Nowadays, a lot of home buyers are asking the tough, green questions to their real estate agents – are you one that can answer the questions or are you one that “can take a look into it later”?

A lot of the new shoppers are very savvy when it comes to energy efficiency and as a real estate agent, one who wants to satisfy the customer, should always be one step ahead. There are the aesthetic selling points to a home such as the outer appearance, fresh paint, shiny hardwood floors and stainless steel appliances. But energy efficiency is also a key point that more and more people are inquiring about.

Older houses are lower-priced because of it and newer homes offer it as selling feature since the future owner won’t have to pay as much on the energy bill.

As a real estate agent who has completed the Home Energy Auditor Training, you’ll have a significantly improved knowledge about home energy and can pass that down to the clients. An experienced real estate agent can communicate to their customers where they can save on the energy bill in their new home and how to reduce the costs on a day-to-day basis. For sellers, a shrewd real estate agent can help highlight the energy efficient features of the home to help market it better.

The more you know, the more you’ll be prepared for any type of home energy questions a buyer might have. And when you’re considered the expert, you’re one step closer to building the trusting relationship that gets you a sale.

Other benefits include a standing 15% off discount for any of your clients that you refer for a home energy audit and they will also receive the benefit of priority scheduling, which means they will get serviced sooner.

Overall, the benefits are plenty for real estate agents so take the time to invest in yourself and invest in your career with some higher learning.

Need more evidence that a home energy audit and other energy conserving plans are rapidly gaining popularity around the world? One of the most famous styles of homes from one of the most popular television shows in the United Kingdom is going to get a home energy audit as well, according to The Guardian.

Some energy-efficiency scientists are set to play with homes exactly the same type as the ones showed on the set of Coronation Street, which is the longest running soap opera around. As a matter of fact, these specific ones are in the opening credits of the show.

The good news is that this set of homes, built prior to World War I, was actually set to be demolished before the scientists stepped in. Instead, it will be transplanted to a lab, disassembled and then will be rebuilt under specific conditions in the lab.

All sorts of tests will be run on the house as the scientists make changes to the gas, water and electricity piping. Even some psychologists will be present to test whether certain designs, carpets or furniture make people feel warm – or perceive to be warmer – in comparison to styles.

The modern-day fad is energy-efficient homes but this project is taking an old home and gauging where it can be improved to conserve on energy. While some buyers do prefer building their own new homes, a lot of people simply can’t afford it and others prefer the quaint architecture and style of the past, which simply can’t be duplicated.

Either way, it gives a good idea of just how valuable a home energy audit can be. There are many benefits and it really shows that you don’t need to build a brand new home from scratch to start saving money on energy consumption.

If you were to poll most third-graders and ask them what their dream job is, not many would say “Home Energy Auditor”. But as we grow up and realize that the conserving energy is an integral part of building the future, we quickly realize that a career in home energy auditing should be part of the dream. It’s not just any career; it is an intelligent career choice and a green choice as well.

One of the first steps in becoming a home energy auditor is learning about energy efficiency through the Home Energy Team Institute. Part of the important process is receiving your RESNET certification, which is how you become a certified as a RESNET Home Energy Survey Professional.

RESNET stands for Residential Energy Services Network and they give certain institutions the opportunity to teach about home energy and to certify the practitioners who qualify. In this case, HETI is one of those institutes. Furthermore, RESNET is the premier organization that sets the bar for national standards that energy efficiency and building efficiency is measured. These standards are known by organizations nation-wide from the government to banks and the mortgage industry as the best-practice standards.

By getting your RESNET certification, you can move from the crowd of people who just read about this and claim to know about energy efficiency, to being a certified, authorized professional. There’s a big difference. A lot of people can tell you about stock trading but few of them are actually financial advisers.

No matter what your knowledge level is at this point, – whether it is a general interest or whether you’re an avid energy saver already – the Home Energy Team Institute has courses and certifications for all levels.  Invest in yourself and invest in our energy consumption by getting your certification today.

The Home Energy Team Institute keeps you abreast on all energy-efficiency and home energy auditing learning topics but one thing that home energy gurus need to be conscious of are the government tax credits and rebates.

While the idea of energy saving means cost savings, sometimes the cost of the home upgrades can deter homeowners from making the changes. Is it worth it to spend the money now in order to money save in the long run? What is the break even point?

Government tax credits can help meet that break even point sooner and encourage the changes sooner rather than later. But there aren’t just one or two credits or rebates; there’s nearly thousands from the federal level to the state-by-state level.

Keeping that in mind, though, when homeowners are looking at what potential tax credits they are eligible for, they should examine the state-by-state differences to determine what is available. We’re well aware that there are many federal tax credits that are sweeping across the board,  but there are even more that are determined state-by-state, which means you have to take a look at your state’s details to see whether or not the changes qualify.

For example: Colorado has 40 different utility rebate programs whereas California has 98.

The good news for you is that there is one clean, simple site that organizes all of these energy rebates for you and allows you to just search and find exactly what you’re looking for.

Check out DSIREUSA.org, which is the Database of State Incentives for Renewable & Efficiency. There you will find all the answers to the state-by-state tax credit differences.

As the motto of TED goes, they have some ideas worth spreading.

For those of you wanting to learn a little bit about where to conserve energy at home or why becoming a home energy auditor is an environmentally friendly career choice, you might find it of interest what TED – or more accurately, Catherine Mohr – had to say about it her greenly built house.

She made some very interesting choices along the way of the construction, obviously making all the green ones. Her end goal was to make a number of improvements during the construction of the home to save on energy and to see first hand which changes actually do that.

Take a look here:

http://www.ted.com/talks/catherine_mohr_builds_green.html

The self-proclaimed “organic-eating, carbon foot print minimizing, robotic surgery geek” built the house from scratch trying to minimize the amount of energy she (along with her husband) used and minimize the amount of energy that the house consumes.

Needless to say, if you’re becoming a home energy auditor, doing her house might be one of the easiest jobs to start with.

But the real takeaway point from this data-filled and witty presentation is the break-even point as to when her new energy-efficient house starts paying her back for the smart changes opposed to sticking with the old one. Don’t be surprised if more and more people start going down her road.

One of the most important things an energy auditor can have is his specialized tools. Like a plumber without his plunger, a home energy auditor without his tools can’t be of much help to his clients. One of the key tools that energy auditors use on a frequent basis is the duct tester.

Why do I need to test the ducts of a house?

A major problem that many homes face is inefficient heating and cooling ducts. Whether the ducts themselves have holes in them, there are gaps in the duct welding, or they are not installed properly into the walls and HVAC units of the home, there are many reasons why a duct system will perform below their full capacity.

And when the hot or cold air that is passing through the ducts does not arrive at its intended destination, the homeowner ends up paying for it in their energy bill.

What does a duct tester do?

A duct tester is basically a fan and air pressure reader which is connected and tightly sealed around a vent in the client’s home. All of the other vents connected to the duct are then sealed shut so no air can escape through them. Once this is all setup, the fan is turned on to a specific pressure.

If there were no leaks in the duct system, then the air pressure pushed through the fan should remain in the ducts. However, if there are leaks in the ducts, the air will escape through them and the pressure inside the ducts will drop. The air pressure reader then tells the home energy auditor how much air is escaping through leaks in the ducts, and the efficiency of the ducts can then be calculated.

Contractors who are then hired to repair the ducts may also use a duct tester to find out how effective his repairs have been, or if there are leaks present that he was unable to find.

Overall, duct testers are an invaluable tool for many in the home energy auditing industry, and every auditor should have one as a part of his arsenal. Visit the Home Energy Team Store for even more useful home energy saving products.