Glossary · Testing & air leaks

Home energy audit

Also called: energy audit · home energy assessment · energy assessment · energy evaluation · home energy evaluation · home performance assessment

A professional check-up of how your home uses and loses energy, with tests and a written, ranked list of upgrades.

What it means

An energy advisor or auditor inspects the attic, walls, basement, windows, heating and cooling equipment and water heater, and usually runs a blower door test to measure air leaks. Many also use infrared (thermal) imaging and check fuel-burning appliances with a combustion safety test. You get a report showing where energy is wasted and which upgrades are worth doing first.

Why it matters in an audit

Many rebate programs require an audit before and after the work, and the results show which upgrades will actually pay off in your house instead of guessing.

Typical numbers

Reference values with their sources. Your energy advisor’s report gives the figure for your own house.

What	Value	Source
Ontario HRSP assessment rebate	$600 toward the initial and follow-up assessments (assessment stream, 2+ qualifying upgrades)	homerenovationsavings.ca ↗

In Canada

The official Canadian version is the EnerGuide home evaluation, done by a registered energy advisor through an NRCan-licensed service organization. Programs that use it need a pre-retrofit evaluation before work and a post-retrofit evaluation after.

Sources

Learn more here

Related terms

Blower door test A test that uses a powerful, calibrated fan in an outside doorway to pull air out of the house and measure how leaky it is.
Infrared (thermal) imaging Using a heat-sensing camera to show warm and cold spots on walls and ceilings, revealing missing insulation and air leaks.
Combustion safety test A check that furnaces, boilers, water heaters and stoves burn cleanly and vent their exhaust outside, even with fans running.
Registered energy advisor (REA) A professional registered with NRCan to do official EnerGuide home evaluations, working through a licensed service organization.
Pre- and post-retrofit evaluations ("D" and "E" evaluations) The EnerGuide evaluation done before upgrades (a 'D' file) and the one done after (an 'E' file), used to verify the work for rebates.
EnerGuide rating and label Canada's official home energy rating: a home's estimated yearly energy use in gigajoules (GJ/year), where lower is better.
EnerGuide home evaluation Canada's official home energy audit: a registered energy advisor inspects and tests your home, then gives you an EnerGuide rating and an upgrade report.

← Every term, A to Z