DOE Reaches One-Millionth-Home Milestone
The US Department of Energy has announced that the Home Performance with ENERGY STAR program has upgraded one million American homes for energy efficiency. The program, which began in 2001, has saved homeowners $7.7bn on energy bills and cut emissions equivalent to a year's worth of 11 coal-fired power plants. The program connects homeowners with contractors to improve home energy use with upgrades such as sealing leaks and installing insulation. The Bipartisan Infrastructure Deal will invest in the manufacturing of clean energy technologies to export globally.
Last week, U.S. Secretary Jennifer M. Granholm traveled to Delaware to announce that the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) has upgraded one million American homes through the Home Performance with ENERGY STAR® program.
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—hundreds of which are also BPA members—and utility and nonprofit energy efficiency program administrators to make upgrades that save energy and improve the comfort, health, and safety of their homes. Since 2001, the Home Performance with ENERGY STAR® program has helped American homeowners and renters save $7.7 billion on their energy bills and cut carbon emissions equivalent to a year’s worth of 11 coal-fired power plants.
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. 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 Bipartisan Infrastructure Deal will invest in the American workforce to ramp up the manufacturing of solar panels, wind farms, batteries, and electric vehicles to grow clean energy supply chains the U.S. can export to the world.
Secretary Granholm’s trip and the million-home milestone underscore the importance of the weatherization and energy efficiency investments that are within the recently passed Bipartisan Infrastructure Deal.
You can read more about the connection and the recent investment in energy efficiency here.
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