Text version of video - STEM Careers: Energy Auditor

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Science Technology Engineering Mathematics

STEM Career Connections

(Auditor narration)

My name is James Otterbacher and I am an energy auditor.

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James Otterbacher

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Energy Auditor

(Talking to customer)

Hi, I'm James Otterbacher.

(Customer)

Hello.

(Auditor narration)

An energy auditor goes into people's homes and diagnoses where their energy losses are and also what causes their comfort problems.

Um, we actually get to play doctor with the home, going into the different various places in the attics, crawl spaces, basements and other places in the home where potential energy losses and comfort issues occur.

Each house is its own personality, has its own issues going on with it and it requires its own special tender loving care, I guess you can say. Or a little-L-C.

We use the STEM process in every home that we go into, whether it's science, technology, engineering or mathematics.

With science we're looking and we're taking into account the different pressure readings of the home. We're also looking at the heat transfer throughout the house and how that's going to affect the homes' comfort and energy issues.

With technology, we're using something called a blower door to measure how much air is moving through the home. And we also break out the infrared camera to scan and see where heat is actually coming through the exterior walls and stuff and where people are losing their energy.

With engineering we're looking at how the home was built. We're making sure that it's structurally sound, there's no broken pieces of lumber, that it's a safe environment - that people - for people to live in.

And with mathematics we use it every time when we go into a home, whether it's trying to find out the geometry of the house, the area and the volume. We also have to use multiplication, division, percentages of the house, figuring out what the breathability of the home is and where it's supposed to be at.

(Auditor counting: "7...8....")

One of my favorite things to do when I was younger was to go exploring, to always go in somewhere new and exciting and see what's around the next corner. And with this job, with being an energy auditor, I kind of still get to do that. I get to go around and go into people's attics and around into these crawl spaces and other areas that people don't even know exist in their home.

We come across a lot of things that they don't even know that are in there - or actually living in their home.

We come across bats, sometimes snakes in the crawl spaces and basements. Uh, we also find places where raccoons and stuff have entered the home.

We also see where there's potential water problems, where there's a roof leak or a basement leak or something like that and the homeowner's not even aware of.

Or there's a giant hole that's allowing all of their air, that they're heating and cooling, to escape out. So, being able to explore their house, I'm able to find out what's causing their problems and provide them with solutions to then fix these problems.

(Energy Auditor talking to customer)

How much air is moving through there and he was kind of surprised by the amount of air coming through the medicine cabinet and the recess lights and all that.

(Auditor narration)

Being an energy auditor, it's all about communication, being able to communicate what problems you see with the home to the homeowner in a way that the homeowner understands that these are issues that they need to take care of.

Or, being able to, um, take the scientific problems that we see with the home, but put them in the terms and easy understanding way that the homeowner knows that, alright, I may need to go get my furnace serviced or I may need to get someone up in the attic to take a look at, um, the insulation.

The most rewarding part of my job is once the energy audit's been performed, the homeowners have moved through and done the repairs to their home, and then I come back and do the final testing and I hear that the home - the homeowners have noticed that all their problems have been solved, that the house is more comfortable, that their energy bills have gone down. Um, and overall they're extremely happy with the process that they went through.

(Talking with customer - low audio)

So, if you have any questions, you have my number and give me a call alright.