Tips, tricks, and tools for the average homeowner who wants to be energy efficient, save money, and live in a healthy home.

1. Becoming Energy
Efficient
The Money-Saving Survival Guide For The Every Day
Homeowner

2. Adopt Good Habits
Becoming energy efficient
is something that needs to
be part of the entire family.
When it comes to using
your home’s most
important systems, instilling
good habits in every family
member early on is the first
step to saving energy,
saving money, and living in
a healthy home.

3. How To Talk About Saving
Energy
All families are different; one
family might be concerned about
climate change, while another
just wants to keep energy bills low.
No matter what your family values
most, when children understand
the underlying concept, they are
often eager to participate. Help
them understand what drives your
values.

4. How To Talk About Saving
Energy
¡ Kids should understand what energy
is used for. Explain that energy is an
invisible force. People get energy
from food and use it to walk and
play. In the same way, houses get
energy from burning things like
natural gas and coal, and use it to
run the refrigerator, heat the water,
and turn on the lights.
¡ One of the most important ways to
teach your kids to save energy at
home is to make sure they
understand that energy costs money.
Wasting energy is similar to wasting
food; it's throwing something away
without using it.
¡ Go to the library for age-appropriate
books or do a quick search on the
Internet to help answer any questions
you or your children might have.

5. Policies at Home
Teaching kids specific ways to save
energy is the next step and will help
children apply what they have
learned into real-life scenarios.
¡ Turn off the lights when you leave the room
¡ Turn off the TV when you're not watching it
¡ Only run the dishwasher and laundry machine
when they are full
¡ Don't use hot water when it's not necessary to
do so
¡ Have family events where you do things that
take little or no energy, such as going on hikes,
playing together outside, or playing board
games
¡ Involve your kids as you do things around the
house to improve energy efficiency, like
caulking windows, hiring an energy efficiency
specialist, and shopping for energy efficient
appliances

6. Get An Energy Efficiency
Evaluation
What if there was a way to save 30 to 40% on every
electric bill from now on? With an Energy Efficiency
Evaluation, you can!
A certified energy efficiency evaluation technician
can come to your home, perform several tests to
determine how to operate your home’s system
more efficiently, and recommend some changes
that could save you thousands of dollars a year.

7. Energy Efficiency Evaluation
¡ Each evaluation begins in the attic. Did you know that 80% of
heat loss or heat coming into the home enters through the
attic?
¡ The tech will then focus on 4 areas: insulation depth, radiant
heat, ventilation, and finally, air quality.

8. Energy Efficiency
Evaluation: Insulation Depth
¡ Most homes are not built with the
proper amount of insulation.
Insulation is rated by standards set
by the Department of Energy,
which states that a home must
have a minimum of 15 inches of
insulation.
¡ Insulation is a vital part of a
home’s efficiency because it
provides resistance to heat flow,
and your attic insulation the more
heat flow resistance provides, the
more cost effective and efficient
your home will be.

9. Energy Efficiency
Evaluation: Radiant Heat
¡ Radiant heat is the energy
of the sun’s heat that enters
the home and heats
anything solid that absorbs
its energy.
¡ This excessive heat causes
your AC system to work
double-time. If the home
isn’t equipped with some
sort of radiant heat blocker,
your home will be less
energy efficient and your
monthly energy bills will be
sky-high.

10. Energy Efficiency
Evaluation: Ventilation
¡ Proper attic ventilation is
important if you want reduced
energy bills and want to maintain
a safe and healthy home.
¡ First, the technician checks to see
if there is enough air circulating in
and out of the attic. Proper
ventilation helps to keep the attic
air from becoming stagnant and
keeps the temperature of the air
from becoming too extreme.
¡ Extreme temperatures cause
condensation which produces
mold and mildew, and can be
harmful for the whole family.

11. Energy Efficiency
Evaluation: Air Quality
¡ This test checks the air flow inside
duct lines and makes sure there are
no contaminants which can be
harmful to anyone inside the home.
¡ Airflow problems are caused by a
number of things such as carpeting,
pollen, and dust particles. These
contaminants get stuck inside air duct
lines and are constantly being
circulated throughout the house.
Over time, dust particles turn into
mold and can be very hazardous if
not addressed.
¡ identifying mold in air ducts and
cleaning air ducts are the most
important parts of the evaluation.

12. Pass or Fail?
¡ Once all testing is complete, the
technician analyzes all the results
and gives your home a grade.
¡ About 90% of homes do not pass
the test.
¡ Whether your home fails or not,
the important thing is to get it
checked and to get it fixed.
¡ The best part about it is you only
need to have your home
evaluated once. When you
know what is wrong with your
home, you can fix it, maintain it,
and save money.

13. Energy Star Appliances
Americans saved $30,000,000,000 in 2013 by using
Energy Star® appliances, lights, and windows,
saving the energy equivalent to 277 million metric
tons of greenhouse gas emissions. Want in on the
cash? Start using energy efficient appliances!

14. The Energy Star® Stamp
¡ Energy Star® is a program that was first
developed in the early 1990’s by the
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
(EPA) as a method to identify and
promote products that are energy
efficient. Products carrying this symbol
provide a way for businesses and
consumers to save money and protect
our environment at the same time.
¡ Appliances carrying the Energy Star®
rating typically are 10 to 20% more
energy efficient than non-rated models.
This means you'll not only save money,
but help your environment as well.

15. Why Be Energy Efficient?
¡ Using eco-friendly and energy
efficient appliances like dishwashers,
refrigerators, and washing machines
will significantly reduce waste and
keep more money in your pocket for
other important things you need (like
vacation!).
¡ Energy Star® certified appliances use
less energy than conventional ones,
which helps reduce air pollution and
combat global climate change.
¡ They also use less water, and by
reducing water consumption, using
Energy Star® rated appliances also
helps protect our lakes, streams, and
oceans.