Finding a qualified home energy auditor is easier than ever before. If you're ready to make one of the smartest home investments available, start here to find the best person to conduct your home energy audit.
The two energy audit related questions we hear most often from homeowners at Energy Circle are: how do I find an energy auditor, and how do I know he or she is qualified?
That initial step of finding a home energy auditor - and getting that first home energy audit - is clearly a barrier for many homeowners. Our goal is to help take down that barrier. With that in mind, we put together our Guide to Energy Audit Certification, explaining what the various certifications mean and what sort of training and qualifications they entail. With the proliferation of "green consultants" and people of all stripes calling themselves auditors, it's all the more important to find the true professionals.
But that brings us back to the first question - where to look to find a home energy auditor. While there's no definitive single source, the aim of this article is to put you on the right track. We've compiled here what we think is the most comprehensive directory of directories, list of lists, to help you find a qualified home energy auditor in your area.
Of course, there's no substitute for word of mouth - talking to neighbors, friends, and family to find an auditor who's doing good work in your community. But this is a start. All comments, additions and suggestions, of course, are more than welcome.
- National Organizations: A couple nationwide organizations, Efficiency First and the National Save Energy Coalition have directories of their member energy auditors and home performance professionals. Efficiency First and the National Save Energy Coalition are organizations particularly dedicated to the profession, and consequently are quite heavily involved in the public policy side of the equation. If you value involvement in the policy sphere as a way of qualifying energy efficiency professionals, these two organizations are a good place to start your energy auditor search.
- Certifying Organizations: The leading national organizations that provide energy auditor certification can be a good source for how to find an auditor. Building Performance Institute (BPI) has a contractor search page, and Residential Energy Services Network (RESNET) a certified rater directory, both of which let you search by location to find a certified energy auditor in your area.
- Third Party Directories: There are many directory sites on the web that contain energy auditors, but we suggest focusing only on those that: (1) are dedicated to energy efficiency professionals (vs all manner of contractors) and (2) indicate that they perform some degree of quality check on their members. Two that meet this criteria are: EnergyAudits.com and Energy Savvy, both sites with search mechanisms for finding an energy expert in your local area. These companies are relatively new, so their databases may be thin for a while. Each operates on a middleman business model of charging auditors to be listed and/or selling contractors leads that are generated on their site. EnergyAudits.com requires that contractors registered on their site hold BPI and/or RESNET certification. Energy Savvy staff qualify contractors before listing them.
- Energy Efficiency Professionals on Twitter: There is a small but growing community of home energy auditors and home performance professionals currently using Twitter to communicate with customers and fellow professionals. These tend to be the more internet-savvy auditors, and often their tweets will give you great insight into who they are as auditors, as well as some useful information about the profession. You can see a list of Home Energy Efficiency Professionals on Twitter on this TweepML list.
- State Organizations & State Listings: Below is a state-by-state list of energy auditor directories. Some states, you'll notice, are blank. This is either because these states currently do not have a certifying organization or statewide energy audit program of their own, or because we somehow missed them during our (rigorous, mind you) search. If you know something we don't, feel free to let us know in the comments.
Alabama: No immediately identifiable web information. Got references? Please help us make this list complete.
Alaska: The ABSN website provides a list of AKWarm-certified raters.
Arizona: Find a Home Performance Contractor with this form from Foundation for Senior Living.
Arkansas: No immediately identifiable web information. Got references? Please help us make this list complete.
California: The California Building Performance Contractors Association (CBPCA) has a directory of home performance contractors here, and the California Home Energy Efficiency Rating Services (CHEERS) program has a directory of auditors and raters here.
Colorado: Colorado Home Performance with Energy Star has a directory of auditors.
Connecticut: Connecticut Light & Power has a list of contractors approved for their Home Energy Solutions program here (pdf).
Delaware: Delaware's Energy An$wers program has a directory of home performance contractors here (pdf).
Florida: No immediately identifiable web information. Got references? Please help us make this list complete.
Georgia: Find an auditor with the Southface Home Performance with Energy Star rater/assessor directory, or with Georgia Power's list of participating Home Performance with Energy Star consultants and contractors.
Hawaii: No immediately identifiable web information. Got references? Please help us make this list complete.
Idaho: Find a contractor with Idaho Home Performance with Energy Star
Illinois: The Illinois Association of Energy Raters has a Rater Directory of RESNET-certified raters and energy auditors.
Indiana: No immediately identifiable web information. Got references? Please help us make this list complete.
Iowa: No immediately identifiable web information. Got references? Please help us make this list complete.
Kansas: The Kansas Energy Information Network has a list of resources, including independent home energy auditors, here.
Kentucky: Although we're currently unable to find a directory of energy auditors in Kentucky, the state's Department for Energy Development and Independence lists utilities in the state that offer home energy audits here.
Louisiana: No immediately identifiable web information. Got references? Please help us make this list complete.
Maine: The Maine Home Performance Progam has a list of certified home performance contractors here (pdf). The independent Maine Association of Building Efficiency Professionals has a list of auditors. Maine Housing Authority also certifies energy auditors and maintains a list here.
Maryland: Maryland Home Performance with Energy Star's website features an auditor search page.
Massachusetts: No immediately identifiable web information. Got references? Please help us make this list complete.
Michigan: No immediately identifiable web information. Got references? Please help us make this list complete.
Minnesota: The Minnesota Building Performance Association has a directory of home performance consultants.
Mississippi: No immediately identifiable web information. Got references? Please help us make this list complete.
Missouri: Missouri has a directory of state-certified home energy auditors here. The independent Missouri Association of Accredited Energy Professionals (MAAEP) also has a growing list of members in the Show Me State.
Montana: No immediately identifiable web information. Got references? Please help us make this list complete.
Nebraska: No immediately identifiable web information. Got references? Please help us make this list complete.
Nevada: No immediately identifiable web information. Got references? Please help us make this list complete.
New Hampshire: The New Hampshire Residential Energy Performance Association has a great categorized directory of energy auditors and home performance pros here.
New Jersey: New Jersey has a Home Performance with Energy Star program, which provides a list of BPI-certified home performance pros here (the directory is preceded by a disclaimer page, just to give you a head's up).
New Mexico: No immediately identifiable web information. Got references? Please help us make this list complete.
New York: The New York State Energy Research and Development Authority has an interactive map-based home energy auditor search page here.
North Carolina: No immediately identifiable web information. Got references? Please help us make this list complete.
North Dakota: No immediately identifiable web information. Got references? Please help us make this list complete.
Ohio: Ohio's First Energy Corp has a directory of certified auditors in the state here (pdf).
Oklahoma: No immediately identifiable web information. Got references? Please help us make this list complete.
Oregon: Energy Trust of Oregon has a search page here for energy auditors and home performance contractors.
Pennsylvania: Pennsylvania Home Energy has a search page for auditors and home performance contractors here.
Rhode Island: No immediately identifiable web information. Got references? Please help us make this list complete.
South Carolina: No immediately identifiable web information. Got references? Please help us make this list complete.
South Dakota: South Dakota's Energy Smart program has a list of home energy auditors in South Dakota here.
Tennessee: No immediately identifiable web information. Got references? Please help us make this list complete.
Texas: Austin Energy's Power Saver program's directory of participating companies.
Utah: The Utah Energy Conservation Coalition has a list of RESNET-certified energy raters here.
Vermont: Efficiency Vermont's directory of energy auditors and home performance contractors.
Virginia: The Virginia Department of Mines, Minerals and Energy has a list of home energy auditors in Virginia (Excel Document).
Washington: Find a contractor with Home Performance Washington.
West Virginia: No immediately identifiable web information. Got references? Please help us make this list complete.
Wisconsin: Wisconsin's Focus on Energy website has a directory of home energy auditors available here.
Wyoming: Find a contractor with Wyoming Home Performance with Energy Star.
UPDATES:
11.29.09: Added Missouri Association of Accredited Energy Professionals link.
12.7.09: Added Virginia Department of Mines, Minerals and Energy link.
Comments
ecocential energy is a north carolina energy auditing firm saving a lot of money for its clients and is looking for new auditors to train
Posted by dean on Nov 30, 2009 5:05pmAdd Energy Rated Homes of Mississippi to the auditor list for Mississippi.
Posted by Gary Smith on Dec 5, 2009 9:00pmFor Virginia, see http://www.dmme.virginia.gov/DE/ARRA-Public/EnergyAudit.shtml - 3/4 down the page.
Posted by Andrew Grigsby on Dec 7, 2009 8:07amAndrew--thank you for this. Good find. We're adding this afternoon. Best, PT
Posted by energycircle on Dec 7, 2009 11:18amPlease add Pro Energy Consultants to Massachusetts as an independent third party auditor.
Pro Energy can be added to other states as well as it is a national franchise of independent third party home energy auditors.
Thank you
Posted by Jon Mitton on Aug 12, 2010 9:56am