The Roadmap to Energy Efficiency

Orange Energy Solutions takes a holistic approach to protecting your home or workplace. Working together, we help you follow the Orange Energy Roadmap to a more Energy Efficient Home: 

Our process usually begins with an Energy Assessment (Audit), a comprehensive evaluation of your home and its energy usage. The Assessment starts with a detailed interview with you to understand your goals and concerns and to learn how you operate your home.  During the assessment, we carefully inspect the interior and exterior of your home, conduct a blower door test to quantify total building leakage and take infrared images (conditions permitting) and conduct an air sealing inspection to determine air leakage locations and insulation levels.  An important part of the assessment, is a health and safety issues like existing or potential moisture issues test your home’s combustion appliances (hot water heater, furnace, gas dryer) for safety. We also look at theirlifespan, condition, and performance. The assessment  is a comprehensive evaluation  of all of your home’s systems and how they interact with each other to keep you comfortable.  The ultimate goal of the assessment is to find the most cost effective changes you can make to solve home health problems, improve comfort and reduce energy bills.

The assessment is followed by the Analysis. The analysis is a review of your utility bill history and a careful considertion of your home to determine specific recommendations for achieving your goals: cutting energy consumption while enhancing comfort and improving safety in your home.

The next stop on the Energy Roadmap is the Savings Proposal. This is a detailed scope of work and a budget estimagte for  improving  your home. A computer model of your home with estimated energy savings is an option you may consider. This will help chose which recommendations to implement immediately and which you will defer  for a later date.

Insulation and Air Sealing is the most popular and fundamental part of the Energy Roadmap. Most homes have air leakage in many locations that can be eliminated.  Air Sealing methods will be used to seal the air leaks in your building shell, and additional insulation can be installed to help you conserve energy and save money.   Heating and cooling ducts can be sealed to make your distribution systems more efficient.

Changes to your home’s Appliances, Lighting, and Water Use  is next.  Changing  to “greener” appliances, reductions in water use, and use of energy efficient lighting can result in substantial savings.

Replacement of Heating, Cooling, and Water Heating equipment can also make a big difference in your energy usage. However, this step makes sense only if your equipment is extremely inefficient or nearing the end of its useful life. Many customers consider and we often recommended groundsource geothermal heat pumps as an alternative to gas, oil and electric heating and cooling systems.

Renewable Energy Systems, such as solar electric and solar hot water, may make sense for your home.  There are numerous State and Federal incentives which can make these systems affordable.  Orange Energy Solutions can help you understand the economics of renewable energy alternatives and provide attractive financing options. And we can help you choose and install the right system at the right time for the right home.

Smart Systems can help reduce your home’s energy use. Wireless appliance controls, remote monitoring and management, programmable thermostats, central control systems, smart utility meters, and smart appliances are just a few of the intelligent systems you can use to save energy. These systems are becoming more affordable every day.

Financing is often necessary since Energy efficient improvements are long-term investments in your home.  Orange Energy encourages the responsible use of credit and only offers financing options that are designed to promote high quality energy efficiency improvements.  In fact, one of our founders helped to create the statewide Keystone HELP loan program in Pennsylvania which we proudly offer to our customers.  We make sure our customers have access to the latest rebates, incentives and innovative financing options.  More more informations see our Financing Options page.

The last stop on the Orange Energy Roadmap is the Post Assessment. No matter how many or how few recommendations you implement, our job is not complete until we examine and test all of the improvements made to ensure that they achieved the results you expect. We certify that your house as a system works energy-effectively, efficiently, and safely.  Depending on the financing/incentives you choose, your post assessment may be performed by a peer from a third party organization.  Transparency and documentation of results is key to a successful long term relationship.