There are a variety of good, hands-on, interactive tools to help you assess what you can do in your own home that can make the most difference in lowering your energy bills, increasing your home comfort, and decreasing pollution. The Alliance to Save Energy offers an interactive Home Energy Checkup that provides instant feedback, and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the US Department of Energy (DOE) also offer interactive web tools.
And it's never too early to teach your children the importance of reducing energy waste — and your home electricity bills — so we've included an elementary school home energy lesson plan.
| Get instant feedback on how much money you'll save through various choices in the Alliance to Save Energy's interactive Home Energy Checkup - a real eye-opener. |  |
DOE's Home Energy Saver — http://homeenergysaver.lbl.gov compares the estimated annual energy bill for an average house in the consumer's ZIP code with that of an energy-efficient house. The bill is broken down in to sub-sections: heating, cooling, hot water, appliances, miscellaneous, and lighting. Consumers can either browse the recommendations for improving energy efficiency in a typical house or customize the recommendations by inputting specific information about their house. Annual energy usage can be seen as carbon dioxide emissions, energy consumption, or dollar amount of energy bills.
