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Households use about one-fifth of the total energy consumed in the United States each year. The typical U.S. family spends almost $1,500 a year on utility bills. About 60 percent is in the form of electricity; the remainder comes mostly from natural gas and oil. Much of this energy is not put to use. Heat pours out of homes through drafty doors and windows, and through ceilings and walls that aren’t insulated. Some appliances use energy 24 hours a day, even when they are turned off.
Appliances account for about 20 percent of a typical household’s energy use, with refrigerators, clothes washers and dryers at the top of the list. When shopping for new appliances, you should think of two price tags. The first one is the purchase price. The second price tag is the cost of operating the appliance during its lifetime. You’ll be paying that second price tag on your utility bill every month for the next 10 to 20 years, depending on the appliance. Many energy efficient appliances cost more to buy, but save money in lower energy costs. Over the life of an appliance, an energy-efficient model is always a better deal.
Water heating is the third largest energy expense in your home. It typically accounts for about 14 percent of your utility bill. Heated water is used for showers, baths, laundry, dishwashing and general cleaning. There are four ways to cut your water heating bills: use less hot water, turn down the thermostat on your water heater, insulate your water heater and pipes, and buy a new, more efficient water heater.
Source: DOE, Energy Information Administration
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Because it's the smart thing to do for a stronger economy, a cleaner environment and greater energy security.
Most traditional energy sources—oil, natural gas or coal—are either available in such limited supply, or create so much pollution to process, that their use is inherently restricted. Either way, the result is the same: the cost of finding, processing and using traditional energy sources continues to escalate, while our reserve inventories of these resources continues to decline. That's a recipe for disaster.
Using technology to harness the power of renewable energy sources, such as the sun and wind, will help us secure a safer, and a naturally cleaner, future for ourselves, our families and our planet.
For individual homeowners and businesses, solar offers numerous advantages:
Environmental Advantage. Solar power is one of the most benign electric generation resources. Solar Thermal and PV generate electricity without air or water emissions, noise, vibration, habitat impact or waste generation.
Fuel Risk Advantage. Unlike fossil and nuclear fuels, solar energy has no fuel price volatility or delivery risk. Although there is variability in the amount and timing of sunlight over the day, season and year, a properly sized and configured system can be designed to be highly reliable while providing long-term, fixed price electric power and heat.
Location Advantage. Solar energy is located at a customer site due to the universal availability of sunlight and the customer's consumption of heat as well as electric power. As a result, solar thermal can limit inefficient waste of heat from central electric power plants (on average 65% plus of the energy is wasted by central electric power plants) as well as the expense of and energy losses associated with, transmission and distribution from large-scale electric plants to the end users. For most consumers seeking an environmentally friendly power alternative, solar power is a viable choice because it can be located in urban and suburban environments.
Retail Rate Benchmark Advantage. Unlike biomass, geothermal, hydroelectric and wind power generation which are location-dependent and sell primarily to the wholesale market, solar thermal and PV energy is beginning in many areas to compete directly with retail prices at the customer's site and supplements a customer's electricity purchased at retail rates from the utility network.
Peak Energy Generation Advantage. Solar thermal and PV power is well-suited to match peak energy needs as maximum sunlight hours generally correspond to peak demand periods when electricity prices are at their highest. These characteristics increase the value of solar solutions as compared to other renewable resources that do not align with peak demand periods.
Modularity. Solar thermal and PV can be deployed in many sizes and configurations to meet the specific needs of the customer.
Reliability. With limited moving parts they require minimum maintenance.
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