15 Seconds to Being More Energy Efficient

Everyone Can Have a Lightbulb Moment

When you ask people what they think about the most in terms of energy usage, it’s overwhelmingly lights. People perceive that it’s important, and that is critical when we’re trying to figure out ways to engage people on their energy usage at home. This probably stems from most energy users having the universally shared experience of being told over and over again to turn off the lights when you leave a room.

While those of us in the energy industry know that lights are a relatively small contributor to home energy use, for many people it’s an important entry point to engaging with their energy use. Lights can also be really impactful, because it’s something that people really understand, and the results can be seen immediately. If you don’t have efficient bulbs in your home, replacing them can be a savings driver. It’s not the biggest thing in most houses, but it is something that almost everyone has in their home.

Lighting is also something that resonates with almost all consumers. There are many types of customers that simply get left behind with cookie-cutter energy efficiency programs. For example, not every energy consumer can replace their HVAC system with a heat-pump. Watt Check provides a level playing field.

When the Switch Flips

Watt Check has a feedback and rating module built into it, and overwhelmingly users are rating the experience as useful. In the first month, over 1,200 Sense users have said the results they were seeing from Watt Check were useful.

“I talked to one Watt Check user who was excited to try the new feature because he ad different bulbs in different fixtures in his house, a mix of CFL and LED, knowing CFL bulbs aren’t as efficient as LED,” said Becca Smith, Product Manager at Sense. “He was shocked to see just how less efficient CFL bulbs were in comparison, to the point that he went out that very day and purchased LED bulbs for all of his fixtures.”

Watt’s Next?

Watt Check is all about the lightbulbs now, but Sense plans to update and expand Watt Check, and use the same principles to help consumers understand other devices and appliances in the home, such as fans, space heaters, toasters, blow dryers, and more.

While these might seem like small devices, many of them, like a space heater, can use an eye-popping amount of energy. Some of you might even have one on right now as you read this at your desk. You might want to unplug that and grab an extra blanket instead.

Watt Check, while simple to use, is the product of many complicated pieces of information coming together in an easy-to-use interface. These simple concepts are sometimes the hardest to explain, but when approached with Sense’s commitment to superior customer experience and engagement, Watt Check provides consumers with exactly what they want and need: a tool to tell them today what they can do to save energy and money tomorrow, and beyond.