loves2read having an energy audit on the home you are proposing to purchase is an investment. not only for the cost of the audit, but also for the work that will become apparent once the inspection & testing is done. granted the rating information will be your information to choose when & what items you want to address, but for you at this time, a simpler request would be to ask for copies of utility bills & question the homeowner about temps set on tstats for a starting point. if the homeowner is moderate with temp settings & costs are high..then would be time for you to consider an audit..or keep looking. I won't get into all that I don't agree with in some of the responses..hey life is short!..but I will say that most HI's that I know don't check head pressures & wouldn't know a what a delta t was if it bit them..sadly the same goes for many hvac companies in my area. HI's for the most part work for the reality companies and are a bit biased so they can get the next job..again just my experience with HI's, few are independent--as in work exclusively for home owners. I am a big fan of zoned systems and while you may think that you would save $$ by stopping air supply to the upstairs areas, it really is best to allow some air flow & movement in these areas. setting tstat for minimal air flow is a better concept for our hot humid climates. If I were inspecting, testing & making recommendations for an existing home, these are some of the things I look for & recommend. upstairs areas..walls shared between 2nd floor and attic. insulated? sealed? using a foil/foam sheating board serves several purposes. one it adds an additional insulation value to the wall, two it reflects heat back into the attic instead of transferring it into the upstairs areas,and most ..stops air movement. radiant barriers can always be added, several products on the market, but what I have in my home is a one sided foil paper installed to the bottom of the rafters with the foil facing into the attic space. these two items will make a huge difference in comfort, and utility costs. stopping the excessive air infiltration will lower utility costs, although it will take time & effort on your part. a good hvac company can balance the air flow with a balometer ..fyi, I often use one myself on both new & existing homes, but that is getting more into home diagnostics than the rating service. a good energy audit will take 2 to 3 hours depending on the size & complexity of the home, and the compexity of what you require. my minimum charge on existing homes is $500. for a basic test & inspection. best of luck & if I can help to anwser any questions drop me an email, as I don't get here as often as in the past.

If you are not willing to spend Subzero money on refrigeration I think BSH units are as good as any. Especially with a good discount I would take BSH units over Liebherr. If you are not going with a high powered gas cooktop/range then BSH ventilation and cooktops are as good as any. Doubly so with a good discount. If you do not want to spend Miele money on a dishwasher then the BSH units are as good as any. The Bosch Evolution 800 Plus Series SHE68E15UC is the TOL German made unit. Extremely water/energy efficient,40db, built in water softner. Usually goes for a little north of $1500. The others are made in North Carolina. With a healthy discount that becomes very attractive. I am not a wine storage aficionado but Gaggenau makes one: RW404760. Again, not expert on speed ovens but Thermador makes them. Thermador has a single full size convection oven with speed cooking. Thermador Masterpiece DM301ES. I think I rather buy one of these and a regular microwave or drawer microwave. Are Thermador/Bosch ovens any good? Other than Gagg/Wolf/Miele I think they are as good as any. If not willing to spend that kind of money then BSH with good discount is very attractive.

hmsweethm - for what it is worth, I'm renovating a 1912 2-story colonial. In my experience, these are the things that have had the biggest impact/bang for my buck. 1) Sealing leaks. I think the house was just one big leak! Caulk, spray foam, weather stripping etc by the carload. 2) High efficiency furnace and A/C. The house didn't have heat upstairs, so we had to use space heaters the first winter! 3) Attic Insulation - someone had put R-15 in about 30 years ago, but it was flattened and pretty useless. 4) Wall insulation - I thought this would help most in winter, but it really moderated temps in summer too. 5) Window coverings - we have old, single pane windows (historic) so they are just never going to be efficient. We put up roll shades with curtains over them. 6) Pipe insulation - super cheap but made an immediate difference. The "hot" water stays hot on the second floor now instead of cooling down along the way.

SolarGary, Thanks so much for your reply. I spent some time browsing the buliditsolar page, and feel I have more questions than answers! I am very interested in making our home as energy efficient as possible, while reducing greenhouse gasses to help alleviate the "myth" of global warming! However, DH and I don't have a huge budget to work with, although we have several k set aside for a new HVAC system. As I said, I was not happy with the position of the HVAC and hot water tank in an enclosed, but uninsulated crawl space, because it struck me immediately as being both inefficient and not ideal for the equipment to be exposed to extremes of temperature and humidity. I grew up in the UK, where hot water "tanks" and boilers are almost always in the house. In fact my mother's 10 yr old house has the gas boiler (like a tankless H20 heater with a pilot) in the garage, under the guest room, while the storage tank is in the "airing cupboard" off the upstairs hallway. Anyway, we were already thinking of updating to a more efficient hot water heater and better HVAC system. I have been reading on the heating and cooling forum about heat exchanger technology to transfer waste heat from the AC refrigerant lines into a hot water tank, which also eases the load on the compressor, thus simulating an increase in SEER performance. Our current AC is a 28 yr old GE model, with unknowm SEER, but probably very low. We are def. looking for a more efficient system, since we are in GA. How about if we did these things: 1) Level and concrete the crawl space 2) Insulate the walls of the crwal space 3) Install a new AC/furnace or heat pump handler in the garage closet adjacent to the crawl space (there's a hole in the wall for ducts already). 4) Drain and reposition the electric water heater and run a heat exchanger device between the AC refrigerant line and the water tank for FREE hot water while the AC is running. 5) Install a gas tankless hot water heater upstairs, adjacent to bathroom (above garage/crawl space cinder block wall) IF we go with a gas furnace also. 6) Install a grey water heat recovery device on the main drain (below bathrooms) in the crawlspace. IF we did this, could we use the electric water heater as a "storage tank" for the water that is heat recovered by the grey system, before it is used by a tankless heater in winter? I'm sorry this is so complicated! Basically, with my climate and energy rates, I am wondering if it might be worth keeping the electric tank to get FREE hot water from our summer AC use (which is pretty much every day from May-Sept in GA), but using a tankless water heater in the winter, since gas is a cheaper and greener fuel to use? I am hoping that adding a grey water heat recovery system could help us offset the loss of all that heat down the drain. Of course, these all just ideas at the moment, and I have ZERO knowledge about how we might actually implement them. I would love others who are more knowledeable on the pratical aspects to give me advice. This is our first home and we are learning a lot as we go along. Although these ideas might be a little "odd" or "out there", I feel that energy efficiency is an investment in our home and future, as it seems that fuel costs will only go up, and maybe the average American is finally coming to terms with this! BTW, I find it odd that most US hot water heaters are on constantly. Is this normal? Growing up, ours were always on a timer switch that you could set for any period during the day or night. I did see a timer for about $40 at Lowes, but it seemed a lot more complicated than what I am used to. Thanks Again!