Carper, Blunt Rochester Join U.S. Department of Energy Secretary Granholm in Delaware to Celebrate 1M Upgraded Homes and Passage of Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act

NEW CASTLE, Del. — U.S. Senator Tom Carper and U.S. Representative Lisa Blunt Rochester (both D-Del.) joined U.S. Secretary Jennifer M. Granholm today to announce the one millionth American home upgraded with energy efficiency improvements through the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE)’s Home Performance with ENERGY STAR® program. The milestone underscores the importance of the weatherization and energy efficiency investments within the recently passed Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act.

Since 2001, the Home Performance with ENERGY STAR® program has helped American homeowners and renters save $7.7 billion on their energy bills and cut carbon emissions equivalent to a year’s worth of 11 coal-fired power plants. Watch Secretary Granholm and Senator Carper Announce the One Millionth ENERGY STAR ® Home.

“I always like to say the cleanest form of energy is the energy we save and never have to use. It’s great to welcome Secretary Granholm in Delaware as we celebrate the success of this program in reducing energy costs for consumers. The Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act that awaits President Biden’s signature makes historic investments in modernizing our infrastructure, including funding to make our homes more energy-efficient and resilient to climate change. That’s good for people’s wallets and good for the planet,” said U.S. Senator Tom Carper, Chairman of the Committee on Environment and Public Works.

“DOE’s Home Performance with ENERGY STAR® program has helped one million homeowners make energy-savings improvements at an affordable price,” said Secretary of Energy Jennifer M. Granholm. “With the President’s Bipartisan Infrastructure Deal’s historic investments in energy efficiency and weatherization, we will ensure more Americans can benefit from cleaner air, more resilient homes, and lower energy bills.”

“We know that investing in energy efficiency is one of the fastest and most effective ways to reduce carbon emissions and help fight the climate crisis,” said U.S. Representative Lisa Blunt Rochester. “That’s why the ENERGY STAR program is such an important tool to help Delawareans weatherize and make their homes more energy efficient. These are the kinds of critical investments that President Biden’s Bipartisan Infrastructure Deal continues to make throughout our country. I was thrilled to welcome Secretary Granholm to the First State for this historic announcement and look forward to continuing to work with the Department of Energy as we Build Back Better.”

Home Performance with ENERGY STAR® is a national home improvement program administered by DOE in collaboration with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to improve the energy efficiency of single-family and low-rise multifamily homes. It connects homeowners with a network of over 1,300 home performance contractors and utility and nonprofit energy efficiency program administrators to make upgrades that save energy and improve the comfort, health, and safety of their homes. Together with its Weatherization Assistance Program, DOE has serviced almost eight million U.S. homes with the same home energy improvements that the transformative investments in the Bipartisan Infrastructure Deal and the Build Back Better agenda will accelerate. 

Sponsors and their networks of contractors follow a proven “whole-house” approach set by DOE guidelines to assess and improve home energy use with the most comprehensive and economically feasible upgrades, such as sealing leaks to control outside air from entering the home, adding insulation, or installing a new clean heating and cooling system like an ENERGY STAR®-certified heat pump. Additional savings can be achieved by installing rooftop solar panels, EV chargers, or connected home products like smart thermostats that can monitor and adjust energy use. The Bipartisan Infrastructure Deal will invest in the American workforce to ramp up the manufacturing of solar panels, wind farms, batteries, and electric vehicles?to grow?clean energy supply chains the U.S. can export to the world. 

Energize Delaware, an award-winning sponsor, oversaw the energy upgrade of the millionth home in the Home Performance with ENERGY STAR® program. 

“We’re thrilled to celebrate this national achievement with Secretary Granholm today as we recognize this home and the 9,000 others Energize Delaware has upgraded across the state,” said Tony DePrima, Executive Director of Energize Delaware. “The $11.6 million in rebates homeowners received made these upgrades affordable, and now they’re reaping the benefits on their energy bills to the tune of $2 million each year.” 

Additionally, the EPA has launched new residential sector partnerships to accelerate efficiency and electrification retrofits with a focus on underserved residential households through its ENERGY STAR Home Upgrade Program. With rebates for home weatherization and electrification in the President’s Build Back Better agenda, these interagency efforts will provide consumers, utility programs and energy efficiency service providers with greater access to residential energy efficiency solutions and technologies, which will enable many more households to lower their energy burden, which is especially high for low-moderate income households.  

Visit the Building Technologies Office to learn more about DOE’s Home Performance with ENERGY STAR® program. 

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