitchen and only inspected the refrigerator. Luxton said that, often, owners would ask, "’Aren’t you going to look at my range or my dishwasher?’ No." Those appliances, while power hungry, don’t run often enough to have a major impact on annual energy use.
The attic was the last part of the house, but only a few of the inspectors actually went up. Luxton and Gannon quickly came to the conclusion that the insulation was in terrible condition and gave it a zero rating.
At the end of the inspection, Luxton presided over the "graduation ceremony," in which he handed back the paper exams from the weekend, and contractor Russell Edwards hummed "Pomp and Circumstance."
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