Spring is a great time to make energy efficiency upgrades to your home. Spending money to improve your home can yield “triple bottom line” returns: improving your home’s value, saving you money, and protecting our natural resources. Oh, and stimulating the economy at the same time sure is nice, too!
Here are some common upgrades. Pay attention to the percentage at the end. Some energy efficiency upgrades yield significant savings!
Energy Efficiency Upgrade/Purchase Price/Annual Bill Savings/Simple Payback (yrs)/Rate of Return [source:
Fluorescent Lamps & Fixtures $200/$80/2.5/ 41%
Duct sealing $250/$95/2.6/41%
ENERGY STAR Clothes washer $194/$66/2.9/37%
ENERGY STAR Programmable Thermostat $107/$29/3.7/30%
Water Heater Tank Wrap (R-12) $85/$23/3.7/28%
ENERGY STAR Refrigerator $97/$23/4.2/27%
ENERGY STAR Heat Pump $692 $126/5.5/19%
ENERGY STAR Dishwasher $29/$5/5.5/18%
Air sealing to 0.5 air changes per hour $522/$38/13.7/9%
Increase wall and attic insulation $1,784/$111/16.1/8%
Total $3,960/$597/6.6/16%
Total bill savings as % of baseline bill 36%
For greater detail on these rates of return on energy efficiency upgrades, please see this government website.
How much could your energy efficient upgrade improve your bottom line? Use the calculator here.
Finally, here are some more ideas for making your home more energy efficient and cost effective.
Further Reading
Tags: Conservation, Efficient energy use, Energy, Energy Star, Fluorescent lamp, Heat pump, Home improvement, Organizations, Rate of return, Technology, Water heating
April 22nd, 2009 at 12:35 pm
This is all well and good, but pretty much the ONLY thing I can do is a renter is… Well, none of those. I already have fluorescent lights everywhere it makes sense, and an EnergyStar compliant clothes washer and dryer. I am not allowed to hang clothes outside to dry, and none of the other appliances are within my power to replace or improve (even the water heater is a shared one; it is not located inside my apartment).
It would be nice if at least a little bit of the advice on how to be more energy efficient was geared toward renters who are unable to replace the thermostat, windows, dishwasher, etc.