October 7, 2026
Josh Valentine, Communications Director
with Elise Jones, Executive Director and Laura Wickham, Regional Strategy Manager
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Energy Efficiency Day comes at a good time this year.
Across the Southwest, people are paying close attention to what things cost. Housing is expensive. Utility bills are up. Gasoline prices and other transportation costs are taking a real bite out of household budgets. Businesses are dealing with many of the same pressures.
Energy efficiency will not solve all of our affordability concerns. But it sure can help.
At its most basic, energy efficiency means getting the same or better result while using less energy…
That can be as simple as a refrigerator that uses less electricity, a well-insulated home that stays comfortable with less heating and cooling, or a car that can travel much farther on the same amount of energy.
For households, those differences show up in monthly bills. Because energy efficiency isn’t just about one appliance. It’s about finding practical ways to use less energy, lower costs, and get more from the energy we already have.
A home with good insulation, efficient windows, and modern heating and cooling equipment costs less to operate than one that wastes energy. Efficient appliances can lower electricity use for years. Heat pumps can provide both heating and cooling while using 3-4 times less energy than traditional HVAC systems.
Efficiency is an important part of the housing affordability conversation too. The price of a home or the monthly rent is only one piece of what it costs to live there. Utilities, maintenance, and inefficient equipment can turn a seemingly affordable home into an expensive one pretty quickly. The carrying cost of a home can mean the difference between a family getting into a home and staying in it.
Transportation belongs in this conversation as well…
Electric vehicles are much more energy-efficient than gasoline-powered cars, and they cost much less to fuel and maintain. Charging an EV at home at night in the Denver metro area is the equivalent of paying about 90 cents per gallon for gasoline. That’s more than four times cheaper than local gas prices.
Transit, biking, walking, and development patterns that allow people to make shorter trips can reduce transportation costs even further. For many households, using less energy to get around can be just as important as using less energy at home.
Businesses and industries benefit from the same basic idea. More efficient motors, heating systems, lighting, equipment, and production processes can lower operating costs without reducing productivity. Those savings matter, especially for smaller businesses working with tight margins.
Energy efficiency also has a growing role to play as electricity demand rises across the region...
New data centers and other large energy users are putting additional pressure on the electric grid and household utility bills.
Efficiency can help reduce that pressure. Large energy users can make their own facilities more efficient, shift some electricity use away from the busiest hours, and make greater use of storage and other flexible technologies. Utilities can also expand programs that incentivize homes and businesses to reduce demand when the grid is strained.
That does not eliminate the need for new generation or grid upgrades – but it does reduce it. And it ensures we’re getting as much value as possible from the energy and infrastructure we already have before building more.
“Energy Efficiency Day is really about reminding people that efficiency is an affordability tool,” said Elise Jones, Executive Director of the Southwest Energy Efficiency Project. “When a home, business, vehicle, or electric grid uses energy more efficiently, people save real money. With energy demand growing and household budgets already stretched, efficiency matters more than ever.” Small changes. BIG impact.
The challenge is making sure those savings are available to everyone.
Many of the households that would benefit most from lower energy bills are also the least able to pay upfront for a new appliance, a heat pump, better insulation, or a more efficient vehicle. Renters often have even less control over those decisions. Utility programs, rebates, financing, building standards, and other policies can help close that gap.
That is worth remembering on Energy Efficiency Day.
Efficiency is not a single technology, and it is not limited to one part of the economy. It shows up in our homes, our cars, our workplaces, our factories, and the electric grid itself.
Energy efficiency isn’t just for Energy Efficiency Day. It’s something we can work on all year long. And when affordability is the concern, wasting less energy is a pretty good place to start.
