The Department of Energy (DOE) announced Sept. 14 that it will allocate $454 million to a new program to make energy efficiency retrofits happen in homes and businesses. New construction is increasingly incorporating ways to conserve energy and water use, but existing buildings continue to gobble up energy in wasteful and detrimental ways. The “Retrofit Ramp-Up” initiative will save $100 million per year in utility bills, DOE says.
The funding comes out of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act and is intended to fuel projects on the community or regional level that, when applied nationally, will save billions of dollars on Americans’ energy bills and make savings from energy efficiency widely accessible.
The program is structured to select local energy efficiency retrofit projects that make large enough impacts on energy use in residential, commercial, and public buildings that they can be scaled up to national projects. The Program provides funds to states, U.S. territories, counties, cities and Indian tribes to reduce their energy use and fossil fuel emissions and improve energy efficiency in the transportation, buildings and other appropriate sectors.
"The aim of the 'Retrofit Ramp-Up' program is to jump-start an industry that makes energy efficiency savings easy to access and available to everyone. By encouraging partnerships between local governments and effective private enterprises, we hope tune-ups for buildings will become as accepted as tune-ups for cars. These efforts will save Americans millions of dollars, reduce carbon pollution, and create new green jobs," said U.S. Secretary of Energy Steven Chu.
"Energy efficiency isn't just low-hanging fruit; it's fruit lying on the ground. We have the tools to reduce energy use at home and at work and to provide huge savings to families and businesses on their energy bills. But use of these technologies has been far too limited because we lack the simple and effective ways for people to access them," he said.
Trimming energy use through efficiency can take several forms related to heating, cooling, lighting and power sources. At home, energy-efficient appliances use less electricity, natural gas and water; turning off computers, televisions and entertainment systems when not in use substantially reduces the amount of electricity consumed; installing a programmable thermostat cuts down on the amount of heat generated; and changing old, incandescent light bulbs to energy-efficient compact fluorescent lamp bulbs makes an enormous impact on electricity consumption. Find out how efficient your home is and what to do to save money.
Businesses can benefit from deriving their power from alternative energy sources and using more efficient technology for lighting, heating, and insulation. Many businesses have undertaken lighting retrofits to save energy and money. Several, including the U.S. Navy, Wal-Mart, the New York Times, Holiday Inn, and Arizona State University have undertaken lighting retrofits, including light emitting diode (LED) lighting, according to Environmental Leader.
On Aug. 24, DOE allocated $6.2 million for researching and developing next generation energy-efficient lighting, including solid-state lighting such as LED lighting, which reduces electricity costs by 80 percent. One private sector company, LED Saving Solutions focuses on cost containment by offering $100 million in LED lighting retrofits at zero out-of-pocket expense to hospitals, schools and businesses around the country.
