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Here's a glance at where the energy bill comes from for a typical, single-family home. (Energy Star)

By Janice Zaltman 

In my real estate and consulting business, the one question that comes up time and time again is: “What steps can I can take to lower my home energy costs?”

“Ask your neighbors what they spend on their energy bill each month,” advises Ben Millar of E3 Building Sciences in Fort Myers, Florida. “If you are spending the same as everyone else with similar square footage in your neighborhood, maybe your home is okay,” he explains.

Once you have an idea of how your costs measure up, look at your consumption and the things that you can easily change. Here are some examples:

• Lighting: Do you tend to leave the lights on when you leave the room? Keeping the home well lit can be a big concern for families with children. Luckily, there are several solutions to this issue. Energy-efficient lighting involves both the light source and the fixture. In many cases, you can simply change the light bulb to either a compact fluorescent lightbulb (CFL) or a light emitting diode (LED). Energy-efficient bulbs may require a certain type of fixture by having a pin base that cannot fit into traditional fixtures. By replacing the five most frequently used light fixtures in your home with Energy Star qualified models, you can save $70 each year, according to energystar.gov. Other solutions include occupancy sensors, which automatically shut off the lights once everyone leaves the room.
• Electronics: Do you have power strips on your high-consumption technology such as televisions, computers, stereo, or DVD player? As long as your gadgets remain attached to a power source, they are generating heat and electricity. Use a power strip switch which turns everything off when not in use.
• Program the thermostat: Give your air conditioner a break during the day. Installing a programmable thermostat can regulate the temperature throughout your house whether you are home or away.
• Solar water heaters: Solar water heaters can be a cost-effective way to reduce your hot water bills. They can be used in any climate, and the fuel they use (sunshine) is free.
• Give your home an update: Improve outdated home appliances for the best return on your investment. Outdated appliances can be a drain on your utility bill. When I purchased a new Energy Star refrigerator and dishwasher last year using the Energy Star Rebate Program, my utility bill went down 40 percent.
• Heating and cooling: As much as half of your energy costs go towards heating and cooling, according to Energy Star. If you have an HVAC system that is at least 12 years old, it may be beneficial to consider a newer and more efficient model. Changing the filter monthly and having your system checked at least once per year helps ensure energy efficiency.  Your HVAC system, like your body, needs a good tune-up each year to remain in good health.
• Weather-strip your windows: Plug up those drafts! If you have old windows and are considering changing them, check out Energy Star windows and pick one for your appropriate climate condition.
• Rebates and incentives: Check out rebates and incentives at the Database of State Incentives for Renewables and Efficiency. They can significantly reduce the cost of your upgrade and lower the time it takes to recoup your investment.
• Get help from the local utility: In some areas, the local utility offers a free or low-cost service to come to your home and do an energy audit.

By following the above suggestions, you can save between 10 and 40 percent on your home energy bills, depending on your individual usage.

For related article:
10 Quick Ways to Green Your Home 

© 2011 SCGH, LLC.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has launched a new portal designed to provide easy access to information about everyday products at www.epa.gov/greenerproducts.

“By purchasing greener products, consumers can help reduce air pollution, conserve water and energy, minimize waste and protect their children and families from exposure to toxic chemicals, while also creating green jobs,” says Steve Owens, assistant administrator of EPA’s Office of Chemical Safety and Pollution Prevention, in a press release. “Pollution prevention is good for our health, our environment, and our economy.”

The Web page makes it easy to find electronics and appliances with the EPA’s ENERGY STAR label or to review products that can save water and energy under the WaterSense label. In addition, you can find information about cleaning products that are safer for the environment and better for your health with the EPA Design for the Environment (DfE) label.

The new portal also helps manufacturers and institutional purchasers with information on standards and criteria for designing greener products. As part of its mission, the EPA has been working to promote the development of standards for environmentally preferable goods and services, and the site offers an explanation of what different eco-labels mean. Labels vary in whether they are standards developed by private entities, by public agencies under EPA authority, or jointly by stakeholders and experts from the public and private sectors.

Eco-labeling programs include ENERGY STAR, WaterSense, and Design for the Environment (DfE). They are good examples of government leadership in advancing energy efficiency, water conservation, and commitment to objective, fact-based decision making.

Not convinced that these labels matter? Here are the EPA’s most important reasons to follow eco-labels:

• By looking for greener products when you shop and using products in ways that respect the environment, you will be joining millions of Americans in helping protect public health and the environment. Using products in ways that respect the environment includes conserving energy, water, and materials as well as disposing of the products responsibly through recycling and reuse.

• Products can have a wide variety of public health and environmental impacts, including toxic exposures, air pollution, water pollution, climate change, stratospheric ozone depletion, natural resource use (e.g., energy, water, materials), waste disposal, and ecosystem damages.

• Despite a variety of initiatives to prevent misleading claims, one cannot believe every environmental claim you see. Look for:

1. Product standards or eco-labels with published criteria for qualifying their products (e.g., published on their Web sites);
2. Product standards or eco-labels issued or supported by organizations widely respected and trusted;
3. Product standards which require verification of some type;
4. Products qualifying for EPA eco-labeling programs or meeting standards that EPA helped develop and manage; and
5. Products meeting broad-based environmental criteria such as computers and other electronics meeting the IEEE 1680 environmental performance standards, or products from businesses that have undergone SCGH’s GreenCheck evaluation.

The bottom line is that green products can save money, prevent pollution, and protect people’s health.

© 2011 SCGH, LLC.

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Windows, skylights, and exterior doors that meet ENERGY STAR criteria are eligible for a tax credit. (Courtesy of Simonton Windows)

Editor’s Note: October is National Energy Awareness Month. Take a look at your home’s energy use and how you can take advantage of incentives for efficiency.

By Robbie Harris

You may have gotten the mailers or seen some items in stores marked “Eligible for the Energy Efficiency Tax Credit!” Maybe you bought that new storm door, window, or even the entire energy-efficient heating and cooling system qualified for the credit. Then, if you noted it on your federal income tax return, you got some money back—the government’s way of thanking you for doing the right thing for your home and the planet.

“The goal overall was to encourage people to make that extra jump to the energy efficient product,” said Thomas Simchak, a senior research associate at the Alliance to Save Energy in Washington, D.C. “If they were going to be installing an air conditioner, [the tax credit was intended to] have a value that would compensate for the price difference for the energy efficient unit.”

Blink and You May Miss It

The federal tax credit for existing homes has been available to homeowners for their primary dwelling—albeit in changing amounts—for most of the last six years. You still have time to get in on the tax incentives, but there are costs to putting off those household improvements. These federal incentives will be gone entirely by the end of 2011. Qualified items must be installed and placed into service before the end of the year to get you money back on your federal tax return.

Even if you upgraded to energy-efficient products, you may be among the many Americans who left money on the table. A survey out this week finds “[m]ost American consumers aren’t at all aware of the tax advantages of upgrading to energy efficient products.” Karl Zellmer, vice president of air conditioning sales at Emerson Climate Technologies, guided a Harris Poll commissioned by the manufacturing company. The poll found that “71 percent of consumers did not take advantage of any rebates, tax holidays, or other incentives” and that 61 percent did not even know these potential money savers existed.

“The survey did show that a majority of folks have gone to [compact] fluorescent bulbs to reduce energy consumption, and that does help,” Zellmer says. “They may do that because of the four or five dollars extra for the cost of the light bulb and they get beat up with that information everywhere they go.”

But when it comes to the details about state, local, and federal incentives, Zellmer says the study clearly shows that consumers are not getting the information they would need to calculate the costs and the paybacks of more-substantial purchases.

Like the weather, the federal government’s home energy efficiency tax incentives have been, well, changeable. The tax credit came in as part of the Energy Policy Act of 2005 signed by President George W. Bush and began as a 10-percent credit on certain items. It disappeared for a year in 2008. After returning in 2009, it reached its highest level—30 percent—under the Economic Recovery act, signed by President Barack Obama in February 2010. Then, almost before you could grab the low-hanging fruit of the tax credit tree, it was cut back to 10 percent for 2011. This most recent change also came with lower thresholds for rebates and more restrictions; there is now a $500 cap on tax credits a homeowner can use. Blogger Darwin Prince says the smaller tax credit and lower threshold for cash back made the tax credits less attractive to consumers—and less effective overall.

“When the window tax credit was up to $1,500, for instance, that was a substantial tax credit, which rightfully incentivized many homeowners to get around to installing new windows, making their homes more efficient and pumping probably $5,000 to $15,000 into the economy, depending on the extent of their upgrade,” says Prince on his blog Darwin’s Money. “The dual benefit was lower energy consumption into the future while providing manufacturers and installers with much needed revenues.”

At The Door Store, in Glenview, Illinois, where some doors’ prices run into the thousands, the 30-percent tax credit was extremely attractive to buyers. Owner Chris Erickson said, as that year drew to an end, “People were actually offering to pay extra as an incentive to get their door installed before the deadline.” The store did not accept the extra money, however, and could not accommodate all requests.

There is no way to know exactly how many homeowners took advantage of the federal tax credit in its various incarnations. The U.S. Internal Revenue Service does not publish that information. A report by the Government Accounting Office is expected to be published in the near future.

“Anecdotally, talking to contractors and vendors, the home improvement stores and window installers definitely saw this as a big selling point,” says Simchak, senior research associate at the Alliance to Save Energy.

If some merchants say the tax credit helped sales, and consumers who might have taken advantage of the tax credit say they were unaware of them, why not continue or even increase the tax incentives for home energy efficiency? Simchak, who is an energy efficiency advocate, believes the issue got buried.

“I think it’s largely a victim of congressional deadlocks more broadly,” Simchak says. “There is not a lot moving in Congress right now and other items were seen as ‘must pass,’ while the energy tax credits were not.”  He adds that, even though they are going away soon, this “may not be the last we’ve heard of these tax credits. [But] we’re not optimistic they’ll be extended before the end of the year.”

Similar tax credits for commercial buildings, however, will remain in effect until 2014.

A Window Closes, a Door Opens

Even if these particular federal tax incentives for home energy efficiency do not come back any time soon, other options remain for capitalizing on your energy efficiency purchases. Similar state initiatives are unaffected by the closing of the federal window at the end of this year. You can check your state’s programs at http://dsireusa.org/.

Emerson Climate Technologies has just unveiled a new smart phone app that allows you to compute the true costs of products by energy use calculated using rates in your area. Zellmer says the new smart phone application will help consumers research purchasing options ahead of time, instead of waiting until the air conditioner stops working on a 90-plus-degree day and running out to buy anything to cool off. His survey found that consumers are aware that heating and cooling are their highest energy costs, but the majority were not willing to spend more for energy efficiency upgrades unless the payback time was relatively short. According to the poll, 67 percent of respondents said they would be willing to invest up to $5,000 in a home energy upgrade, but only if it paid for itself within six months. Only 29 percent of those surveyed said they would be willing to invest that amount if the payback were 10 years.

Now that the sun is setting on this particular tax credit, there will be an opportunity to assess its effects.  After all, if a tax incentive is successful, it should go away once the behavior it aims to encourage is widely adopted. Simchak suggests that if a large number of homeowners believe upgrading their homes for energy efficiency is the right thing to do, they will do so, cash back or not.

“These tax credits got a lot of people thinking about energy efficiency, even if they didn’t actually go out there and use the credit,” Simchak. “People started hearing about energy efficiency on the news, and the media picked this up as a way to get yourselves $500 or $1,000. People say, ‘Oh, energy efficiency, yeah, I guess my kitchen door is pretty drafty, and I feel that chill on my feet in the morning, and yes, that does affect my bills, and they have been going up,’ so it gets people thinking that this is important to them.”

For related content on home health, see http://www.sierraclubgreenhome.com/home-health/.

Robbie Harris is a writer, editor and producer in Chicago at Lucid Dream Productions.

© 2011 SCGH, LLC.

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