Home is where the heart is—and, for most of us, the single largest contributor to our climate footprint. The good news is there has been a quiet revolution in efficiency over the last decade, particularly in electricity-using items. Cutting your electrical use in half just with these Tier Two items is totally possible.

In many cases, local incentives for some of these things are available—check out the awesome DSIRE incentive site for up-to-date information.

Disclaimer: I leave it to you to determine if you need a professional to install switches or any other items below.

1. Turn things off when not in use. Wow, ok, easy! I hate to start this list with something so obvious, but I am shocked by how much stuff is just left on when not in use. However, note that many of the following suggestions automate shutoff.

2. Install a programmable thermostat. Heating and cooling are by far the highest energy load in your home. If you regularly forget to change your thermostat when you leave for the day or go to sleep, this is probably the single largest home action you can take. You don’t need anything fancy—a simple Honeywell programmable is a good bet—but if you like smart tech and Wi-Fi access, one of these might work well for you.

3. Convert all lighting to LED. LED lighting is beyond ready for prime time. LED color rendering quality has gotten better each year; efficiency has improved as well. LED lights are about twice as efficient as fluorescent lights and ten times as incandescent. Warm-toned, 2700 color temperature LEDs are recommended—they light most like warm incandescents. Be sure to properly recycle your old fluorescents, because they contain mercury. LEDs fit into normal screw sockets, so are easily installed. I recommend trying out several different bulbs to see what you like best before replacing all or most of your bulbs. I also suggest purchasing name brand and doing an internet search to see what the latest “best” are. These are my current favorites.
   
   A couple of tougher items:

   • Overhead can lights are notorious air leakers, especially when they run into an attic—often leaking your warm air directly into unheated spaces, creating drafts. I really encourage you to put in an air-lock insert when replacing these bulbs—they work great. I personally prefer these to the integrated airtight replacement bulbs—because you can pick the bulb you like best—but those are fine too.

   • It seems like most garages have old fluorescent tube lights that just keep hanging on into their flickering sunsets. You will need to replace these fixtures entirely (not just bulbs), appropriately disposing of the old fluorescent tubes, with nice new LED fixtures—you will be shocked by how much better your garage looks (especially after you declutter)!

4. Install vacancy lighting switches in rooms where lights are often left on unnecessarily. Many families have a hard time getting everyone on board with turning off lights. Vacancy sensor switches, which read lack of motion, can be programmed to shut off after a certain amount of time. The Lutron Maestra switch seems to work well. Note many folks are more familiar with occupancy sensors that turn lights on automatically—and some systems do both. I prefer a configuration that  is manual on (based on whether you actually need the light), vacancy off. I prefer a configuration that requires turning the light on manually—when needed—and automatically turns off the light once the room is vacant, if the light isn’t turned off.

5. Install smart lighting controls for regularly scheduled lights. For lights which tend to be used daily on regular schedules (porch lights, etc.) but which are often forgotten and left on—install a Wi-Fi smart switch and put these on a regular schedule so they are only on when needed. I have had great luck with the Lutron Caseta system, which, though somewhat expensive, has never had Wi-Fi issues and works flawlessly. This system even allows scheduled dimming.

6. Replace showerheads and faucet aerators with Watersense fixtures. Typical showerheads use 2.5 gallons or more per minute, while Watersense fixtures are designed to give a great shower at less than 2 gallons per minute. The hot water energy savings is significant—about the equivalent of a single solar panel output. I really like High Sierra fixtures; I think they actually provide for a better shower than the old-school high-volume type. And, of course, they save water too, which has embodied carbon benefits.

7. Dry clothes on a drying rack or clothesline—even just some. Line-dried clothes are a complete pleasure—fresh! During the winter, drying racks work great. Even if you just dry some this way, it’s an easy way to save energy. Also, clothes dryers really wear clothes out, reducing the carbon footprint of replacement.

8. Get rid of home air leaks—part one (more to come later). No kidding—the average US house completely exchanges its inside air with outside air every 3.5 hours, due to air leaks. Even recently built homes can be pretty bad. I’ve already mentioned overhead can light air locks above. In addition, I recommend as first steps:

   a. Weatherstripping all your windows and doors. I prefer the Frost King Premium Rubber Foam adhesive type, which comes in different widths and colors. Also, replace all your door threshold rubber gaskets (either on the threshold or on the bottom of the door) and make sure they actually seal.

   b. Sealing all forced air ductwork in crawlspaces, attics, and unheated basements. Any heating or cooling running through forced air is under pressure and wants to escape—and there is a surprising amount of leakage. Sometimes there are actual gaps in ductwork, but often the seams are just not tight. Air sealing mastic is an easy way to seal these gaps.

   c. See more complete air sealing under Tier Three.

9. Minimize irrigation. Irrigation uses a lot of water, which, at least in some areas, represents a lot of embodied carbon. Let your lawn go brown in the summer, and plant only climate appropriate plants—if you have any that need a lot of watering to stay alive, let them go.

10. Bigger actions at replacement. If you are making any big purchases and replacing anything outlined in Tiers Three and Four, do them now if you can afford them. Given that we must radically reduce our carbon footprint in the next couple of decades, and long-life items last roughly that amount of time, moving forward we need to bite the bullet when these items wear out and replace them with the low-carbon alternative.

11. Always replace appliances with best-in-class Energy Star items. If you are replacing appliances, get the best-in-class Energy Star version—review the table and find one of the most efficient versions of the size and type you need. If you are replacing a dryer, install a heat pump dryer; if replacing a water heater, install a heat pump water heater; and, if replacing a stove, install an induction version (these are not Energy Star rated for some reason).

12. If you have a gas stove, get an induction hotplate. Full disclosure—we have gotten rid of all our gas items except our stove (working on it!), but in the interim I bought an induction hotplate. We use it now for probably 90% of our cooking, and it’s awesome. I even take it out on our deck to cook. It’s a great pleasure and uses very little electricity compared to our electric BBQ.

13. Get rid of your gas or charcoal BBQ and replace with electric. Some of you will be incredulous I’d suggest messing with your barbecue, but I am. Gas is gas! I got a little Weber Q electric and love it.

14. Get rid of plug-in energy hogs.

Energy hogs tend to fall into two categories:

• Items that use a ton of energy when in use.

• Items that use a surprising amount of energy when plugged in but turned “off.”

Follow this process:

1. List everything that is plugged into the wall, throughout your house, in an Excel spreadsheet.

2. Figure out how much energy they use via two ways:

   a. Kill-a-Watt meter. I love these little tools. You simply plug the meter into the wall, then plug the thing you want to measure into the meter, and it tells you how much electricity the item uses. I want you to record two things: how many watts the item uses both when plugged in but not turned on, and when it’s turned on. You should then guess how many minutes a day on average the item is turned on and do the multiplication to figure out your guesstimate for how much the item uses over the course of the year.

   b. Home smart learning electricity monitor. (I use Sense.) These monitors measure the real-time details of the electricity moving through the main electrical cable coming into your home well enough to identify individual components. You can actually turn smaller items on and off and see them reflected in the real-time readout. You can also plug and unplug items and see their standby load (energy used when plugged in but off). You can then take things a step further and tell the monitor what the item is. In many cases, the monitor will apply smart learning from other homes and figure out what the item actually is. These systems are particularly good for tracking larger items such as refrigerators, air conditioners, lighting, etc., which are unable to be tracked via a Kill-a-Watt. These systems have a dashboard which then compiles energy use over time by item. Add these things to your list.

3. Review the list. Stand back and look at the list. Anything surprising, either more or less electricity than you’d expected? It’s amazing how much energy many items still draw when “off.”

4. Remove and get rid of things you don’t need. This probably won’t account for a ton of items, but it is surprising what we have plugged in that we haven’t used in a long time and really don’t need. Get rid of them, or at least unplug until you actually use them. Garages and guest bedrooms are frequent locations for these items. A notorious item: the really inefficient old fridge in the garage that won’t die and doesn’t really get used that much.

5. Replace inefficient items that you do use with best-in-class Energy Star alternatives. There has been a revolution in lower energy use electrical items over the last decade—both when fully on and in standby (i.e., plugged in but not on). Remember the “energy vampires” George Bush talked about? Well, a couple decades later much of that has been worked through with better circuitry, etc. The reality is, though, that many of these items last a long time. That old computer monitor you handed down to the kids? It’s rolling up the kilowatt hours. Some of the worst energy hogs include:

   a. Anything more than five years old related to video or communications

   b. Old TVs, especially plasma

   c. Video projector

   d. Old computers

   e. Plug-in electric clocks (yes!)

   f.  Old refrigerators

   g. Printers

   h. Surge protectors

6. Replace these items with Energy Star-rated equipment. Efficiency varies even within Energy Star—take a look at the appropriate spreadsheet on the Energy Star site to find the most efficient.

7. Do this review annually

   Finally, check out, use, and follow this terrific electrification resource by Rewiring America.