Home Energy Efficiency—Much Room for Improvement

Households are big energy users; by some measures they are one of the more energy inefficient zones in the US. Opower, a company based in Arlington, VA, believes that human behavior may be the worst part of the residential efficiency equation. Some examples: we leave the lights on in an unoccupied room or forget to turn the air conditioning off when we aren't home. (3) What can you do? There are plenty of things you can do to stay cool while ensuring that your electric bill doesn't spiral out of control. Barry Fischer and Nate Kaufman recommend the following (4):

• Set your thermostat wisely—each degree of adjustment has an estimated 3-5% impact on your monthly cooling costs.
• Let you air conditioner breath—you can get cooler more quickly and save around $20 per year on your utility bill by taking a few minutes to: 1- remove weeds, leaves, and other debris near your AC's outdoor unit, 2- clear away objects that my be blocking indoor AC vents (offenders may include a chair, rug, or beanbag pillow).
• Block out the sun—use shutters and awnings, and even plant 'shade trees' in your yard. Blocking sunlight will help prevent your home from warming up in the first place, so there's less need to run the AC. Light-colored blinds and draperies can reduce solar heat gain in a home by 33-45%, and external window awnings can reduce it by up to 77%.

How about making your home more energy efficient?

There are many steps you can take to make your home more energy efficient. Some changes are one-time investments—others are things you can do every day. Realize though, that you don't have to follow every step to be energy efficient. Even if you only implement two or three of these changes you will be saving energy, money, and Mother nature too. (5)

• Insulate your home-- adding new or additional insulation to your ceilings, attic and walls along with using caulking or weather stripping to make sure doors and windows are properly sealed will prevent cold drafts and air leaks and keep warm air inside during the freezing winter. When the weather heats up, these same improvements will help keep the cool air from air conditioning inside your home during the sweltering summer.
• Revamp your windows—these are a major source of heat loss in a home. Replace aluminum window frames. Vinyl frames are much more resistant to heat transfer. Get multiple panels—double or triple panel argon gas-filled windows are great for keeping heat in and the cold out. Tinting your windows can also help. Lastly, open the blinds and let the sunlight in (sun is 100% free).
• Replace old appliances—older appliances are less energy-efficient than newer models. Replace the old 'clunkers' in your home with Energy Star certified appliances.
• Keep your water heater warm- it does not need to be hotter than 120 to 140 degrees F.
• Fix the furnace—get a high efficiency furnace, change air filters, seal ducts, close vents in rooms you use less frequently.

For other suggestions, check the recent book, Home Energy Tips, by Ralph Ritchie and Fern Ritchie. Another good source is Opower, a company that partners with utility providers around the world to promote energy efficiency; blog.opower.com is quite helpful. Another item—America's least favorite way to save energy is hand drying laundry. With approximately 85% of USA households owning tumble dryers and the vast majority of them toasting up to 2+ loads of sopping wet laundry per week, clothes dryers account for a big chunk of home energy use. Joining water heaters and refrigerators among the top three electricity-hogging appliances in US homes, dryers account for 6% of the country';s residential electricity consumption and each year add $9 billion to American families' utility bills. (6) By comparison, most western European countries have tumble dryer ownership rates below 50%. The most ambitious case of line drying on the continent is Italy, where clotheslines are famously ubiquitous and 95% of homes reportedly live without dryers. Barry Fischer reports, “One major explanation for the US' low rate of hang drying can be traced to rules and regulations. Tens of millions of Americans live in community associations or landlord-managed properties that impose restrictions on the use of outdoor clotheslines, citing aesthetic concerns. In the past few years, however, a growing number of states and jurisdictions have begun to assess the drying-related impact of these ordinances.” (6) Fortunately, the nation is seeing a promising wave of technological advances, utility-sector innovation, behavioral science approaches, and policy breakthroughs that are helping to make energy productivity not just a serendipitous achievement in 1970, but an enduring reality for the decades ahead. (2) In an extensive report published by the American Council for an Energy Efficient Economy (ACEEE), Boston won top honors among America's 34 largest cities for its comprehensive efforts to reduce energy consumption. The ACEEE 2013 City Energy Efficient Scorecard evaluated each city's energy efficiency activities across five key areas: buildings, transportation, energy and water utility programs, local government operations, and community-wide initiatives. (7) Out of 100 possible points, Boston earned the highest overall score of 76.75, beating out Portland, OR (70), San Francisco (69.75), and New York (69.75). At the energy level, Boston lead the pack in community-wide initiatives, based in part on its campaign to shave city wide electricity demand by 200 megawatts by 2017. It also tied San Francisco for first-place in utilities and public benefits programs. References

1. Dan Yates, “Ending the big electric bill era,” blog.opower.com, July 8, 2013
2. Barry Fischer, “The tradition continues: the United States wastes more energy than it uses,” blog.opower.com, August 22, 2013
3. John Bussey, “The efficiency of social pressure,” The Wall Street Journal, September 6, 2013, Page B1
4. Barry Fischer and Nate Kaufman, “The people have spoken: America's favorite way to save energy during summer is...”, blog.opower.com, July 25, 2013
5. “How to make your home more energy efficient,” wikihow.com, accessed September 20, 2013
6. Barry Fischer and Nate Kaufman, “America's most unpopular was of saving energy—is one of Europe's favorites,” blog.opower.com, July 31, 2013
7. Eric Mackres et al., “The 2013 City Energy Efficiency Scorecard,” ACEEE Research Report E13G, September 16, 2013