By Julie Chai, Sunset associate garden editor
Growing up, we always turned off the lights when leaving a room, only did full loads of laundry, and turned down the heater at night. So I’m always aware of my energy usage, and in an attempt to consume even less, last year my boyfriend and I put on a water heater blanket, started hang drying clothes, changed most of our lightbulbs to CFLs, and installed dimmers on our most-used lights. We knew these changes would save energy, but were stunned to see our gas and electric bill drop by a third the following month! All from simple fixes we'd done in a weekend and that totaled less than $100. So when I learned about new home energy audit company HomeZ in Mountain View, CA, I was eager to see if they could help us save even more.
After analyzing a year’s worth of our energy bills, HomeZ reps Kate and Rick came over to perform the audit. 
They interviewed me about our usage behavior; assessed appliances, water fixtures, and electrics; and tested for building leaks. Probably the coolest part was the Blower Door Test—they sealed our vents then hooked up a giant fan to our front doorway to depressurize the house so they could measure how leaky it was. (I was especially excited about this test because, after several chilly winters of feeling like our heat was disappearing out of leaky windows, we were ready to invest in new ones.)
Most home energy audit companies I’ve heard of serve as both your auditor and general contractor for any services they recommend. HomeZ differs in that they perform your audit, then refer you to a selection of pre-screened service providers so you have a choice about who you work with. A HomeZ audit costs $125 plus $.10 per square foot (so $245 for a 1,200 square foot house), and they guarantee that they’ll find enough energy-saving opportunities to equal your fee or they’ll refund the difference. This year, they’ll also be offering landscape assessments to help you save water.
When Kate and Rick returned with a detailed report and action plan, I was thrilled to find that they didn’t think we needed new windows—that saved us thousands right off the bat. It turned out that the leaks they found came mainly from our electrical outlets (who knew?) and could be easily reduced by installing inexpensive outlet sealers and child-safety plugs that are available at just about any hardware store. They also recommended other simple energy savers like using smart power strips and turning down the contrast on our TV, and gave us advice about bigger changes we might make down the road.
Aside from being super informative, the audit was really fun and gave me a better sense of which changes can have the greatest impact. But the best part was seeing on our own utility bill that making simple, low-cost adjustments really can make a big difference.
