ABSTRACT
The federal Residential Conservation Service (RCS) was created in 1978 to assist households in deciding on appropriate energy conservation measures and practices for their homes. RCS requires that major electric and gas utilities offer their customers on-site home energy audits. This chapter summarizes information obtained from several recent evaluations of RCS and RCS-like programs. The federal Residential Conservation Service, mandated by the 1978 National Energy Conservation Policy Act, is intended to improve energy efficiency of existing homes. Its main feature is an on-site home energy audit conducted by the household's electric or gas utility. On the contrary, the large remaining potential to increase energy efficiency, the existence of several barriers to household energy-efficiency actions, and the success of some programs suggest that utilities continue to offer their customers services to retrofit their homes. Fortunately, there are many opportunities to reduce energy use in existing homes, through installation of retrofit measures and adoption of energy conservation practices.
