\nproposed $6 billion federal energy efficiency rebate program now wending its
\nway through Congress. The bill is being cast as a way to fight climate change,
\nlower energy bills for 3.3 million homes and create an estimated 168,000 sustainable
\ngreen jobs in a recession-wracked nation.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
No surprise that a coalition of environmentalists, labor
\ngroups, and businesses have hitched their star to Home Star, including Home
\nDepot, Dow Chemical, the Sierra Club, and the Air-Conditioning, Heating, and
\nRefrigeration Institute.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
About $3.6 billion of Home Star cash would be devoted to
\n“Silver Star,” a program designed to quickly roll out basic energy efficiency
\nimprovements by providing up to $3,000 in rebates per household for such things
\nas insulation and sealing doors and windows.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
The Gold Star part of the program offers $3,000 for every 20
\npercent in energy savings that result from retrofits, up to a maximum of
\n$8,000. Under Gold Star, homeowners
\ncould undertake more extensive energy efficiency retrofits as well as install
\nrenewable energy systems such as solar arrays.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Both programs would cap the rebates at 50 percent of a project’s
\ncost.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
“This program is designed to rapidly create jobs but also a
\nlong-term American industry,” Golden said a couple days after the dinner during
\na press conference held in advance of Congressional hearings Thursday. “We have
\nan opportunity to contribute to energy independence and meet our climate goals.
\nThe construction industry is in the realm of a Depression. These are 100
\npercent American jobs.”<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
It’s winning rhetoric but what I wanted to know was this: with billions of dollars in federal subsidies potentially flooding the energy
\nefficiency market, how do you ensure that retrofits are done properly and that
\nthe climate change dividend gets paid?<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Talk to old-timers who lived through various solar subsidy
\nprograms back in the 1970s and ‘80s and they’ll bemoan the shoddy operators
\nthat tried to cash in on the market, giving legitimate companies a bad name.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Golden takes pains to emphasize that Home Star energy
\nefficiency retrofits will be audited to ensure “the American taxpayer is
\ngetting their money’s worth.”<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
The details of those audits remain to be worked out but some
\nhigh-tech tools could help make sure those caulking guns shoot straight.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Over the past year there’s been a proliferation of home
\nenergy management software from companies like Google and Microsoft as well as
\nstartups such as AlertMe and Tendril.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
<\/a>New Microsoft Hohm software provides real time data on home energy useThe idea behind services like Microsoft’s Hohm<\/a> and Google’s <\/p>\n I asked Microsoft executive Troy Batterberry whether Hohm <\/p>\n “Absolutely and it’s a question we get from our utility <\/p>\n “Home Star could ignite the use of this type of tool,” he <\/p>\n Such programs could also come in handy in helping retrofit <\/p>\n Dan Reicher, director of climate change and energy program’s <\/p>\n “Literally with PowerMeter, everyone discovers something <\/p>\n Once Reicher started using PowerMeter he began to notice <\/p>\n Such data could help make those Home Star dollars go even Related Links:<\/strong><\/p>\n Tapping the power of energy efficiency<\/a><\/p>\n Kerry-vs.-Bingaman power struggle lurks beneath ‘what next?’ question in Senate<\/a><\/p>\n
\nPowerMeter<\/a> is to give homeowners data—in real time for those whose utilities
\nhave hooked up smart meters—on their energy use. That way they can pinpoint
\nwhere they may be wasting electrons, whether through bad habits or
\nelectricity-hogging appliances, and adjust their behavior accordingly.<\/p>\n
\ncould play a role in Home Star to monitor electricity usage before and after a
\nretrofit and quantify the energy savings from various improvements.<\/p>\n
\npartners,” said Batterberry, who runs the Hohm program. “We’re going to have
\nmountains of data that we can use to verify, say, what the expected savings
\nwill be when a person puts in a new high efficiency heat pump or air
\nconditioner.”<\/p>\n
\nadded.<\/p>\n
\nfirms identify energy hogs in a home.<\/p>\n
\nfor Google.org—the search giant’s philanthropic arm—discovered that feature
\nof the company’s PowerMeter energy management software when he began using it at
\nhis home.<\/p>\n
\nabout their home they didn’t know about,” Reicher told me during a recent visit
\nto Google’s Silicon Valley headquarters. “In my case I had an old gas furnace
\nbut decided that given we don’t have a lot of cold weather around here it
\ndidn’t make a lot of sense for me to replace it. What I didn’t realize was that
\nthe furnace had an ancient electric motor.”<\/p>\n
\nspikes in his home’s electricity usage every time the furnace came on. After
\nsome investigation he discovered the culprit was the old inefficient motor that
\npushed hot air through the house’s ductwork.<\/p>\n
\nfurther by providing at least a partial roadmap of a home’s energy efficiency
\nweak spots before the guys and gals with the caulking guns show up at the front
\ndoor. And assure taxpayers that their dollars are well spent.<\/p>\n