The Sierra Club has assembled a team of experts, staff members from the east and west and volunteers who've worked on this issue for years to come up with a plan. Members include people like physicist Rich Ferguson, chair of Sierra Club California's Energy Committee, whose day job is research director at the Center for Energy Efficiency and Renewable Technology. His wife, Glynnis Jones, also works in the field of energy efficiency. In the time it takes to change an incandescent light bulb with a compact fluorescent bulb, you can start saving three-quarters of the energy needed to light the room. Other steps include insulating the water heater and setting it at 120 degrees, replacing old appliances with more efficient models, and weatherizing homes with more insulation, better caulking and double-paned windows.
Government programs exist to assist low-income households with such improvements.
On a broader scale, activists can demand that their city, county and state offices get more energy efficient. Private businesses can get more streamlined, too. In fact, Becker said, some companies like Honeywell and Johnson Control have found a way to make money by helping other businesses get efficient. Honeywell, for instance, does the remodeling work to maximize the energy efficiency of another company's building and then charges that company only the difference in its energy bills for a certain number of years. It's a win, win, win situation.