Apogee Program Adds to NSTAR’s Push for Home Energy Efficiency

March 11, 2009
NSTAR recently expanded its menu of online energy efficiency tools for consumers to include a new HomeEnergySuite by Apogee Interactive.

NSTAR recently expanded its menu of online energy efficiency tools for consumers to include a new HomeEnergySuite by Apogee Interactive. One of the components in this new series of interactive applications now on www.nstar.com is an online home energy audit in Spanish and English.

The flagship tool of the HomeEnergySuite is the Apogee HomeEnergyCalculator, which NSTAR calls the “Home Analyzer.” NSTAR had the calculator customized for regional weather zones, rates and home building standards. With a few keystrokes of information from customers, the online audit tool instantly analyzes a home’s energy use, calculates the home’s carbon footprint and recommends key energy-saving steps.

“The desire to live a ‘green’ lifestyle has moved well beyond a casual interest into serious mainstream thinking,” said Penni McLean-Conner, NSTAR’s vice president of customer care. “We want customers to know not only how to save energy and money in their homes, but also the positive environmental benefit of reducing their carbon footprint.”

The new web-based Home Analyzer also calculates and presents a benchmark score to let NSTAR customers know how their home stacks up to the nation’s ENERGY STAR home standards for energy efficiency. This score, called an ENERGY STAR Home Energy Yardstick, taps into the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and U.S. Department of Energy’s ENERGY STAR database for national comparisons.

“Making a home more energy efficient is the consummate example of how individuals can ‘act locally’ to help our nation achieve its goal of improving overall energy performance,” said Susan Gilbert, president and chief executive officer of Apogee Interactive. “Apogee deeply values this opportunity to assist NSTAR in its ongoing drive for greater energy efficiency among its customers.”

While online with NSTAR’s HomeEnergySuite, customers can tour an interactive house for room-by-room energy-saving advice and use a set of detailed calculators to see exactly how much energy is being consumed by their televisions and computers, appliances, lighting and other electrical equipment such as programmable thermostats for heating and cooling.

In addition, students and teachers will find a wealth of fun and educational materials about energy in the Kids Korner and Energy Library sections of the suite.

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