To demonstrate the important connections between our individual energy use and the world’s environment, economy and security, the Alliance to Save Energy, the American Gas Association (AGA), The Dow Chemical Company Inc., and 27 additional Power is in Your Hands partners today launched the "6° of Energy Efficiency Challenge" by making cost-effective energy-efficiency improvements to an old row house in the shadow of the U.S. Capitol owned by a family struggling to meet rising energy costs.
The energy-efficiency home makeover marks the first step in connecting the important collective benefits that will come from families and communities across the U.S. who "take the challenge" and begin to save energy and thereby help the world. Taking the challenge is easy to do on the interactive 6° Challenge Web site.
With a simple click of a mouse, the 6° Challenge Web site will:
- Inform consumers that increasing and wasteful energy use affects six key areas of our lives — the energy prices we pay at the pump and in our homes, our home comfort, the air we breathe and our respiratory health, our energy security, our economic well-being, and the world we leave behind.
- Provide consumers with six easy energy-efficiency tips they can implement in their own homes and vehicles.
- Challenge them to take at least one of those six easy steps.
- Provide money-saving coupons for energy-efficient products.
- Encourage consumers to then challenge six friends and family members to become part of a global community by taking the Challenge and sharing their stories.
"Energy efficiency is for everyone," said Alliance President Kateri Callahan. "We’re conducting a makeover of a needy family’s home to demonstrate many of the easy things consumers can do to start saving energy and money today. The Power is in Your Hands partners, which include 30 companies, government agencies, trade associations, environmental groups, and others, are committing their time and resources to teaching consumers how to take individual steps to not only save themselves money, but also by doing so to improve their communities and the world by advancing energy efficiency. This campaign uniquely links tens to hundreds of thousands of people together to leverage individual action for the greater good."
Today’s energy-efficiency home makeover illustrated several steps consumers can take to save energy in their own homes and cut their energy bills, including:
- Conducting a home energy audit and a blower door test to determine the air-tightness of the home (demonstrated by CMC Energy Services).
- Air-sealing the home to stop air leakage through hidden holes, gaps and cracks (demonstrated with Dow’s GREAT STUFF foam sealant).
- Insulating the home, which not only makes the home more efficient, but also makes consumers eligible for the 2006-2007 federal energy-efficiency income tax credit (demonstrated by Knauf Insulation).
- Installing an ENERGY STAR-labeled programmable thermostat to efficiently moderate climate control (demonstrated by Honeywell which is celebrating the 100th anniversary of the programmable thermostat).
- Installing several "winterizing" products like door sweeps and weather-stripping (demonstrated by Niagara Conservation).
- Replacing regular light bulbs with ENERGY STAR-labeled compact fluorescent light bulbs (CFLs), energy-efficient alternatives that last up to 10 times longer than incandescent bulbs (demonstrated by OSRAM SYLVANIA).
- Providing certificates for vehicle energy-efficiency improvements. Following AAA’s Gas Watcher Guide®, a compendium of practical tips that help motorists save fuel by slowing down, avoiding gas-guzzling accelerations and paying attention to your tires, filters and vehicle maintenance schedules. (API and AAA will jointly provide vehicle energy-efficiency improvements)
Click here to take the quiz and spread the word.
This Tip Came from IE Reader Gadi Ben-Yehuda. Thank you!
