Does anyone know if the energy report costs are based on fuel costs or is it supposed to estimate you actual total bill. I ran a hypothetical report for my own home and it wasn’t even close.
I had the same results as you with a few different houses. Nachi’s Home Energy Report is useless in my opinion.
Here’s another recent discussion. http://www.nachi.org/forum/f2/home-energy-report-results-84369/
It isn"t for my area either. (Vermont) The final numbers the report comes up with are astronomical, and way off even on a newer home. This renders the tool unuseable for me. It looks gimmicky at that point and I do not want my customers to question anything we are reporting. Unless it is improved, it is unusable in our minds.
Maybe Ben will see this thread, or you could write him? Ben is awesome and I am sure he can address or correct this if their is an issue.
Jim
Ben did not develop this tool. NACHI is allowed to use it. It is something available through the DOE, developed for them by a 3rd party.
I believe it cannot be tweaked or modified
The cost estimations come directly from a Department of Energy tool that we interface with. We’re well aware of the issues, and are working with the DOE to improve accuracy. Keep providing feedback through the feedback link in http://energytool.nachi.org — that’s the best way to get us feedback on the tool.
Regards,
Joe and Chris, thanks for the information, I never new any of that. But hey Ben Still Rocks…hehe;)
Jim
We license access to the calculation system from the DOE, and have a custom layer of logic on top of that. That means that we can modify things to a certain degree. In fact, you’ll find that the estimates from our tool are much more accurate than estimates from other tools utilizing the same calculation system.
That said, some of the root issues related to heating/cooling costs are so ingrained into the DOE system that they’re very hard to work around. They don’t affect everyone, but can be very frustrating for those they do affect.
The underlying calculations are quite accurate, but the default assumptions of the DOE tool are very optimistic. They assume people barely use their heat in the winter and barely use A/C in the summer, for example. We’re working to find a better “typical usage” model that more accurately represents a typical home’s usage without requiring that you enter details about every appliance/window type/R-value/etc.
The energy tool is incredibly quick and easy to use. Part of that comes from not asking for every detail of the home. We think that a balance can be found—and it seems like for most people using the tool, we’re pretty close.
Reminds me of something they told me in ROTC: “There are three ways of doing things around here. The right way, the wrong way, and the Army way. Do it the Army way.”
In this case, InterNACHI (and members) should continue to do it the U.S. Department of Energy way.
Hey, Ben or chris or Nick. Is there anyplace that has like a complete checklist of sorts of ALL the information that we need to collect on an inspection to be used to fill in the Home Energy report information?
Thanks
Jim
Yes.
Visit Generate a Home Energy Report in Just 5 Minutes - InterNACHI® and scroll down the page to more information, including the “checklist.”
Thanks again Ben. I was watching the video on updating your website, in it is=t sais "In every inspection you get a Free energy report…
But IF an inspector wants to charge something for the energy report that video (well that 1 liner in the video) kills it for them. What would be the chances of that 1 comment getting edited out of the video?
Jim
Good idea. On my list.
Thanks Boss. Also FYI I am going to get you all my info back you asked for in the email. Will be on MY list for the weekend.
Jim
Thanks for the replies guys. I did tweak the energy cost. I even averaged my actual usage charges for the past twelve months and used the actual fuel charge from my electric company, but it still was not even close.