Energy saving checklist

How does your home score?

You can use this energy saving checklist to find a number of energy saving opportunities in your house. You can do a once-over of your house, room by room, to decide what savings opportunities you have already realized, and what others you might achieve.

On the other hand, this energy saving checklist isn’t the place to start if you’re just cruising for ideas. If you want to find a few energy efficiency tips that will get you the most savings, check out some of my other pages on particular energy uses in your home (heating, cooling, hot water etc.).

In creating this energy saving checklist I’ve tried to imagine a typical North American home. For clarity, I have things like a furnace room and a laundry room, even though in many older homes in my native city of Toronto, people just have a big open, unfinished basement. Also, the energy saving checklist assumes two stories above ground and a basement, again just to simplify dividing the living area into mechanical and functional areas (basement), main living areas (ground floor) and bedrooms / large bathroom (second floor).

It shouldn’t matter if you live in a ranch home, bungalow, or townhouse. Many of the items in this energy saving checklist will apply, they just may not be on the right floor, or in the right room.

To use the energy saving checklist, visit each room in your house, and look through the list of items to check for that room. Score yourself in the appropriate columns (‘Done’ and ‘Plan’) according to whether you’ve done nothing, have already taken the recommended action, or plan to take the action. Each action has a point value assigned to it, sometimes just one point, so for the ‘Done’ column, either you have done it (1 point) or not (0 points). (Similarly for the ‘Plan’ column, either you plan to do it, or you don’t.) For others with higher point values, use your judgment to decide to what degree you’ve done the work. If the item can’t possibly apply to you (for instance, you don’t have a third bedroom) score full points for that item. There are a total of 300 possible points. If you score over 280 you’re in great shape!

Once you’ve done each room, look through the energy saving checklist, and for any item that wasn’t scored, either strike it through, or if you missed it because it was in the wrong room for your house but it does apply to you, score yourself on it. Finally, total up the points in each of the ‘Done’ and ‘Planned’ columns. Your ‘Done’ total gives you an idea of how efficient your home might be now.

Remember, a Home Energy Audit is the best way to find out what improvements you can make; this energy saving checklist is a cheap but less effective alternative. And beware – if you plan major upgrades, a professional home energy audit may be the only way you’ll qualify for government / utility grants or credits.

If you add ‘Done’ and ‘Planned’ you’ll see from the energy saving checklist how efficient your house could become. And if you compare ‘Done’+’Planned’ to ‘Maximum’ you’ll get an idea of how far off the best possible score you are.

This sure isn’t a scientific energy saving checklist! But it will hopefully give you a flavor of some of the ways in which you can save energy, and start you thinking about what improvements make the most sense. I haven’t put every single energy saving tip on the list, just a sampling of them to get you thinking about the opportunities you have. Good luck!