Energy Savers provides homeowners with tips for saving energy and money at home and on the road. By following just a few of the simple tips found on this Energy Savers Web site, you can make your home more comfortable and easier to heat and cool—while you save money. We bring you the latest information on energy-saving, efficient technologies. We even give tips for using clean, renewable energy to power your home.

We help you beat the high cost of fuel, with driving and car maintenance tips to save you money on the road.

Some of the tips are simple to do. Others require more effort and investment, but promise big savings over the years.

We encourage you to check out the Web site and make improvements today and this year that will contribute to your energy bottom line and make our planet healthier and cleaner!

Visit energysavers.gov to learn more about home energy efficiency initiatives
Welcome to Energy Savers.gov. On this U.S. Government Web site you can find information to help you save energy in your home, business, vehicle, or industrial plant. The links on Energy Savers take you directly to resources available across Federal agencies for homeowners, contractors and builders, building managers, realtors, state agencies, drivers and fleet managers, and industry managers.

Energy Savers.gov also provides information on the Partnerships for Home Energy Efficiency (PHEE). This joint effort of the U.S. Department of Energy, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, and the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development is a Federal agency collaboration to help improve the energy efficiency in your housing choices. Learn more about Partnerships for Home Energy Efficiency.

2007 Solar Decathlon Comes to a Close
Twenty teams from Canada; Spain; Germany; and the United States, including Puerto Rico participated in the 2007 Solar Decathlon, where they showed off their solar homes, which were powered and heated exclusively by solar energy, on Washington D.C.'s National Mall. After a week of judging and 10 different contests, Technische Universität Darmstadt, the team from Germany, took first place, followed by the University of Maryland and Santa Clara University.

The Solar Decathlon challenged teams from colleges and universities around the world to create solar-powered houses that were attractive, effective, and energy-efficient. From the 12th through the 20th of October, thousands of visitors came to the Solar Village to tour and explore the competitors' houses. See Solar Decathlon's final results Web page to see the final results for all 20 sch

About The Home Energy Saver
The Home Energy Saver is designed to help consumers identify the best ways to save energy in their homes, and find the resources to make the savings happen. The Home Energy Saver was the first Internet-based tool for calculating energy use in residential buildings. The project is sponsored by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), as part of the national ENERGY STAR Program for improving energy efficiency in homes, with previous support from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the US Department of Housing and Urban Development's PATH projgram, and the California Energy Commission's Public Interest Energy Research (PIER) program.

About 750,000 people visit the HES site each year. Over 90% are homeowners and renters, but many third parties use the site as well.

The Home Energy Saver quickly computes a home's energy use on-line based on methods developed at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. Users can estimate how much energy and money can be saved and how much emissions can be reduced by implementing energy-efficiency improvements. All end uses (heating, cooling, major appliances, lighting, and miscellaneous uses) are included. A detailed description of underlaying calculation methods and data is provided a comprehensive report. Documentation of how the site handles electricity tariffs is provided here).

The Home Energy Saver's Energy Advisor calculates energy use and savings opportunities, based on a detailed description of the home provided by the user. Users can begin the process by simply entering their zip code, and in turn receive instant initial estimates. By providing more information about the home the user will receive increasingly customized results along with energy-saving upgrade recommendations.

The Energy Advisor calculates heating and cooling consumption using the DOE-2 building simulation program (version 2.1E), developed by the U.S. Department of Energy. The program performs a full annual simulation for a typical weather year (involving 8760 hourly calculations) in about 10-20 seconds, after the user assembles the necessary information describing their home. Users can choose from 239 weather locations around the United States. DOE-2 performs a very sophisticated series of calculations, but the web-based user interface is relatively simple and results are distilled into a useful form. Default energy prices for each fuel and state are also available, or users can enter a specific price of their choosing.

The Energy Advisor calculates domestic water heating energy consumption using a detailed model developed by LBNL researchers. Users can see how household size, age of occupants, equipment efficiencies, and water inlet temperatures affect bottom-line energy costs.

By simply entering the number and approximate age of their major appliances, users can estimate their energy consumption, based on historic sales-weighted efficiency data. A very detailed module is also included to estimate energy consumption for lighting and dozens of miscellaneous gas and electric appliances, with default values based on data compiled over the years by LBNL researchers.

The results pages provide a list of recommendations--ranked by payback time--tailored to the particular home being evaluated. The user can vary the energy efficiency assumptions in many cases, as well as the retrofit costs and then recalculate the table. The results can be viewed on line, and via a detailed printable report which includes retrofit description and other details as well as links to additional information.

In addition to calculating energy use on-line, the Home Energy Saver's Making it Happen and Energy Librarian modules connect users to an expanding array of "how-to" information resources throughout the Internet. These modules help users successfully capitalize on the energy savings opportunities identified by the Energy Advisor module. Users benefit from a dynamic information base unparalleled by resources that could be published on static electronic media. These modules offer a host of links to practical information, ranging from lists of specific efficient products ... to tips about selecting a good contractor ... to information on what assistance your utility might have to offer. The site also features an extensive glossary and frequently-asked questions module.

Through special arrangement with Home Energy Magazine, the Home Energy Saver features extensive passages from the book No-Regrets Remodeling as part of the Making It Happen module.

The Ask An Energy Expert Service is provided courtesy of USDOE's Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy Network.