Quick Energy Check by Alex Wilson How energy-efficient is that house you just finished? Why does your own home cost $1,500 per year to heat? How can you measure the effectiveness of weatherization measures on the house you are renovating? Right now, answers to those questions are pretty hard to get, but if John Spears has his way, it will soon be a whole lot easier. For the past several years, Spears, the Program Manager for Energy and Indoor Air Quality at the NAHB National Research Center, has been developing a fast, accurate, and simple test for measuring the energy performance of buildings. From a single night of testing, according to Spears, it will be possible to accurately determine both the heating
