HOW ENERGY EFFICIENT IS MY HOUSE?
How energy efficient is your house compared to other homes
like yours? Is it better than the neighbor’s house? Now you can easily compare using
the Energy Star web site.
ENERGY
STAR's Home Energy Yardstick compares your home's energy
efficiency to similar homes across the country. It also offers suggestions for
energy-saving home improvements.
You
will need to collect together a year’s worth of your utility bills. The
Yardstick program also needs basic information about your house size and
location.
Enter
your location (zip code), number of people in your home, square footage, age of
home (decade built), and energy use (monthly or one year total). The Yardstick program
will benchmark your energy use against its database of other U.S. homes.
This
will tell you how efficient your home is compared to similar homes.
Taking The Next Step
In
January, many folks like to plan projects for the New Year. That includes deciding
which home improvement projects they want to tackle during the year.
Energy
Star has another easy to use program that can help target the best ways to
improve your house to make it more energy efficient. The return on investment data
will help you choose the best use of your time and money.
The
Home Energy Saver program offers
a comparison of the energy costs (in $/year) of an average home and an energy-efficient
home in your part of the USA. The results are broken out by end-use function
(such as heating, cooling, and water heating).
An
online survey asks questions about your house in about 20 different categories
(including shape, shading, windows, and appliances). This results in a custom
evaluation of your own home's energy use.
You
also get a list of recommended ways to decrease energy consumption. Each suggestion
includes ballpark costs and estimated percentage return on investment.
With
all this information, you can make good choices about replacing appliances or
upgrading parts of your home’s structure.
I
tried it for our home and was pleased with how easy it was to use.
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