When you first look at a home, it’s hard to know how much it will cost to heat that home.

You may be able consider the house’s building materials and its square footage to get a rough guess of your heating costs. However, the truth is that there is a huge variance in the cost to heat homes of the same size, and the factors that affect the cost may not be apparent at first glance.

Running the heater for a specific amount of time will have vastly different impacts on the temperature inside, depending on a wide range of factors.

What you really want to know when you’re looking at a house is whether it is an energy efficient home. Then you know that the money you put into operating the heating system will be well spent because your system will use energy efficiently and your home will keep the heat indoors rather than losing it to the outside environment. Based on professional energy audits, Louisville KY homeowners can determine how efficient the home is and what the true cost to heat it will be.

There are several points of energy loss that need to be measured to determine whether you’re looking at an energy efficient home. First, the heating system itself needs to be examined. Older furnaces can waste up to 1/3 of the energy they consume, whereas newer systems actually capture 90% of the energy they consume as heat for the home. Second, heat escapes around windows and doors and through the glass on many windows as well. Although you can use curtains to cut loss, newer windows and doors are even better. Lastly, heat escapes through the walls and roof, particularly if they aren’t well insulated.

Adding more insulation can protect against much of this heat loss.

By having an energy audit done, home owners can learn how to save hundreds of dollars per year on heating costs by identifying where energy is going. Based on these calculations, homeowners learn what they can do to modify a home in ways that help prevent heat loss in the future. Even if you’re not looking at an energy efficient home right now, there are always things you can do to make a home more energy efficient for the winters to come.