Keeping Your Home Healthy During the COVID-19 Crisis

This guide outlines six strategies for homeowners to save money and reduce carbon emissions during the COVID-19 crisis: optimizing thermostat settings, switching to LED lighting, scheduling appliance use during low-emissions periods, reviewing utility rate structures, planning for the removal of gas appliances, and improving indoor air quality by opening windows.

• Using a programmable thermostat can reduce electricity bills by up to 10 percent, with a general rule that every degree Fahrenheit adjustment (down in winter or up in summer) saves approximately 2 percent in costs.
• LED bulbs are more efficient and durable than compact fluorescents (CFLs), offering a system efficiency of 50 lumens per watt compared to less than 30 lumens per watt for typical CFLs, and they do not contain mercury.
• To reduce carbon intensity, homeowners should schedule appliances to run during low-marginal emissions times, generally avoiding the 5 p.m. to 10 p.m. window. Specific regional recommendations include 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. in Texas during summer, 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. in California, Vermont, and Hawaii, and avoiding 6 a.m. to 11 a.m. in the Pacific Northwest.
• The use of natural gas, oil, or propane in 70 million US homes and businesses generates 560 million tons of CO2 annually; when including methane leaks, these fuels account for 15–20 percent of total US emissions.

APA

RMI (2020). Keeping Your Home Healthy During the COVID-19 Crisis. https://rmi.org/resources/keeping-your-home-healthy-during-the-covid-19-crisis/

Chicago

RMI. Keeping Your Home Healthy During the COVID-19 Crisis. 2020. https://rmi.org/resources/keeping-your-home-healthy-during-the-covid-19-crisis/.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=RMI |title=Keeping Your Home Healthy During the COVID-19 Crisis |date=30 March 2020 |url=https://rmi.org/resources/keeping-your-home-healthy-during-the-covid-19-crisis/ |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{rmi2020keeping, author = {{RMI}}, title = {{Keeping Your Home Healthy During the COVID-19 Crisis}}, institution = {RMI}, year = {2020}, month = mar, url = {https://rmi.org/resources/keeping-your-home-healthy-during-the-covid-19-crisis/}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }