How much more efficient? A typical three-bedroom home located in California's Central Valley -- if built before 1977 and never improved -- can cost a homeowner as much as $2,700 a year just to heat and cool.

Heating and cooling bills for the same 1,700-square-foot house, built to today's California energy standards, should be only $700 a year. That's a cost savings of nearly 75 percent!

And by using existing technology to go beyond the standards, that same size-single-family home can be built so that its heating and cooling costs are reduced to around $250 a year!

Of course, heating and cooling accounts for, on average, just 30 percent of the energy used today in most homes. The remainder of the utility bill goes to heat water, cool and cook food, wash and dry clothes, operate lights, and run appliances like televisions and vacuum cleaners. Fortunately, around the home there are numerous ways to use energy more wisely.

Just as houses are designed to be more efficient today, modern home appliances are improved. New refrigerators, for example, can use 60 percent less electricity than those built 20 years ago.

California has led the fight for energy efficiency, with good reason: each year from 1980 to 1992, our state's population increased by 850,000 people. That's like adding the entire population of the State of Montana to California each year for 12 years!

To insure an adequate supply of energy to such a rapidly-growing state, the California Energy Commission set out to cut energy waste. By making the most of existing energy supplies, we could forestall the addition of new power plants. That's why, in 1977, the Commission established our state's first Energy Efficiency Building Regulations.

Since these standards went into effect, they have saved Californians an estimated $10 billion in energy costs.

Here are some interesting Energy Characteristics of American Households from the U.S. Department of Energy's Energy Information Administration.

• 92% of all households use some type of fan; 58% use exhaust fans and 9% use attic fans

• 81% of all households have roof/ceiling insulation

• 70% of all housing units have insulation in outside walls

• 48% of all housing units have a garage or carport

• 47% of all households have trees shading the afternoon sun

• 29% of all households use a gas outdoor grill (with 90% of these using propane)

• 8% of all households use a heat pump

• 1% of all households use solar energy

Source: Housing Characteristics 1993, DOE/EIA-0314(93), Energy Information Administration, Office of Energy Markets and End Use. Note: Insulation data exclude apartments.

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