Based on an industry conference that identified challenges and solutions for energy efficiency, these are some of the many benefits to a community -- and residents -- for a robust energy efficiency program.
1. Investing in existing homes maintains and builds on embodied energy and resources already invested.
2. Comprehensive retrofits have the potential to increase building durability, improve indoor air quality, increase comfort, correct health and safety problems and reduce noise and pests.
3. Reduced residential energy use eases strain on energy supplies and distribution networks.
4. Lower loads make it easier and more cost effective to meet a home's energy demands with renewable sources.
5. Lower utility and maintenance costs mean more money is available to the household for investment or spending on goods and services more beneficial to the local economy.
6. Lower utility costs reduce the cost of home ownership and can increase home affordability.
7. Low load homes buffer and protect occupants from outdoor temperature extremes that occur during power outages and/or severe weather events and from spikes in energy prices. This can affect extreme health and survival rates.
8. Through aggregation of benefits, benchmarking and feedback, occupants can see the impact of their actions, providing a way to reinforce lifestyle choices.
9. Deep energy reductions in existing homes can stimulate product development and deployment that benefits broader residential and small commercial sectors of the economy.
10. Deep energy reductions enable occupants to reduce their personal energy use and carbon footprint.
11. Deep energy savings can make the US more energy independent and reduce international tensions.
Creating a common language for measuring and evaluating energy efficiency would be helpful. We have better measures for car performance, such as "miles per gallon". The equivalent measure for homes and buildings could be "energy use per square foot", as well as "energy use per household", "peak load per household" or "energy cost per household."
Indices of energy performance are needed to provide transparent, inexpensive ways for a homeowner, community or program to benchmark the performance of a home based on actual consumption.
1. Investing in existing homes maintains and builds on embodied energy and resources already invested.
2. Comprehensive retrofits have the potential to increase building durability, improve indoor air quality, increase comfort, correct health and safety problems and reduce noise and pests.
3. Reduced residential energy use eases strain on energy supplies and distribution networks.
4. Lower loads make it easier and more cost effective to meet a home's energy demands with renewable sources.
5. Lower utility and maintenance costs mean more money is available to the household for investment or spending on goods and services more beneficial to the local economy.
6. Lower utility costs reduce the cost of home ownership and can increase home affordability.
7. Low load homes buffer and protect occupants from outdoor temperature extremes that occur during power outages and/or severe weather events and from spikes in energy prices. This can affect extreme health and survival rates.
8. Through aggregation of benefits, benchmarking and feedback, occupants can see the impact of their actions, providing a way to reinforce lifestyle choices.
9. Deep energy reductions in existing homes can stimulate product development and deployment that benefits broader residential and small commercial sectors of the economy.
10. Deep energy reductions enable occupants to reduce their personal energy use and carbon footprint.
11. Deep energy savings can make the US more energy independent and reduce international tensions.
Creating a common language for measuring and evaluating energy efficiency would be helpful. We have better measures for car performance, such as "miles per gallon". The equivalent measure for homes and buildings could be "energy use per square foot", as well as "energy use per household", "peak load per household" or "energy cost per household."
Indices of energy performance are needed to provide transparent, inexpensive ways for a homeowner, community or program to benchmark the performance of a home based on actual consumption.