Green Homes Special Series: Part Seventeen: Green Tools Online

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“What if’s” can be a great way to get the ball rolling on home energy-efficiency projects. What if you added more insulation? What if solar thermal heated your water? What if your old refrigerator was replaced with a more energy-efficient one? Now homeowners can work out the “what if’s” with a growing variety of Go online to determine costs and paybacks for efficiency upgrades as well as home additions and changes in appliances and find out just how much energy you may be wasting. interactive green tools available online. On Web sites of government agencies, organizations and businesses, consumers can run the numbers to estimate potential financial and environmental returns. The tools cover many areas and their results include tips and resources. Before you log on, gather basic information about your home. Check Bob’s Box for typical pieces of information you’ll need. Then, start checking out some of the green tools such as these. The Home Energy Saver Get a good start on what you can do to save money by using the Home Energy Saver, according to Richard Brown, research scientist with the U.S. Department of Energy. The Home Energy Saver was the first Internet-based tool for calculating residential energy use. Nearly a million people visit the site each year; 90 percent of them are homeowners and renters. Enter your ZIP code and general estimates of potential energy use and savings opportunities immediately pop up. Enter more details and click the calculator. A summary outlines areas that could need improvements and possible savings you might see. You can vary the energy-efficiency assumptions and retrofit costs as well and recalculate the table. The final detailed report is a good starting point for gathering specific costs and savings for your market. Make sure you have some time available because providing all of the needed information takes more than a few minutes. The calculator may not be as up to date as it should. For example, the most recent model year you can enter for a water heater is 2005. However, there is a lot of helpful information available.

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