While energy efficiency helps save money at home, it also helps businesses, cities, state, and the federal government save on a much larger scale. Overall, energy efficiency is saving the American government, its citizens, and businesses more than $500 billion a year in energy costs. Efficiency saving money, energy efficiency projects like building improvements and infrastructure repairs create jobs. According to http://www.ase.org/resources/top-5-reasons-be-energy-efficient, “In 2010 alone, energy efficiency accounted for more than 830,000 jobs nationwide.”
Industry and Government makes energy-efficient decisions and policy, that lead to standards among manufacturers. For instance, standards that started in 2012 requiring light bulbs to be at least 25% more energy efficient than traditional incandescent bulbs. From LED street lights to, dimmable CFLs, energy-efficient lights are just as pleasing to the eye as the old bulbs, but, use far less energy. In 2016, the average annual electricity consumption for a U.S. residential utility customer was 10,766 kilowatt hours (kWh), an average of 897 kWh per month.
Significant efficiency improvements have been made for all major appliances, but an increase in the total number of consumers has offset the efficiency gains of the individual products. Air conditioning standards have increased the efficiency of individual units, but many more homes now have air conditioning. Newer homes are built with more efficient features, but
With the support of my peers and mentors, I have decided to pursue my dream of doing research in energy efficiency of utilities. I believe that with my passion and curiosity about the field, I would indeed take up much
In the late 1980s and 1990s, developments in Australian home appliances focused on energy efficiency. Environmental awareness was at an all-time high and studies had
that it depends. Every house is unique, and your best bet is to get an energy audit so you can learn what the most cost-effective ways to improve your house's efficiency are. .(“ Home Energy Efficiency in Seattle”,2013)
The average household in Northern VA spends nearly $1,584 on energy consumption. This is higher than the national average but similar to our neighboring states (EIA.gov, n.d.). This is due highly to a lack of energy conservation education provided by the state and lack of government backed refunds and tax breaks for using energy efficient appliances. States like California and Maryland have started these governments funded programs and experienced great strides in lowering energy consumption (Cluett, Amann, & Ou, 2016).
According to Nielsen, in the United States approximately 40% of residential consumers are using less energy than consumers in 1970 (Consumers Want Energy Efficiency, 2015). Approximately 76% of consumers plan on doing something about their high utility bills in the next three years. Consumers are planning on spending up to $240 million to do just that (Consumers Want Energy Efficiency, 2015).
In my house, I always try to conserve energy when I can. I try an hot water by using a lower flow shower head and very rarely use the bath tub which does waste a lot of hot water. When buying light bulbs, I only buy LED light bulbs for the lights in my house. I keep the thermostat below 75 degrees when it is cold out even if that means needing to use extra blankets. There are many other things that I can do to conserve energy. Some of these things would be to turn off any electrical devices when I am not using them and upgrading some appliances that may be out of date, as the newer ones are usually more energy efficient.
Today’s most efficient way of illumination and lighting, with an estimated energy efficiency of 80%-90% when compared to traditional lighting and conventional light bulbs. This means that about 80% of the electrical energy is converted to light, while a ca. 20% is lost and converted into other forms of energy such as heat.
When the new Southeast Polk High School opened they added many new energy saving products. This included installing geothermal heating under the high school cutting back on the cost of heating such a large building. Many new windows help save on energy used to light the building along with automatic lights that turn off after several minutes without movement. The new high school shows how easy it is to save money and help the environment. Renewable energy is good for all aspects of the U.S, providing jobs, economical growth, environmental cleanliness, and new research for improving energy efficiency. Therefore the United States should use renewable energy to benefit the economy and environment.
Firstly, it introduces the conservation of fuel and power which is the act of setting new energy efficiency standards in buildings and structures. It controls the insulation values of building elements, the allowable area of windows, doors and other openings, air permeability of the structure, the heating efficiency of boilers and the insulation and controls for heating appliances. This
For one thing, simple lifestyle changes can save kilowatts of electricity. One of these involves turning off the lights and electrical appliances when leaving a room. Shutting off computers can save watts – turning them off at night, and having them hibernate during the day if not in use is a good way to save energy
This is the only way, in my opinion, to reduce how much energy we use. Our society works off a unique set of rules and priorities that all come down to one thing, money. Making things so expensive or giving incentives for using less is the only way to get our attention.
The United States consumes more energy than needed, compared to the rest of the world. However, to properly address such an issue as over consumption of energy, one first must understand what “energy” is.
“Energy efficiency means using less energy to provide the same service.” An example of this is where a LED lightbulb uses less electrical energy than a traditional incandescent lightbulb to produce the same amount of light. The phrase 'energy efficiency' can also be described as any kind of energy-saving measure. (1)
The term, “non-renewable energy,” is at its most basic form, means that the sources of energy will eventually one day run out and not replenish itself. Non-renewable energy comes in many forms. For example: coal, crude oil and natural gas. These sources are categorized as fossil fuels, meaning that they were formed in the past due to natural processes from dead organisms. Non-renewable energy has been proven to be very beneficial to the US, however, many people argue the negatives are not worth the benefits.
Energy is a crucial necessity and with the ever increasing need for it and the high and fluctuating prices of oil, researchers are constantly coming up with newer and more sophisticated alternative sources of energy. However, energy comes at a cost, as it is either expensive or it possesses high health risks. This essay presents the concept of energy by discussing the two major types of energy, the various forms it could take, including renewable sources of energy, energy conservation and above all it talks about the safest and cleanest alternatives.