THE ASHOKA GROUP

ENHANCED ENERGY AUDIT WITH DIAGNOSTICS

Our Home Performance Services

We are Certified Home Performance Contractors, certified by the California Building Perfomance Contractors Association (CBPCA) for the Home Performance with Energy Star Program. Energy Star is a program of the U. S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). At this time, we provide Home Performance services for Residential Buildings, with emphasis on single-family residences.

Our �5 + 1� Home Performance with Energy Star program is outlined below. However, before we get to that, let us understand why home performance work may be of interest to you.

What interests you in Home Performance?

Home Performance work is based on the Whole House approach. It is more than the customary Energy Audit and includes diagnostics and measurements, which quantify the functioning of a house as a whole entity.

You may have heard about the benefits of Home Performance, but it is more likely that you would contact us because you may have one or more situations in your home that need a remedy or a fix. Such issues include:

• High energy bills
• Uncomfortable home
• Drafts in home
• Uneven heating and cooling in the home
• Poor indoor air quality
• Home occupants susceptible to allergies or other health-related problems
• Dust and pollen causing indoor air pollution
• Mold problems
• Gas leaks
• Other issues

Useful Links

Our "5 + 1" Home Performance plus Energy Star Program

The First Contact

Our contact with you normally begins with a phone call or email contact during which you briefly describe to us the issues you are facing within your home. If you decide to retain us following this contact, we will make an appointment to visit your house. At least one week prior to our visit, we will send you a contract for our services, which we will ask you to sign and return to us prior to our visit. We will also ask you to compile electricity and gas bills covering the past 12 months, and provide them to us at the time of our visit. We will need these bills in order to establish the energy consumption pattern for your home over a one-year period.

1. Consultation and Home Survey (Audit)

Our visit to your home begins with a consultation and home survey (Audit). During this phase, we will undertake the following activities:

• Do an interview with you to determine the problems you are having, gather basic information about your home, and review the comfort level of your home
• Carry out a review of your energy bills and discuss them with you.
• Undertake a home site inspection
• Walk through the house and review the problem areas.
• Test house for gas leaks
• Test cooking range and oven for carbon monoxide leaks under normal house conditions
• Carry out visual inspection of the furnace, air conditioner, hot water heater, duct system, and appliances
• Review the condition of attic and crawl space
• Review the condition of your walls, windows, doors, and roof
• Review any other issues you may be facing, such as mold, indoor air quality, drafts, etc.
• Review lighting within home
• Make any basic measurements that we may need during this phase

2. Diagnostics and Measurements

During this phase, we will use sophisticated equipment, such as blower doors, duct blasters, and infrared cameras. We will undertake one or more of the following tests, as needed, to quantify your home�s performance:

• Carry out blower door test to measure enclosure air leakage
• Carry out depressurization or pressurization test, as appropriate
• Determine air leakage sites in the home
• Check exposed insulation installation quality (attic, crawl space)
• Check attic and crawl space ventilation
• Test temperature stratification in home
• Carry out duct blaster test to quantify duct leakage
• Carry out worse case combustion safety tests for combustion equipment and appliances (worst case depresurrization)
• Carry out insulation and air barrier inspection
• Check HVAC system and thermostats
• Check hot water heater
• Compile listing of all lighting loads
• Compile listing of all other electrical loads in the house
• Carry out infrared imaging of the house under normal conditions
• Carry out infrared imaging of the house under depressurization conditions

3.  Report and Recommendations

A report with recommendations will be prepared for the Client.  The report will be presented to the Client and discussed with the Client within two weeks of the house visit.  The report will include:

• A listing of customer�s concerns
• An overview of the findings
• A detailed discussion of the findings and measurements
• Photographs illustrating specific concerns
• Representative infrared imaging of the house
• Recommendations for improvements

4. Home Improvements Implementation

This phase is optional. If the homeowner prefers, a preliminary scope of work, based on the recommendations made in the Report, will be put together and discussed with the homeowner. Following these discussions, the scope of work will be finalized and cost estimates put together. For implementation of the work, we will work together only with those specialty contractors who are qualified to undertake home performance work. We will coordinate and manage the work with the various specialty contractors and serve as the contact person for the home owner during the implementation

5. Follow-up and Support

Under this phase, we will provide three months phone support to the homeowner for any questions he/she may have concerning home performance for his/her home.

6. Energy Efficiency Calculations (Optional)

To carry out energy efficiency calculations, home data will be collected during Phase (1) and used to show the improvements possible through use of different parameters (insulation levels, window types, etc.)..If the homeowner decides to implement the home improvements recommended in Phase (4), an additional post-implementation program run will be carried out to show comparisons between the pre-and post-improvement periods for the home.

Home Improvement Packages

We offer four home improvement packages under this program:

Package A includes:

• Phase (1) - Consultation and Home Survey (Audit)
• Phase (3) - Report and Recommendations for work done under (1)

Package (B) includes:

• Phase (1) - Consultation and Home Survey (Audit)
• Phase (2) - Diagnostics, Measurements and Evaluation
• Phase (3) - Report and Recommendations for work done under (1) and (2)
• Phase (5) - Follow-up and Support

Package C includes:

• Phase (1) - Consultation and Home Survey (Audit)
• Phase (2) - Diagnostics, Measurements and Evaluation
• Phase (3) - Report and Recommendations for work done under (1) and (2)
• Phase (4) - Home Improvements Implementation (Preliminary Scope of Work only � actual implementation under separate contract)
• Phase (5) - Follow-up and Support

Package (D) includes:

• All Phases in Package C, plus
• Phase (6) - Energy Efficiency Calculations

In adiition to the packages listed above, the following individual diagnostics tests are available:

• Blower Door Test
• Duct Leakage Test
• Infrared Imaging
• Gas Leak Tests
• Carbon Monoxide Leak Tests