I liked David Rebenau’s beginning of a discussion of the two business models (consulting vs. contracting) that energy auditors use to sell their services found here. He put into words something that I’ve been looking at for some time now but hadn’t solidified.
A consultant energy auditor is someone who doesn’t do the work themselves or even sub it out.
A contractor energy auditor is someone who audits and then will do the work themselves or sub out to a network.
When to Hire a Consultant-type Auditor
- When you want to do the work yourself and don’t need the referral or bid for work.
- When you want a more objective third-party assessment of your building.
When to Hire a Contracto-type Auditor
- When you don’t want the hassle of trying to manage the project yourself. You want it just to ‘get done’.
The pro’s and con’s seem straightforward. I’d say that neither model is better necessarily. There are good, competent people using both models for certain. Do your digging and networking and just find the best auditors in your area. Good service is worth the investigative effort.
To remedy this issue, Robert went and bought a product called 
So, you want to buy a home, and you want it to be green or as green-ready as possible. Good. It’s not going to be that hard to assess. Let me give you the 3-minute introduction. If you want a more in-depth explanation, I am giving a 
I was going through the folder today and I came across one person’s questions about vinyl siding. What caught my curiosity even further was another person’s share about a movie called “Blue Vinyl” which seems to have something to do with a woman’s battle with a cancer caused by exposure to synthetic chemicals. She is curious about the consequences of putting vinyl on the side of one’s house or in one’s house. (By the way, I’m not endorsing this. I’m just relating how I finally managed to get some good blogging material. It was a bit circuitous in this case.)
When I scribe my periodic gratitude lists, a practice that always seems difficult to fit in but which without-fail brings tangible rewards, I always put down my involvement in the 
This year, I will be shifting my volunteering energies a bit. I will be chairing the Tucson Branch Technical Committee. I like learning about the technical specifications and HOW we make green buildings. In learning some of the nitty-gritty details, I believe that I can gain a better understanding of the feasibility and drawbacks if any of sustainable products and practices. For example, in the Technical Committee, a colleague and I are working on understanding the current state of LEDs. My colleague is an architect and a lighting designer and has found that the current efficiency of LEDs is NOT where it could be. In other words, LEDs will save energy in the coming years but the technology is not there yet. Had my colleague not been delving into the details and technical specifications, she might not have known this. Thus, I aspire to understand the details so as to better my understanding of ‘green’ and to be able to sift through the marketing hype.