SAFETY & ENERGY

Home Energy Calculator

In cooperation with Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL), Touchstone Energy Cooperatives like Choptank Electric now can offer their members the Home Energy Saver, an online energy audit that helps consumers identify the best ways to manage their home energy consumption.

Consumers can link directly to the online energy audit.

This resource quickly calculates home energy use based on a detailed description of a home, its appliances and geographic location. Plus, all energy applications (heating, cooling, lighting, etc.) are included in the calculation. Armed with the findings, you should be able to estimate how much energy and money you can save by implementing energy efficiency improvements.

The Home Energy Saver was the first Web-based tool to compute energy use in residential buildings, according to LBNL. The Web resource is sponsored by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) as part of the national ENERGY STAR Program for improving energy efficiency in homes.

"One of the primary reasons we collaborated with Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory to bring the Home Energy Saver solution to Touchstone Energy cooperatives was that the technology outclassed other options," said Jim Bausell, COO of Touchstone Energy Cooperatives.

Using a building simulation program developed by DOE (called the DOE-2 version 2.1), the Home Energy Saver calculates heating and cooling consumption for numerous climate zones across the country, drawing data from 350 weather stations nationwide. Based on zip code information, the program performs a full annual simulation for a typical weather year after the user assembles the necessary information describing their home.

"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," according to LBNL.