Energy Audit and Assessment Recommendations

for
15535 Nalles Mill
Culpeper, VA 22701
by
Adrian Wos
John Kearney

12/4/14

Certification

This energy audit was conducted as a student project in ISAT 411 at James Madison University. It
followed professional energy auditing methods and protocols, and represents a standard Level 2 energy
audit. The analysis and recommendations are based on:

A visual inspection of the home and all major energy systems to the extent that these were
accessible
An analysis of energy utility data and additional energy consumption information, if relevant
(e.g., woodstove heating)
Estimates of energy usage based on the age and model of equipment
A thermal imaging analysis of the home and accessible ductwork
Direct measurement through datalogging as discussed in the report if it was performed

No blower door analysis was conducted, nor were there any mechanical tests of potential leakage from
heating and cooling ductwork.
I certify that this project was conducted under my supervision, and that all findings and data analysis are
accurate based on the information gathered by and available to the audit team. I concur with the
recommendations contained in this report.

_________________________________________________
Maria C. Papadakis, Ph.D.
Association of Energy Engineers, Certified Energy Manager #16774

_______________________
Date

Contents
Certification .................................................................................................................................................. 2
Summary and Recommendations.................................................................................................................. 4
Home Energy Use ......................................................................................................................................... 4
Major Energy Systems .................................................................................................................................. 6
Hot Water .................................................................................................................................................. 6
Heating and Cooling ................................................................................................................................. 7
The Building Envelope ............................................................................................................................. 7
Lighting ..................................................................................................................................................... 6
All Other Electrical Loads ........................................................................................................................ 7

Summary and Recommendations

15535 Nalles Mill rd. is a 6090 square foot farm house, built in 1967, on 300 acres of land. It has about
4090 square feet in the primary living space, and about 2000 in the basement. All living space and basement
is conditioned with both heating and air conditioning. The current owners have lived in the house since it
was built, with a recent occupancy change occurring in December 2013, when 3 more occupants moved in.
The electric utility for this home is Rappahanock Electric Company, and the annual electricity rate is
11/kWh. The owners would like to address the many building weatherization issues such as infiltration
through windows and doors.
Table 1. Summary of Energy Conservation Opportunities
Home Energy
System
Conservation Opportunities
Lighting
Incandescent Lights in high use areas (such
as kitchen, den, bathroom, living room) should
be used less.
Hot water
None

Heating

None, heating temperature on thermostats

kept at reasonable levels. Building envelope
upgrades will result in lower heating load

Cooling

None, cooling temperatures on thermostats

kept at reasonable levels. Building envelope
upgrades will result in lower cooling load
Weather Stripping in many places is needed,
especially around windows. Insulation in attic
should be added as it is inexpensive.
If possible, try to only use 2 out of 3
refrigerators/freezers. Otherwise, just try to
remember to turn off TVs

Building envelope

Major appliances

Efficiency Upgrades
All of these can be replaced with a 60-W
equivalent CFL or a higher equivalent CFL.
This can be replaced with either a more
efficient electric resistance heater or a heat
pump water heater with pay back periods
ranging from 2.5 years to 6.3 years.
Home heating oil is expensive in general, but
the furnace is relatively new so the technology
should only be upgraded once the furnace
fails. A heat pump is much more efficient but
two may be needed to take on the heating
load previously done by the furnace.
Once heat pump needs replacement, a heat
pump with a good SEER and HSPF rating
should be bought.
None
LED or LCD TVs can be bought once
plasmas burn out to save on energy usage.
Once refrigerator/freezer fails. Buy one with
better efficiency rating.

Home Energy Use

There are 3 adult occupants, one of which is retired and spends the majority of his time at home. The
other 2 adults work 8-5 most days of the week, all year round. During summer and breaks from college,
the household has one more occupant, making 4.
The house is all electric, with the exception of the home heating oil used for heating in the winter. The
key energy usage are shown in Table 2 below. One notable feature in the energy usage is the very large
amount of energy used in heating.

Table 2. Key Energy Usage Indicators

Energy
Indicator

Energy Usage, 2013*

Total household electricity use
Energy Utilization Index
Monthly baseload energy use (hot water, lights, major
appliances, consumer electronics, and all other
electrical loads)
Annual heating energy use
Annual cooling energy use
Energy Star Home Yardstick benchmark, primary living
space
Energy Utilization Index, primary living space plus
conditioned basement

13582 kWh
46.3 MMbtu
24,280 btu/ ft2
1275 kWh
187.3 MMBtu
3071 kWh
10.5 MMBtu
3.2
40,800 Btu/ft2

Figure 1. Energy Star Yardstick Rating for the Primary Living Space. The Energy Star Yardstick is a benchmark that shows
how a home compares to those of similar size, location and occupancy. The average home represents a 5 on the yardsticks scale.

The majority of the energy used in this house is for heating, with it accounting for about 75% of all energy
usage. Figure 2 displays the load profile, which shows us that the major energy saving opportunities come
from heating and water heating.

Annual Load Profile

Hot Water
9%

Other
9%

Lighting Cooling
3%
4%

Heating
75%
Figure 2. Load Profile for Home. The load profile illustrates where the energy use in
the home is being distributed

Major Energy Systems

Hot Water
The home has a very old model hot water heater, so some information such as the model number is not
known. The brand, which is not still around today, is White Ultonium. It is an 82 gallon electric hot water
tank installed approximately 30 years ago. The estimated hot water load is 6210 kwh/year. This water heater
does present an energy saving opportunity due to the age and size of the tank, as well as the new standards
being implemented next year. After April 14, the only available water tanks this size will be heat pump
water tanks. A replacement electric water heater can be bought before that time for approximately $535.
The payback period on this would be 7.8 years. A heat pump water heater (which is more efficient) can be
bought and installed for approximately $1105, with a payback period of 2.3 years.

Table 3. LCC Comparisons of Hot Water System Upgrades

Purchase and Installation (cost

of tank only, labor is assumed to
be the same)
Maintenance and repair
Replacement
Annual energy consumption
(in physical units)
Annual energy consumption
(in dollar cost)
Salvage
Total life cycle costs, 12 & 10
years

Standard Option
(Whirlpool 50-Gallon, ES50R12345Dl)

More Energy Efficient Option

(Whirlpool 50-Gallon 120-Month
Hybrid
, HPSE2K50HD045V)

$535

$1,105

--4721 kWh

--1597 kWh

$567

$192

-$7339

-$3025

Lighting
The total lighting energy used in this residence was based on the total number of light fixtures and the
estimated time each fixture is used. The lighting load estimate is shown in Appendix A, at the end of this
report.
Our analysis identified many energy saving opportunities, including many high use fixtures that utilize
incandescent bulbs. The areas of highest usage are the living room, kitchen, den, and bathroom. These areas
have incandescent bulbs that have heavy usage, resulting in a high load. It is proposed to replace the 12
light bulbs that are highlighted in Appendix A with three 4-packs of 60W Equivalent Daylight Spiral CFL
Light Bulbs. The lighting intensity of some areas will be reduced, but there were no complaints about lack
of lighting intensity. With the replacement of the bolded lighting technologies, there is a net annual energy
savings of 823 kWh per year, resulting in savings of $82.3. With an initial purchase cost of only $18.51,
the payback period for the entire replacement will be 2.7 months.
6

Heating and Cooling

Both the heating and cooling system in this residence were replaced about 10 years ago. The heating system
consists of a home heating oil furnace and an HVAC unit for directing air. While the furnace has a decent
efficiency rating, home heating oil is one of the most expensive ways to heat a house. Therefore, it is
recommended to either upgrade to a heat pump system as soon as the HVAC unit or furnace need to be
replaced.
The furnace used about 1225 gallons of HHO in 2013, and 1339 gallons in 2014. At the estimated average
rate of $3.35 per gallon HHO, the costs to heat the home these two years were $4103.75, and $4485.65,
respectively. When a replacement is needed for the furnace, it is recommended to look for a heat pump with
a SEER rating of 15+ and an HSPF rating of 9+. Highly expensive heat pumps will give better ratings, but
the recommended ratings will guarantee low energy use as well as a relatively cheap purchasing cost. An
example of such a heat pump is a Goodman DSZC160361 which can be found for approximately $2000.
Two heat pumps may be needed in a zone heating arraignment to supply the needed amount of heating for
the whole house.

The Building Envelope

The building envelope is perhaps the largest opportunity for energy savings. Each window and door requires
weather stripping to eliminate the infiltration that is making its way through the many cracks in the
envelope. The windows are all double paned, besides the 2 that have storm windows. Ideally, the windows
would all be replaced due to their age and condition, but since the cost to replace all windows may not
justify this need, weather stripping will be our recommendation. Areas of high infiltration can be seen from
the FLIR thermal images attached. The whole house is conditioned, with the exception of attic space. The
insulation used in the envelope is a 6, R-19 fiberglass insulation. There were complaints about cold air
infiltration in the first floor bedroom as well as in the utility closet. Using the FLIR thermal imaging gun,
we saw areas of little to no insulation, as well as areas that should be caulked/weather stripped. The attic
walls immediately touching the outdoors was uninsulated in many places, but there was some insulation
between that space and the attic entry rooms. Therefore the uninsulated space was assumed to have a wall
R value of 5. With the installation of standard R-13 insulations, there is an annual energy savings of 1552
kWh ($155). This results in a payback period of less than 1 month assuming no installation costs.

All Other Electrical Loads

This residence has a wide variety of household appliances and electronics that represent the remaining loads
in the home. Some of these include a freezer, two full sized refrigerators, three televisions, a home desktop
computer, telephones, washer and dryer, and many other kitchen appliances. These appliances and their
electricity loads are shown in Table 4 below.

Table 4. Energy Use of Miscellaneous Electrical Equipment

Appliance
Kitchen
Refrigerator
Freezer
Basement Fridge
Den Tv
Total

Basis of Energy Estimate

Monthly Energy
Use
kWh
%

Energy Guide label

49.2

8.57

Energy Guide label

Energy Guide label
68W at 5hr per day
The total is an estimate of all remaining electrical
loads after hot water, lighting, heating, and cooling
have been accounted for.

57.5
57.0
10.2

10.02
9.93
1.78
100

There are no energy efficiency upgrades that would save an excessive amount of energy with respect to the
homes energy use for these remaining electrical loads. We would recommend that the owners buy an
Energy Star LED or LCD television to replace the more energy intensive plasma TVs. The kitchen
appliances such as the stoves, dishwasher and microwave have all been recently replaced, so there are no
recommendations in that area.

Final Recommendations
The house was found to have a lot of air infiltration through cracks in the trimming around doors and
windows, as well as lack of insulation. Weather stripping, caulking and adding insulation should be the first
course of action because it is inexpensive and has a short payback period. More importantly, an upgraded
building envelope will help lower heating and cooling load, which make up the majority of energy usage.
A dozen lighting replacement will also net good energy savings, with a short payback period. The heating
and cooling system are not currently recommended due to their age only being 10 years, although there is
much room for cost and efficiency savings. When a replacement is needed, it would be ideal to switch from
home heating oil to a two-zone heat pump system with SEER of at least 15, and HSPF rating of 9. This
would help with the problem of the uneven heating distribution, while also lowering energy usage and cost
by a considerable amount.

Appendix A. Estimated Weekly Lighting Load

Location
Dining
Foyer
Living room
1st floor hall
Bathroom
Den

Kitchen
Bedroom
Bathroom
Basement

2nd floor hall

Bedroom
Bathroom
Bedroom
John's room
Bathroom
TOTAL

Light Type
IN
CFL
IN
IN
IN
IN
IN
IN
CFL
IN
IN
IN
IN
IN
IN
IN
IN
IN
IN
IN
IN
IN
IN
IN
CFL
IN

Lighting Load
# of bulbs Wattage hrs/day Watt-hr/day
5
15
0.25
18.8
1
26
10
260.0
1
25
0.5
12.5
2
100
2
400.0
1
25
0.25
6.3
1
60
1.5
90.0
1
100
0.25
25.0
1
72
7
504.0
1
26
7
182.0
1
72
2
144.0
4
72
5
1440.0
1
72
3
216.0
5
60
1.5
450.0
1
60
0.5
30.0
1
300
1
300.0
1
60
1
60.0
2
100
0.25
50.0
2
25
0.5
25.0
1
100
2
200.0
1
40
2
80.0
4
60
1
240.0
1
90
2
180.0
1
25
2
50.0
1
60
0.5
30.0
1
14
0.5
7.0
2
60
0.5
60.0
44
1719
54
5060.5

Btu/day
63.98
887.16
42.65
1364.86
21.33
307.09
85.30
1719.72
621.01
491.35
4913.48
737.02
1535.46
102.36
1023.64
204.73
170.61
85.30
682.43
272.97
818.91
614.19
170.61
102.36
23.88
204.73
17267