Energy Star Home Advisor: A Tool For Homeowners
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has announced the launch of its Energy Star Home Advisor. Under EPA’s leadership, American consumers, businesses, and organizations have made investments in energy efficiency that are transforming the market for efficient products and practices, creating jobs, and stimulating the economy. The Energy Star tool for homeowners is an online tool designed to help Americans save energy and money by improving the energy efficiency of their homes through recommended, customized and prioritized home-improvement projects.
As we enter the winter months, the Energy Star tool for homeowners can be used to increase energy efficiency and save money while reducing greenhouse gas emissions that affect climate change. Significant opportunity for climate change mitigation exists from helping consumers and businesses save energy. Energy use in homes, buildings, and industry account for two thirds of greenhouse gas emissions in the United States. When homeowners take advantage of this important tool and increase the energy efficiency of their homes, many families will notice savings on the energy bills and improvements in the comfort of their homes.
The Energy Star Home Advisor guides the homeowner through a do-it-yourself energy assessment to create an Energy Star home profile. Based on that profile, the Energy Star Home Advisor provides customized and prioritized recommendations for improvements. From these recommendations, homeowners can create their own to-do lists of projects from adding insulation to attic and crawlspaces to simply replacing an HVAC air filter. Over time, homeowners can update their profile as the make improvements. They will see positive environmental aspects of the changes they’ve made, get additional recommendations and update their to-do list for future projects. The Energy Star Home Advisor profiles can also be printed and given to future homeowners purchasing their home.
For more information on the EPA’s Energy Star Home Advisor, you can visit their website at www.energystar.gov/homeadvisor.