Saving Energy, Saving Money

In Wisconsin and across the country, we have enormous potential to save energy in homes and businesses. We are asking citizens to help our efforts to save consumers money and help to solve our country's energy problems by getting involved in WISPIRG Foundation's Energy Service Corps in a community near you.

Last fall, WISPIRG Foundation launched this new project because, due to insufficient community outreach capacity, many residents remain in the dark about opportunities to save money and help the environment through energy conservation.

WISPIRG Foundation Energy Service Corps mobilizes college students to fill this gap, identifying individuals that can benefit from available efficiency initiatives and providing education, assessment, weatherization services to those not reached by existing capacity.

Energy consumption rose 53% in Wisconsin from 1970 to 2007.

By taking a number of easy steps, Wisconsinites could realize similar levels of energy conservation:

• Through home weatherization — air and duct sealing, insulation and window replacement — Wisconsin could cut energy use for home heating by 20%;

• By requiring all new furnaces to meet federal Energy Star standards and to include high-efficiency fans, could save enough energy to power well over 30,000 homes;

• By replacing five conventional incandescent light bulbs with compact fluorescent versions in every home could reduce electricity use for residential lighting by 25% — saving enough to power more than 50,000 homes;

• By implementing these solutions, and by adopting minimum appliance energy standards, the typical Wisconsin home could reduce its energy consumption by 20-40%.