Home Energy and Climate Change

By Nick Pioppi

Get ready for some PartyForThePlanet tips on how you can clean, create, and connect with nature!

Today, we’re talking about cleaning (with a slight twist!). Keeping our planet clean can mean more than picking up trash: it can also mean taking actions to reduce our carbon footprints.

One way to reduce our influence on #ClimateChange is to make choices about how we use energy at our homes. In the US, electricity used to help our refrigerators refrigerate and our lights illuminate is still created mainly via the burning of fossil fuels like coal, oil, or gas (which produces heat-trapping gases). Here are some ways to make changes:

• Rethink your habits – resist using heating/cooling systems until absolutely necessary!
• Update appliances – newer models are typically much more energy efficient.
• Home energy audits – allow an expert to assess your home and suggest changes such as replacing insulation or using energy-saving light bulbs and smart thermostats!
• Community solar projects – defer costs up front and share benefits of solar energy with your neighbors!

Making sure everyone has access to dependable energy at home is also very important. To help with this, use your vote to support developing available and efficient renewable energy sources.

To learn more about the information here, as well as other home energy-related actions that reduce our impact on climate change, here are some useful resources:

• Use of Energy in Homes Explained
• Energy Efficient Home Design
• Solarize Massachusetts