Even if you have something like a fan properly installed, doesn't mean it's properly insulated. What if you could see behind your ceilings and walls? The small cracks throughout your house can amount to a window open 24/7. This picture was taken using a thermal imaging camera. You'll notice a dark blue ring around the base of the ceiling fan. The blue color indicates colder temperatures, where air you paid to heat or cool is seeping out of your home. In this home, we also discovered there's a lack of insulation in the ceiling, which is why the top of this thermal image is mostly blue.
What Homeowners Say About BGE
Cut Her Energy Use In Half!
Jodie is a first-time homeowner who lives in Greenville. Before she bought her home, she had always lived in apartments and wasn't used to getting utility bills. Each month, Jodie pays $130 for electricity. She had her bills averaged in order to avoid getting bigger bills during times when electricity costs go up. Jodie thought she had her bases covered, but at the end of the year, she ended up owing much more when Duke Energy evaluated her energy usage. She says, "I was in shock. Even though I pay $130 each month, I got another bill for $535 right after the holidays."
Jodie won't have to worry about that this year. She's already well on her way to lowering her energy bills. In October 2009, she called Benton Green Energy to evaluate her home. "Who doesn't want to save money?" she asks. Jodie says her back room was very cold and she had to keep a space heater on all of the time. We discovered that Jodie's biggest energy problems were actually all of the small cracks throughout her home. Air that she paid to heat was seeping through her walls, floor, ceiling and duct work. Benton Green Energy outlined a plan for Jodie to make her home more energy efficient. After having the recommended work done, Jodie says, "Now the whole house is warm. I'm glad I got an energy audit because, for me, it was nice to know exactly what needed to be done, instead of having to guess. I'm also glad that Dean Benton took the time to show me other ways I can reduce my energy bills. It was very educational and worth every penny." Jodie was able to cut her energy consumption by more than half in December. She went from about 1900 kilowatt hours used in December 2008 to only 900 kilowatt hours used in December 2009. Jodie says, "I'm looking forward to having a surplus in my Duke Energy account this year!"
A More Comfortable Home
Aliza and her husband live in a new home and couldn't figure out why their utilities were so high. They also had problems keeping their upstairs bedroom cool in the summer. Benton Green Energy performed an energy audit and discovered even though Aliza's duct system was fairly tight, her heating and cooling system wasn't properly balanced. Aliza made the recommended repairs and is now living in a more comfortable home. Her bedroom door no longer closes on its own and the vents are quiet. She says, "Our house used to feel like it was haunted by some energy ghost that would rattle our vents & slam our doors. Now it feels like the ghost has been exorcised."
