Electric lighting is a primary consumer of energy in the home, comprising 15-25% of the average residence’s annual energy budget. If every home in America replaced just a single, standard bulb with one that is considered energy efficient, enough energy would be saved to light 3 million homes for an entire year.  It would also save nearly $600 million in yearly energy costs and prevent 9 billion pounds of harmful, ozone-eating greenhouse gas emissions (roughly equivalent to that produced by upwards of 1 million automobiles.)

Considering the current state of the economy and global climate change, wouldn’t you like to save some money while doing your part to make our planet a better place? Of course you do. That’s why you need to learn about winterizing your home. Winterizing is the process of sealing up your home in the winter so you can stay warmer for less. It’s not as hard as it seems—many of these tips are quite easy and inexpensive to do.

A question that many people in the US have is, why solar isn’t being incorporated into the country’s energy infrastructure? This is not to say that the US doesn’t have any solar, or hasn’t made any strides to use solar energy, but it is to say that it is confusing as to why it hasn’t been implemented more rigorously. Solar currently provides 1% of America’s energy use, while Germany, a smaller and less sunny country, gets 10% of its electric from solar, with plans to have 35% of electric produced by solar in 2020 and 100% in 2050.