By next year in 2020, all the utility companies in California plan to roll out Time of Use (TOU) rates for 20 million consumers. Some will start this year. TOU has proven quite successful at small scale, saving households money Read more…
Those of us in the energy efficiency business get asked this question all the time and our answer is usually, “Yes, but…”You would think this would be an easy one for us in the efficiency field but like anything in Read more…
Is solar a good investment? For some, this is the million dollar question. Actually, it’s more like a $13,000 question. According to EnergySage, a typical American who can get tax credit for their installation will spend about this much for Read more…
In other articles on this site, I have talked about using smart plugs for controls with recirc pumps. The beauty of these various smart plugs; however, is that they can control numerous appliances and features–not just a pump. For example, Read more…
Some recent research is showing that “zero-energy homes is almost to cost parity”. What does this mean in plain English? First, here’s wikipedia’s explanation of “zero-energy”: [when the] total amount of energy used by the building on an annual basis Read more…
When performing in-home audits for our clients, I often find that a number of our clients have bathrooms with heated floors. These are floors that have electric mats wired underneath the surface and the goal of the setup is to Read more…
One logo. Big impact. Have you ever seen this sky blue logo on an appliance or device? Most people know that it means something good and is probably related to energy efficiency. You’ve seen this logo on everything from dishwashers Read more…
How do people use timer switches, even older ones like these, to save electricity cost in their homes? You might be getting tired of reminding your family members to switch off lights or appliances when they are not in use. Or you Read more…
When it comes to saving money in your home, we take the biggest hit from our electricity bill more times than not. But if you could spend a little to save a whole lot, would you? One of the biggest Read more…
When we conduct in-home audits for high-usage clients, we often bring with us and set up a Rainforest monitor. This device usually only takes 15 minutes to set up, but it is invaluable for knowing what is going in your Read more…