From Your Energy Audit to a Green Home Plan
Your Energy Audit shows where your home is today. The Green Home Predictor helps you decide what to do next — and in what order.
Completing a professional Home Energy Score assessment or other in-home energy audit is a big step. It gives you a clear snapshot of your home’s current performance — usually a number between 1 and 10.
But most homeowners quickly realize the score alone doesn’t answer the hardest questions: What should I do first? What can wait? How do upgrades work together over time?
That’s where the Green Home Predictor comes in. It uses your existing audit as a starting point and helps you explore different upgrade paths — safely, quickly, and without spending a dime.
Think of the score as the ruler and the Status Bands as the map. The Predictor helps you move from one band to the next — deliberately.
| Energy Status Band | Professional Audit Score | Focus | Why It Matters |
|---|---|---|---|
| Band 1 – Legacy Home | 1–2 | Air sealing, attic insulation | Stops energy loss and improves comfort |
| Band 2 – Mixed-Era Home | 3–4 | Walls, rim joists, ducts | Prepares the home for modern systems |
| Band 3 – Modern Systems Home | 5–6 | Efficient HVAC, electrical readiness | Makes electrification viable |
| Band 4 – High Performance | 7–8 | Whole-home heat pumps | Locks in low operating costs |
| Band 5 – Advanced / Net-Ready | 9–10 | Solar, storage, optimization | Future-proofs the home |
Before choosing upgrades, pause and reflect. Do you care most about comfort? Lower bills? Indoor air quality? Cutting carbon? Timing upgrades with repairs?
Your priorities should shape your plan. The “best” retrofit path isn’t universal — it’s personal.
Before creating an upgrade package, reflect on what matters most to you. Do you want lower bills, better indoor air quality, or a home ready for solar and EV charging? Your goals should guide which improvements to model and when to make them.
| 🎯 Priority | 💬 What It Means | 🧩 Upgrades That Support It |
|---|---|---|
| 🏠 Comfort | Even temperatures, no drafts, quieter systems | Air sealing, attic insulation, heat pumps, duct sealing |
| 💰 Affordability | Lower energy bills, protection from fuel price spikes | Efficiency upgrades, smart thermostats, LED lighting |
| 🌱 Climate | Cut carbon emissions, go all-electric | Heat pumps, induction stove, electric water heating, EV charger |
| 🔋 Resilience | Ready for outages or future solar + battery system | Panel upgrade, battery-ready wiring, efficient envelope |
| 👃 Health | Improved indoor air quality, reduced combustion indoors | ERVs/HRVs, heat pumps, ventilation upgrades |
| 🧩 Phased Investment | Coordinate upgrades with replacements or renovations | Modular planning, priority-by-need approach |
Heat pumps are the most cost-effective, all-in-one heating and cooling solution for most homes in the United States — even in cold climates. They’re efficient, electric, and future-ready.
- ✅ Super-efficient — move 2–5× more heat than the electricity they consume
- ✅ Cold-climate ready — work down to −10°F or even −20°F
- ✅ Dual-purpose — one system for both heating and cooling
- ✅ Carbon-cutting — reduce emissions even in fossil-heavy grids
Electrification is the quickest path to major comfort gains, lower energy bills, and lower carbon emissions. By replacing combustion equipment with efficient electric systems, you cut wasted energy right away — often 30–60% — and you’re ready to run on an increasingly clean grid.
- A safety-first sequence (fix urgent issues, verify ventilation)
- A shell-first plan (air seal & insulate so every upgrade performs better)
- Right-sized electrification (heat pump water heater, heat pump HVAC, panel readiness)
- Optional solar once the load is trimmed
- A short list of assumptions when a detail is missing — so you can review or update it
Same proven order, tailored to your house: seal & insulate → electrical readiness → heat pump water heater → heat pump HVAC → optional PV .
- ✅ Imagine exciting changes and rerun your score
- ✅ Test different upgrade scenarios and compare outcomes
- ✅ Estimate cost, energy, and carbon savings before committing