How Energy Efficiency Can Make a Difference
Your home uses a lot of energy. That’s no secret. Unless you have two dozen photovoltaic solar panels mounted on your roof, a geothermal heating pump in your backyard and passive tankless water heating, you’re probably using your fair share of electricity, gas, and/or oil to stay comfortable.
But you’re doing your best to change. You turn off lights compulsively, check your meter at least once a month and have family meetings whenever the thermostat goes over 70 degrees.
These things are all good – in fact, they’re great. The push toward energy efficiency has an immensely positive effect on the environment and your pocket book, and every passing year, more incentives pop up to make it a no brainer. Here are just a few of the reasons why a green home is a happy home, for you, Mother Earth and even Uncle Sam.
The Green Benefits of Energy Efficiency
Simply put, we live in a society that consumes a lot of fossil fuels. The vast majority of households in the United States use electricity and heat derived from coal, natural gas, or oil. None of these is a renewable resource and none of them are particularly clean.
Fortunately, modern technology makes it easier than ever to reduce your consumption without having to spend $20,000 to retrofit your roof with solar panels. Energy Star appliances are better than ever and HVAC systems have improved exponentially in the last decade to reduce their negative impact on the environment.
In fact, you can purchase a furnace today with an AFUE rating of nearly 98%. For comparison, furnaces in the 1970s and 1980s had efficiency ratings between 40% and 60% on average. When you upgrade to a new furnace, you can improve efficiency by nearly 100%.
And that’s just one component in your home comfort system. Washing machines now run on less than $50 a year in water and electricity costs. Tankless water heaters provide hot water only when you need it. Air conditioners use R410A refrigerant and have efficiency ratings nearly double what they were 15 years ago.
It’s Not Just the Cost
The cost of installing and running energy efficient appliances is compelling to be sure, but also consider the environmental benefits of doing so. If every home in America switched to a brand new HVAC system with 90% or higher AFUE and 13 or higher SEER, millions of cubic feet of carbon dioxide would be removed from the atmosphere each year.
What’s good for the environment is good for us all. It reduces the cost of fossil fuels, encourages the development of green technologies that are both clean and affordable and ensures a safe, well cared for planet on which our children can grow and thrive for decades to come.
The next time you replace a battered water heater with the cheapest option available or buy another CFC lightbulb, consider the positive impact you can have by going green. Everyone wins.
