One million homes now have been upgraded with energy efficiency improvements through the 20-year-old Home Performance with ENERGY STAR program.
The U.S. Department of Energy celebrated the milestone with a recent visit by Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm to Delaware to see upgrade projects. Since 2001, the Home Performance with ENERGY Star effort calculated some $7.7 billion in energy savings for home owners.
The savings also contributes to the environment, the DOE release noted, with carbon emissions cut by the equivalent of 11 coal-fired plants generating for one year.
Home Performance with ENERGY STAR is a national home improvement program administered by DOE in collaboration with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to improve the energy efficiency of single-family and low-rise multifamily homes. It connects homeowners with a network of over 1,300 home performance contractors and utility and nonprofit energy efficiency program administrators to make upgrades.
Together with its Weatherization Assistance Program, DOE has serviced almost eight million U.S. homes. Sponsors and their networks of contractors follow a proven “whole-house” approach set by DOE guidelines to assess and improve home energy use with the most comprehensive and economically feasible upgrades, such as sealing leaks to control outside air from entering the home, adding insulation, or installing a new clean heating and cooling system like an ENERGY STAR-certified heat pump.
Additional savings can be achieved by installing rooftop solar panels, EV chargers, or connected home products like smart thermostats that can monitor and adjust energy use.
The Biden Administration’s recently signed Infrastructure and Jobs Plan will allocate close to $213 billion toward rebuilding and retrofitting houses in the nation.
