“How are we helping the public?”

In the Energy Department’s Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE), that question is something we discuss often. Our programs are diverse but all share a common goal: creating a better future for America by developing more efficient ways to use energy that’s generated from clean and sustainable sources.

Making a difference in the lives of American families is one measure of our office’s success. In fact, it’s probably the most important one. This month, we’re going to bring you stories from our programs about how EERE is making a difference every day for everyone.

We’re already well on our way to that future. Changes our office has helped bring about in various industries have had an unmistakable effect over the past several decades. For example, thanks to appliance standards developed by EERE with our industrial stakeholders, new household appliances now use far less water and energy than a decade ago; a washing machine today uses less than half of the electricity as one from 2003. You can look at the energy ratings of nearly any appliance and, if you compare them to yesteryear’s machines, you’ll see an incredible improvement.

If the Department had not been doing this work since 1977, what would have happened? Well, our energy usage would have been much higher. We would not see solar energy technologies coming down in price as fast or increasing in efficiency, and the same goes for wind power; we would not see biofuels such as ethanol (e.g., E85) being pervasive in the marketplace; we would not be harnessing wave energy…there’s a long list of technological advances that simply would not exist today.

Our office’s research, development, and deployment of cutting-edge technologies have been instrumental in moving us closer to a clean energy economy while saving consumers money. When we can accomplish both of those goals at the same time, it gives our work here at EERE a whole new level of meaning.

Come back soon to see all of the Energy Impacts that EERE has made.

Drew Bittner
Drew Bittner is a writer/editor for the Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy within the U.S. Department of Energy.
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