New tech tools can help you become your own home energy auditor

February 1, 2006 So you called your local energy service company, scheduled a free home energy audit, and came away with some useful information on drafts to plug, light bulbs to use, and which areas of your home could be better insulated. Don't forget the programmable thermostats. All that is great, and hey, it didn't cost you a thing. But most of what the auditor told you, well, you already knew. As with health, love and war, there’s a plethora of complexity that needs addressing as there is no simple, magic answer. But if you’d like to comprehensively crunch your next energy bill and take greater control of your kilowatt destiny, there’s a way of building a detailed, visual profile of your household (or business) energy use on your home. With new computerized energy-tracking devices, getting a comprehensive snapshot of your building’s energy consumption is just a few mouse clicks away. Data loggers are simple battery-powered black boxes capable of recording temperature levels in various rooms in your house, light usage, and appliance cycling on a 24/7 basis.

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