Existing Homes

Having issues with energy efficiency of your home? Building performance questions? Planning to remodel or upgrade? Purchasing a home? St. Croix Energy Solutions Inc. can help.

Your answer: The Home Performance with ENERGY STAR Program

St. Croix Energy Solutions Inc. offers on-site home performance testing including:

Safety – If there are any combustion appliances (water heater, furnace, etc.) that are atmospherically vented, SCES will ensure that they are not producing a significant amount of carbon monoxide into the home in a worst case scenario (back drafting).

Durability – How the home is removing moisture from the building in the main moisture producing areas (bathrooms, kitchens, saunas, etc.).

Comfort & energy efficiency – A thorough analysis of how the building performs thermally and how much air infiltration/leakage it has.

To determine the above information SCES uses a blower door, infrared camera, exhaust fan flow meter, carbon monoxide reader, and other diagnostic equipment.

SCES will walk the homeowner/customer through the entire process answering questions and giving advice. It is very important to look at the home as an entire system, because making one change can affect how another part of the home will operate.

There may also be cash-back rewards available to homeowners for making improvements. Please check out Focus on Energy for participating utilities.

Check out the Home Performance Video put together by Focus on Energy!

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The Home Performance Consultation Process

SCES will arrive as scheduled.
You and the SCES consultant will discuss any issues or concerns that you are having, while walking through the home.
The SCES consultant will then examine the homes' mechanical equipment looking for any safety, durability, or efficiency issues.
You and the consultant will then scan the home with the infrared camera and testing infiltration with the blower door. This will help find unknown air leakage and thermal breakdown areas in the home.
The consultant will then attempt to access attics and crawlspaces to find any areas that could be improved.
At the end of the consultation, you and the consultant will sit down and summarize the findings in the home and discuss possible ways of improvements or usage of the home.
The consultant will then bring the detailed information from the home back to SCES and write up a full report for the home including pictures, recommendations, and refer contractors that have been working with SCES and are trained on the necessary performance improvements. If you are already working with a contractor, the SCES will be more than willing to contact them and discuss the home performance improvements.

After improvements have been made to the home, SCES will return to your home for a post test to verify that the improvements are going to be successful and apply for any cash-back rewards that are available to you. The post-test is a critical part of the program, as changing one part of the home can adversely affect other parts of the homes' performance.

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What to prepare for on consultation day?

Schedule and plan on spending about 2-3 hours with the SCES consultant examining your home.
Make a list of any question you may have for the home or about home performance.
Have previous utility bills available for researching energy usage and documentation of account numbers. (Account numbers are required for cash-back rewards)
Clear space around the attic accesses and crawlspace accesses so the SCES consultant can obtain access to these areas.
Be prepared for the home to bring in the outside temperatures of the home. Depending on the heating system you have, the SCES Consultant may have to turn off your heating system while running the blower door.
Close and lock all exterior windows.
Make sure any wood burning fireplaces or stoves are completely put out and all of the ashes cleaned out of them. When the blower is running the chimney pipes of the these systems will most likely back-draft and if there is ashes in the bottom of the fireplace or stove, it could blow further into the home.
Relax - The SCES consultant will be completely professional, knowledgeable, and courteous.

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Who is eligible for SCES's Services?

Anyone, any home is eligible for our services.
St. Croix Energy Solutions Inc. is based out of Hudson, WI and is consulting in Western Wisconsin and the Twin Cities area constantly.
Depending on your homes' location and the utilities that you have will determine the rewards that are available.
The rewards programs are always changing, so it is best to contact us and discuss what is available for you and pricing of our services.