David Bach The Automatic Millionaire

David P - Tuesday, November 20, 2007, 7:34PM ET  Report Abuse

• Overall: 1/5

It seems all these colums are written for people who live in the Northeast. I have a brand new home, I have no insulation, no heat or a/c. The caveat is I live in Hawaii where, at least where I am, I dont need either. Its a choice I made to move here and get away from the cold and high cost.

Yahoo! Finance User - Sunday, November 18, 2007, 9:17PM ET  Report Abuse

• Overall: 2/5

For all those out there that can't afford a professional energy audit: don't despair. You can do a lot to help yourself. Get storm windows if you don't already have them. Insulate your attic. Insulate your walls. Make sure the doors are well sealed. You can make a difference just with a few simple changes.

Frank - Monday, November 12, 2007, 10:00PM ET  Report Abuse

• Overall: 1/5

It's very sad to see an article like this, mainly because even after an energy audit could be helpful the true cost of making any significant changes is astronomical. Just try to buy a top rated energy efficient boiler and see how much it costs. Try 8K to 10K for the average home before you save one dime. And as far as the $500.00 audit, what a joke that won't even cover the basic hardware for the upgrade. Then there's the question of average heating costs, try $1,600 - 2,000.00 dollars versus the $900.00 dollars noted in this article. The fact of the matter is there is not a shortage of oil but a critical shortage of electricity and options to to chose from. Most of all which is sad is that nearly all of the homeowners who could afford to have made their homes more energy efficient have already done so. That only leaves the remain folks who are bankrupt and facing foreclosure with the housing bust. So who is David talking too? I believe himself because everybody else has already done what they possibly could. At this point in time the US should declare a national energy emergency, take over Iraq, Iran and and any other country unwilling to cooperate peacefully with the civilized nations to resolve these issues and begin building enough nuclear reactors both in the US and worldwide to fill the critical electrical shortage. The last thing we need now is wasting money on more useless energy audits, because this is not the answer folks. Twenty years ago it might have been but not today. Good luck to all of you who perform your energy audits, but two years from now you will be asking yourself the same questions again. What are my choices, oil, gas, coal, solar, geothermal, all sound good, but in the end there is nothing like electricity and nowhere is there enough of it! An abundance of electricity is the true answer, a nation and world ready to produce enough of it seems worlds and wars apart. Mainly because of greed and misguided environmentalists and goverment officials alike. If you want more choices ask for more clean abundant electricity and then you will truly see the world light up for sure! Just look around you what country has benefited the most from electricity, yes the USA. And who has suffured the most without it, all the Third World countries who don't have enough of it. And of course those that we go to war with because that's the first thing we cut off after their communications. A world without electricity is a world of darkness!

KevinL - Saturday, November 10, 2007, 10:34AM ET  Report Abuse

• Overall: 4/5

It is truly amazing how little most people know about energy and where it comes from. I believe that is about to change. One thing people need to realize is that with the exception of sunlight, which does create some useable energy forms no more energy is being created. The fossil fuels we use are a "one time endowment" and not in endless supply. Uranium supplies are tightening also. Adapting to alternative sources is needed, but this change can not take place in a manner that supplies all of the energy we are consuming. If you think it will you owe it to yourself to you look into it more. I believe Home Energy Audits are a fantastic financial investment. Those rerviewers who claim that it makes no sense economically are very wrong. One first needs to add a minimum of a 10% increase annually each foward year to the estimated cost of energy in the future. This 10% may turn out to be to conservative, escpecially since the powers to be have decided to allow the US dollar to dilute into uncharted depths. Depending on the home, savings of 30% in energy costs are common when the homeowner follows the recommendations of the audit. Yes, there will be an investment needed, but many of the tasks, such as insulating and sealing can be done by the homeowner at a savings. As a nation and society we all benefit from having energy audits, and completing the follow up actions recommended because the energy that would be lost and is saved never has to be mined, refined, or transported. Regarding the persons who responded saying that we just need to enlarge our empire and take what we need from other nations by force, are your sons, daughters or grandchildren joining in the excursions? Have you read any history about empires and their eventual demise? Do you really believe that people in other countries don't mind being cold, hungry or dead when their resources are pirated? One thing that you can't dissagree with is that at some time in the future fossil fuels will be gone, or unusable. You can only debate when this will occur. When that time comes life will be different for people everywhere. It really does not matter if this time is 20 years or 200 years in the future, as moral and ethical citizens we should be thinking more about reducing energy waste now.

Yahoo! Finance User - Thursday, November 8, 2007, 12:37PM ET  Report Abuse

• Overall: 3/5

The math for 5years: 977*5=$4885 for 5 winters; assume a reasonable 25% savings after audit, then 4885*25%=$1221.25 in savings over 5 years. Will an audit/improvement cost you less than 1221.25? if yes, do it. I did the same math when comparing a regular car to a Hybrid. Regular Car price=$13600 Hybrid=$20,000; difference of $6400; Regular Car mile/gal=21(lots of idling) Hybrid ~ 40. Average fuel price=2.5 (from 1.9 to 3.0 a gallon from 2001 to present). Regular car fuel expenditure over 60,000 miles=$7150 Hyrid=$3750; difference of $3400. I was better off buying the regular car ($6400 on price savings vs. $3400 on fuel savings).