You hear a lot about lowering your carbon footprint and protecting the environment, but you might be surprised when you realize how your home’s energy consumption truly impacts your energy costs and the health of the planet! The following statistics paint a broader energy efficiency picture while giving you ways to change your habits and alter your approach so that you can achieve home energy efficiency!
Heating and cooling make up 50-70% of home energy use
It can take a lot of energy, especially during winter and summer extremes, to heat and cool your home. There are many ways to lower energy use such as enhancing your home’s insulation, upgrading to an energy-efficient HVAC system, or sealing air leaks around your home. When you get a no-cost virtual Home Energy Assessment, you can get 75%+ off new insulation, 100% off air sealing, up to $2,750 in HVAC rebates, and you can get access to the Mass Save® HEAT loan to help cover any expenses. The Mass Save program makes it affordable and achievable to use less energy to feel comfortable at home.
Source: U.S. Department of Energy
9 out of 10 homes are under-insulated in the U.S.
Enhancing your home’s insulation is key to reducing energy use, lowering monthly energy costs, and decreasing your family’s carbon footprint. Insulation is an important barrier during the winter and summer and although it might seem like a big investment at first, the sponsors of the Mass Save program are offering 75%+ off approved insulation to help cover the costs of an upgrade, and whatever is left over will pay for itself with the energy that is saved! Newer and older homes benefit from upgrades in insulation and there are a variety of materials such as blown-in cellulose, fiberglass batting, spray foam, and polyiso (aka rigid foam board) that can make sure every wall, ceiling, crawl space, hard to reach spot, and small area are insulated from the outdoors.
Source: energystar.gov
LED light bulbs use 90% less energy than incandescent bulbs
If every U.S. household replaced just one light bulb with an energy-efficient light bulb, it would save enough energy to light more than 3 million homes for a year, save more than $600 million in annual energy costs, and prevent greenhouse gases equivalent to the emissions of more than 800,000 cars. If you still have incandescent bulbs in your home, did you know that only about 10-15% of the electricity they consume results in light and the rest is turned into heat? On the other hand, energy-saving LED lightbulbs use 95% of their energy as light! When you schedule a Home Energy Assessment, you get no-cost items for your home like LED light bulbs which makes it easy to switch to a more energy-efficient way of lighting!
Source: CBS News & Consumer Energy Alliance
Massachusetts has rated top in energy efficiency for the last 12 years
For the past 12 years, Massachusetts has taken 1st or 2nd place in state energy efficiency in the U.S. This success is due to state and local efforts like the Mass Save program, which make it easier for homeowners and renters to take energy efficiency into their own hands at home. Making the world a cleaner place and keeping Mass green can start right at home with a Home Energy Assessment, energy efficiency improvements, and habit changes that affect your energy consumption in a positive way. Everything you do to be more energy efficient will help your state remain at the top, so why not sign up for a no-cost Home Energy Assessment to do your part?
Source: American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy
Regular HVAC maintenance reduces risk of breakdowns by up to 95%
One of the biggest myths out there is that preventative maintenance is more of a marketing stunt than anything else. This couldn’t be further from the truth as regular maintenance can help you save money, extend the life of your system, reduce energy, improve your home’s air quality, decrease the risk of surprise system failures, and more! It’s simple; when your HVAC system is operating at its peak, you get the best results. Call HomeWorks Energy at (781) 305-3319 and ask our home energy experts about available preventative maintenance plans and HVAC tune-ups to make sure your system is performing its best for you and your family.
Source: Indoor Air Quality Association
U.S residences use about 22% of the country’s energy
The approximately 113 million residences in the U.S. collectively use about 22% of the country’s energy, but did you know that a quarter of all residential energy consumption is used on devices in idle power mode? Just think of all that wasted energy and money! An easy way to eliminate vampire power is to unplug microwaves, game consoles, and computers when not in use. Also, utilizing advanced power strips to easily cut the energy supply to devices when not in use can be transformative when it comes to your home’s energy consumption. When you sign up for a Mass Save Home Energy Assessment, you get items like advanced power strips for your home at no cost to you!
Source: U.S. Department of Energy and the National Resources Defense Council
It’s never too late to make the switch to a more energy-efficient lifestyle, starting right at home! ,Schedule a no-cost virtual Home Energy Assessment to learn how your home consumes and loses energy and get access to recommendations from home energy experts and Mass Save incentives such as 75%+ off approved insulation, 100% off air sealing, up to $2,750 in HVAC rebates, no-cost items like LED light bulbs and programmable thermostats, and even more! It has never been easier to do your part to protect our planet and of course, save energy and money, too!
