You'll receive your first NRDC action alert and update email soon. To learn more about home energy audits and find free tools and calculators, go to Tips: Your Home's Energy Use, the Residential Services Network, and the Building Performance Institute. We call this Active Efficiency. The new standards continue to set different cooling efficiency levels for air conditioners in the south, and they also require an increase in the heating efficiency of all air-source heat pumps. Our energy future can be decided NOW. ENERGY STAR is the simple choice for energy efficiency. U.S. What impact can a highly efficient technology have if households and businesses are not motivated to buy, install, and/or activate it? Start SAVING on your FUEL BILL with the leading energy efficient gas and oil boiler and hot water system. Energy & Financial Markets: What Drives Crude Oil Prices? Instead, we need to view the value of energy efficiency programs based on how they meet our energy needs, environmental goals, and improve the well-being of utility customers. The U.S. Energy Information Administration’s (EIA) 2015 Residential Energy Consumption Survey (RECS) estimates that 76 million primary occupied U.S. homes (64% of the total) use central air-conditioning equipment, and about 13 million homes (11%) use heat pumps for heating or cooling. Why is energy efficiency important? Energy Efficiency covers wide-ranging topics related to energy efficiency, energy savings, energy consumption, energy sufficiency, and energy transition in all sectors across the globe. More energy efficient vehicles require less fuel to cover a given distance. Find out more about the Active Efficiency Collaborative structure. But to make sure that you get the best performance, the new equipment must be properly installed. © 2020 Springer Nature Switzerland AG. Energy efficiency brings a variety of benefits: reducing greenhouse gas emissions, reducing demand for energy imports, and lowering our costs on a household and economy-wide level. These standards went into effect in 1992, and later updates went into effect in 2006 and 2015. Energy-Related Carbon Dioxide Emissions, Energy-Related Carbon Dioxide Emissions at the State Level, 2005-2016, Energy-Related Carbon Dioxide Emissions at the State Level, through 2017, U.S. The intent is to reduce home energy use as cost-effectively as possible, and then meet the reduced load with on-site renewable energy systems. Beginning in 2023, all new residential central air-conditioning and air-source heat pump systems sold in the United States will be required to meet new minimum energy efficiency standards. ENERGY STAR is the simple choice for energy efficiency. Energy Efficiencyeditors welcome new and original work that contributes to our knowledge of energy efficiency and energy savings and that offers broad implications for energy efficiency within the transition to a more sustainable energy system. Research has shown that 30 percent of the potential energy savings of high efficiency technologies is lost due to a variety of social, cultural, and economic factors. The smart grid is another system that will improve the efficiency of electric generation, distribution, and consumption. As energy efficiency enters the digital age, we must coalesce around a shared vision that integrates well-established energy efficiency approaches with the capabilities of smart and connected technologies, distributed energy resources, and key decarbonization strategies. (202) 204-5244 fax, info@eesi.org EIA's free and open data available as API, Excel add-in, bulk files, and widgets. If you plan to design and build a new home or do an extensive remodel on an existing house, optimizing home energy efficiency requires a whole-house systems approach to ensure that you and your team of building professionals consider all the variables, details, and interactions that affect energy use in your home. Maps by energy source and topic, includes forecast maps. Using the Total Economic Value of Benefits: Instead of continuing to set goals in terms of an outdated metric—annual energy savings—our paper “Using the Total Economic Value of Benefits to Set Resource Energy Efficiency Goals” shows how to calculate and set goals in terms of the total energy and environmental value provided by the programs. • The role of energy efficiency and demand-side response in the energy transition, • Presents best practices and opportunities from all corners of the world, • Applies multi-disciplinary approaches and multiple methods, • Integrates fundamental and applied research, • Addresses and integrates technological, economic, behavioral, and policy communities, • Offers high-quality original papers, brief communications, review articles, and editorials. Energy consumption is the amount of energy used up by a process, system or appliance – or by a country, person or business. Active Efficiency Collaborative structure. How many people will use public transportation if there is a cultural stigma against it? If you’re building a new house or adding on to an existing one, consider using advanced house framing (also known as optimum value engineering), which reduces lumber use and waste and improves energy efficiency in a wood-framed house. Energy efficiency is playing an increasingly vital role in our lives, for three main reasons: The environment Here’s why: NRDC is recommending three ways to modernize the current energy efficiency approach within the next year: Restructure Efficiency Portfolios: The first step of reform is to better align efficiency programs with the energy system and the policy objectives efficiency is expected to achieve. Product Selector Find Dealer 800.323.2066 Search. Why wait? The Score reflects the energy efficiency of a home based on the home's structure and heating, cooling, and hot water systems. Energy conservation simply means using less energy, or even none at all. However, we value efficiency programs for only a fraction of these objectives—and incorrectly at that. Restructure Efficiency Portfolios: The first step of reform is to better align efficiency programs with the energy system and the policy objectives efficiency is expected to … Come test out some of the products still in development and let us know what you think! Editors will only consider clearly written, broadly applicable and accessible submissions that contain a novel element, issue, approach, method or result and that inspire progress in actual energy efficiency gains and energy savings. Energy Kinetics' commercial and residential boilers are high quality and backed by the industry's best warranty. Ultra-efficient homes combine state-of-the-art energy-efficient construction, appliances, and lighting with commercially available renewable energy systems, such as solar water heating and solar electricity. This cut in efficiency program goals and budgets are a reaction to what the CPUC views as low cost-effectiveness of these programs compared to purchasing power generated from such resources as solar, wind and gas. Cool roofs use highly reflective materials to reflect more light and absorb less heat from sunlight, which keeps homes cooler during hot weather.