Brenton Watkins

Home energy assessment contributor

Brenton Watkins contributes a practical account of household energy use to Secrets to Success. His biography describes experience conducting home energy assessments and eight years working with a company involved in LED lighting, energy monitoring and related equipment. His interests span the way a building, its equipment, controls and everyday use interact.

His chapter, The House Costs Too Much to Run, starts with a property whose owners could not understand its power bills. Brenton describes using monitoring and observation to look for patterns, rather than assuming that one appliance or the electricity meter explained everything. The story gives readers a view of how a seemingly simple bill can reflect several interacting problems.

Brenton also discusses the unresolved issues in his own home. That willingness to describe what he would do differently gives the chapter a specific focus on questions: where heat enters or leaves, what equipment runs continuously, and whether a proposed purchase addresses the actual cause of a problem.

His contribution encourages property owners to separate observations from assumptions and prepare clearer questions for an appropriate professional. It is general educational material, with explicit boundaries around hazardous or regulated work. The chapter's emphasis is on understanding the situation before committing money, rather than giving readers instructions to alter electrical, gas, roofing or other building systems themselves.