PA016770

	When you work from your heart. . . . . . make sure your brain gets a say!
	What we do is what we believe in; DEEPLY.  We have a deeply held belief that we can act as agents of social change by DOING.  We believe Americans need to radically reduce their carbon emissions to thwart global warming.  We have backed up our beliefs by developing strategic partnerships with Energy Star, PA HOME ENERGY, contractors, and others, and by implementing systems which ensure effectiveness and quality in helping you to make such reductions while saving dollars.  What immediately follows is an overview which will be enough for most folks to choose Hometown Green as their Auditing Firm.  The detail in an audit can be mindboggling, and if you want detail, it follows the overview.  We only recommend it for the strong of heart and those interested in painful level of detail we deal with everyday.
	Your Audit with Us: Overview Before scheduling you for an audit we will take you through a formal phone intake process. Once we have completed intake we will send you a starter packet of information either electronically by email, or we will direct you to it on the web. After you have read what we send we hope we can answer any last questions you may have and that you will make an audit appointment with us. At the appointment, our trained auditor will come into your home, listen to your needs and observations and will then perform an assessment of the property which goes far beyond a “normal” audit. The auditor will then return to our offices, create your home in a computer file, and perform some computer modeling. He/she will then create three reports and from these reports will create at least one proposal with a scope of work. The auditor will then call you for a second appointment. At the second appointment, the auditor will explain the reports and the proposals and answer your questions. For detail oriented folks, or the curious we offer a complete description of this process below.  Beware, reading this entire process and understanding it can be arduous. We put it up here for the engineers and the masochists in life. Intake The intake process can be as short as 5 minutes long and 10 is more typical. It is designed to help us understand your home’s size, any comfort related complaints, how it is heated and cooled, and how your water is heated. The intake process also helps us to understand how you use your home and how long you intend to stay in it. The intake process is also designed to give us enough information so we can decide how long a block of time your home audit with us is likely to require.  It also gives your auditor the information needed to bring appropriate tools and equipment, and Energy Star literature or PA HOME ENERGY DVDs which may pertain to your type of house or heating. Preparing for your Audit This is pretty simple. Turn off all humidifiers and dehumidifiers a week prior to your appointment.  Also, prior to your audit, extinguish all fire places, wood stoves, and pellet stoves.  If there are ashes in your fireplace, you will have to vacuum them out prior to our arrival. Then scout out all utility bills you can get your hands on to include those for electric, gas, oil, propane, LP, kerosene. Lastly review your use of firewood and pellets so we can have an idea of how much you are burning.   The Audit Appointment At your first appointment your auditor will give you a presentation book, which includes our licenses, insurance, certifications, and a bit about our work, our people, and our capabilities. Before your auditor really begins a collection of data on the building, your auditor will wish to interview you to obtain your sense of the building and your observations of it. This interview is best held at a spot like a dining room or kitchen table or an office desk so you and your auditor can make notes. Your auditor will then ask you to give a brief guided tour of the building’s interior. This process helps the auditor get his/her bearings and get a global view of the building and its internal components. The auditor may take notes or photographs while on this brief tour. After this tour, the auditor will leave the interior to work outside for a while, as you look through our presentation book.  Exterior Data Collection This page is not complete. More to follow!