A home energy audit is the first step towards achieving energy efficiency in your home. Your professional auditor will perform a series of tests to determine your home's true energy saving potential, and at the end will provide you with a comprehensive list of ways you can improve your home's efficiency. The top ten fixes normally recommended include:

1. Fix Air Leaks: Air seeps inside your house through leaks along baseboards, window frames, fireplace dampers, etc. and creates a major increase in your home's energy costs. By applying proper caulking and weather stripping, you can lose the leaks and decrease your costs by as much as 30 percent annually.

2. Replace Insulation: Heat loss through ceilings and walls in your home can be tremendous if the insulation levels are less than the recommended minimum. By replacing inadequate insulation with better quality insulation, you can decrease your home's heating and cooling costs by a significant amount.

3. Upgrade Heating and Cooling Systems: Inefficient heating and cooling systems can be a big drain on your bank account. By replacing systems that are more than 15 years old with energy efficient systems, you can save as much as 20 percent on your heating and cooling costs.

4. Replace Lighting: Energy use for lighting your home accounts for 10 percent of your electric bill. Making simple changes, such as switching out lamps with compact fluorescents or other energy efficient lamps, and replacing light bulbs with energy efficient bulbs, you can save a whopping 50-75 percent in your light energy use. Plus, these bulbs last longer, so you don't have to worry about changing them literally for years at a time.

5. Replace Appliances: Major household appliances, such as your refrigerator, washer and dryer, account for a big chunk of your monthly utility bill. In fact, one inefficient appliance can throw your entire energy system out of whack. You can save as much as 50 percent by replacing an old appliance with an energy efficient appliance.

6. Replace Windows: Old, inefficient windows can be a major source of air infiltration. Replacing drafty windows with double-pane or other energy efficient windows can reduce your energy costs by as much as 30 percent.

7. Replacing Doors: Just like windows, doors are another area where cold air can seep into your home. Switching out ill-fitting or otherwise inefficient doors with better quality doors can save you just as much as replacing windows.

8. Adding Solar Panels: Solar is a fantastic green technology option that can put money back into your wallet. While solar panels are generally expensive to install, the savings they generate more than pay back your initial investment. Solar panels save homeowners as much as 90 percent on their electric bills each year. In fact, if your home becomes fully dependant on solar electricity, your utility company can end up paying you instead of the other way around.

9. Smart Metering: Smart meters used in conjunction with a conscious effort by the homeowners to reduce energy usage, can reduce energy consumption by 12 percent each year.

10. Solar Water Heaters: Installing a solar water heater in your home can save the typical household $220 each year.

While these fixes range from being extremely inexpensive to putting a rather big strain on your bank account, they all yield one very important result: energy savings. A home energy audit will help you determine what fixes will yield the biggest results, and in the process, turn your home into a much more comfortable and inexpensive place to live.

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