To view the file below you must have Adobe Acrobat Reader, it is available as a free download from Adobe Ways to make sure the energy used to warm your house stays there.

She started by walking about outside, then went into the basement and worked her way up to the attic. She pointed out gaps, cracks, and places where insulation is needed. Along the way, she also pointed out that the furnace for our first-floor unit was not up to code.

I knew that our home needed work to make it energy-efficient. I just didn't know how much, or how urgently, until I had a home energy audit done.

The bearer of the not-so-good news was Juanita Gee, utility program manager for Conservation Consultants Inc., a South Side-based nonprofit that focuses on conserving energy and other resources. The agency's 14 auditors conduct some 4,000 audits annually throughout Western Pennsylvania, with the volume rising sharply in mid-September, said executive director Ann Gerace.

While plunging natural gas and fuel oil prices are expected to make winter heating bills much easier to live with this year, energy experts say the savings can be magnified further by taking a few early precautions. And, they note, there should be plenty of time to get the weatherizing done, given that temperatures are expected to be "seasonal or slightly warmer" from now through December, according to National Weather Service meteorologist Lee Hendricks.

In my case, Ms. Gee, pleasant and businesslike throughout, repeatedly recommended three items -- caulk, low-expansion foam and fiberboard: caulk to seal smaller openings, foam to fill larger ones, and fiberboard to cover the largest. I had used both caulk and foam before, but Ms. Gee's visit encourages a stronger relationship.

Some of her observations, as she makes them, sound like Homeownership 101, but they are educational for a guy who never has been even a weekend handyman. For instance, she noted that the exterior wood trim around our living room windows needs to be primed and painted more often than it has been; otherwise the paint peels, the wood absorbs moisture and it starts to warp.

So, how often should it be painted?

"It'll tell you," she said.

We had a new door put on at the back of the house a few years ago. Ms. Gee pointed to a spot where insulation protruded from between the door and the house's brick.

"When you put insulation in and it's not covered," she said, "it's just acting like a furnace filter -- it cleans the air before it comes in."

John Heller, Post-Gazette Tony Allen, left, follows Juanita Gee, an energy manager from Conservation Consultants, as she checks on a dehumidifier in Mr. Allen's basement while she conducts an energy audit in his Penn Hills home. Click photo for larger image.

The news about my furnace was the biggest surprise, but not the only one. I knew that cracks along the side of some window frames allowed air in and heat out, and I've applied caulk when I caught that happening. I did not know that it was happening along the bottom edges of some window frames, underneath and out of sight, until Ms. Gee's fingernails disappeared into the spaces.

For Tony Allen, the biggest surprise from the audit done on his Penn Hills home may have been the realization that part of his home was overinsulated.

A second-floor storage area, formed by the upward slope of the roof from the porch, had more insulation than necessary because, Ms. Gee said, it should be the same temperature as the outdoors. The greater part of the insulation should be between the storage area and the Allens' living space, so that the storage area acts as a buffer, she explained.

Mr. Allen, 36, and wife Leah, 32, had an energy audit of their home last week. The Allens bought their home in April, and wanted to be well-prepared for their first winter.

As daunting as heating bills can be, heating is only part of a typical household's energy use.

The Allens' audit was billed as a kickoff event for "Energy Awareness Month," a campaign by the U.S. Departments of Housing and Urban Development, and of Energy, along with the Environmental Protection Agency. The campaign encourages households to save energy on all fronts, from insulating spaces where outside air can reach inside to simply replacing one incandescent light bulb with a compact fluorescent one that can last 10 times longer.

If every household in Allegheny County performed the light bulb swap, it would save more than 360 million kilowatt hours of electricity and reduce the county's production of greenhouse gases and pollutants by 570 million pounds, said Cheryle Campbell, field office director for HUD's Pittsburgh office.

Mr. Allen said that he and his wife have always been energy conscious, partly as a result of paying utility bills ("right down to the sewer") as renters. So when they became homeowners, it seemed only natural to them to replace not one, but all of their incandescent bulbs with compact fluorescent ones, and to equip their home with appliances that have the Energy Star rating, which means they meet federally recommended standards for efficiency.

Conservation Consultants charges $125 for an audit, which includes a re-inspection after a homeowner has taken action on the audit's recommendations. For those who cannot afford the $125, local gas companies offer various types of assistance.

Columbia Gas offers a weatherization program for customers whose household income falls within 150 percent of federal poverty income guidelines -- about $2,500 a month for a family of four -- and an energy audit is the first step in that program, which also includes cleaning and tuning one's furnace and performing the work needed to correct problems unveiled by the audit. To find out if you're eligible, call 1-800-537-7431.

Equitable also offers home energy audits to customers within the same income guidelines through its Low-income Usage Reduction Program. For more information, call 412-395-3050.

Dominion Peoples does not offer its customers home energy audits, but encourages them to do it on their own and provides information to help them do so. To request materials for performing your own energy audit, call toll-free 1-800-764-0111.