Hey team, and welcome back to one5c! Today’s introduction is actually a reintroduction. This morning’s newsletter is adapted from our comprehensive guide to home energy efficiency. That’s cool, sure, but it’s not why I’m pumped: This gem was written by Matt Berical, who had been one of our sharpest contributors, but who is now part of the one5c team full time. 🎉
You’ll be hearing from him more soon, but mostly you’ll be seeing a lot more work with his fingerprints all over it. He’s the maestro behind our product reviews, and he’s got tons of great recommendations and guides in the pipe. Reply to this email if you wanna say “hey!” and make him feel welcome. We read all your messages—for real. —Corinne
9 RENTER-FRIENDLY UPGRADES TO BOOST YOUR HOME’S EFFICIENCY
By Matt Berical
Since January, the Trump administration has swiftly delivered a barrage of anti-climate actions. On day one, it backed out of the Paris Agreement, and has since consistently pushed to ramp up fossil fuel production and scrap President Biden’s policies aimed to increase electric vehicle sales, among other measures. The biggest hit came about a month ago, when EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin announced his plan to unwind decades’ worth of regulations meant to protect our air, water, and climate—including rules that If you’re among the 45 million households in America that rent their home, making your apartment or house more energy efficient might feel out of reach. If a landlord hasn’t invested in big-ticket items like a heat pump and induction cooktop, why would a renter spend their own money to upgrade a space that isn’t theirs? (Homeowners: Don’t stop reading. This story is just as valid in a place you own.)
The answer is simple: to save the planet and some money. You’ll also probably enjoy being in your home more, too. “The changes that you make can improve your comfort and reduce your bills,” says Amy Royden-Bloom, manager of the Residential Buildings Program at the U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy. “So it’s not just energy savings but making where you live more comfortable.”
From low-cost updates to simple maintenance tasks, here are nine upgrades that can make your rental a comfy, cozy, and more energy-efficient home.
1. Check your HVAC filters
The next time you feel some big emotions rise up when (another) breaking news notification pops up, take a second to process and accept how you’re feeling, says McKenna Parnes, a clinical psychologist at Seattle Children’s Research Institute and the University of Washington. In fact, labeling our emotions can help us think critically to solve the dilemmas we’re facing. This is actually something neuroscientists can see in brain scans: When people identify their feelings, it appears to turn down the volume in the parts of our brain associated with emotions, giving more power to the areas linked to rHome heating and cooling systems require a lot of power, accounting for 43% of the average American’s utility bill. Issues or inefficiencies can lead to a sweaty home—and a big energy bill. A grimy air conditioning filter has to work much harder, increasing energy consumption by as much as 15%, according to the Department of Energy (DOE). If the filter looks dirty (check that puppy monthly if you can), change it. At a minimum, Royden-Bloom says to change the filter every three months to make sure the HVAC is working and that the air pumping through the house is clean.
2. Install some cellular blinds
According to the DOE, about 30% of a home’s heating energy is lost through windows. During warmer months, 76% of the sunlight that hits typical double-pane windows becomes heat inside the home. Investing in coverings is the easiest way to keep your home regulated and ease the stress on your HVAC. The DOE recommends cellular shades to keep the rays at bay. They not only provide privacy and light-filtering, but their honeycomb structure acts as an insulator, reducing heat loss, minimizing cold drafts near windows, and lowering unwanted solar heat gain. A 2020 study conducted by the DOE found the shades save up to 15% on total energy compared to a scenario without any shades.
3. Mind those gaps
Doomscrolling on social media can lock us in a harmful spiral and even prompt headaches, blood pressure spikes, and neck pain. But our feeds don’t have to be a total bad news parade: We can consciously keep tabs on both climate wins and political challenges. You can tailor your follows to feature both oA well-sealed home is an efficient home. The EPA estimates a household can save an average of 15% on heating and cooling costs by sealing doors and insulating the attic, floors, and basements. Though many air-sealing projects require a contractor—which really makes them the landlord’s problem—Royden-Bloom recommends renters caulk around windows as well as install weather stripping and draft stoppers around doors to plug up any gaps.
4. Replace incandescent bulbs with LEDs
A support system “is one of the most protective factors that we see in supporting mental health,” Parnes says, which means finding your people is vital when news-induced climate anxiety strikes. Since the first Trump adIncandescent bulbs are wildly inefficient, especially compared to modern LEDs. The main problem is that they produce more heat than light. Only 10% of the electricity used by an incandescent bulb is used for lighting; the remaining 90% is released as heat. You probably don’t have many of these power-hungry bulbs lurking in your home at this point: A ban on their sale and manufacturing went into effect in August 2023. Even so, it’s good to check and swap out any you find for LEDs. Going fully LED can save homeowners as much as $225 a year.
5. Use your thermostat’s brains
Getting involved, especially in collective efforts, can boost feelings of hope and reduce anxiety to a level similar to therapy, according to Parnes’ research. GWi-Fi connected smart thermostats can shave as much as 8% off annual heating and cooling bills when used correctly. These devices learn your heating and cooling patterns and automatically adjust to a more efficient temperature (typically around 7 degrees higher in the summer) when you’re not home during the day. Learning how to best take advantage of it—or, if you don’t have one, asking a landlord to install one—is a simple step toward a more efficient home and a skinnier utility bill.
6. Slay energy vampires
Many plugged-in devices hoover up electrons when not in use. (Looking at you, cable boxes, TVs, coffee machines, chargers, and video game consoles.) Colloquially called “energy vampires,” such devices, per the Natural Resources Defense Council, may be responsible for as much as 20% of a home’s energy consumption. To put a stake through these suckers, the NRDC recommends several steps: purchasing Energy Star certified products, utilizing power-saving settings on certain electronics, and plugging devices into timers, power strips with a master switch, or a smart power strip that you can control remotely.
7. Clean your fridge’s coils…
A condenser coil, which is most often located in the back of your fridge, is what allows the appliance to transfer heat from the inside to the outside and keep your vittles cool. When these get gunky, it creates a barrier that can make it more difficult to dissipate heat, causing the fridge to work harder to maintain its internal temp. Cleaning the condenser coils every few months with a Swiffer-style wand and dust pad can help ensure an icebox is operating more efficiently—and lasts longer.
8. …and your dryer vent
If there’s a dryer in your rental, you should be cleaning out its vent every year regardless of your quest for energy efficiency, because lint build-up is a fire hazard. A lint-clogged dryer vent also leads to a much more inefficient machine, as it needs to work harder to circulate the hot air. The same goes for a dirty lint trap: Clean that sucker between every load.
9. Maintain the right appliance temps
Keeping appliances, like your fridge, at recommended settings improves their efficiency and longevity. If you’re unsure about the water heater, that’s a conversation for your landlord, but the fridge and freezer are well within your powers as a renter. The fridge should be set between 35 and 38 degrees Fahrenheit, with optimal performance right around 37, and the freezer should chill at 0. And remember: a fuller fridge is a more efficient fridge.
Matt Berical is senior editor at one5c and a longtime writer and editor based in Richmond, Virginia. Most recently, he was the deputy editor of the parenting site Fatherly for seven years. His work has appeared in GQ, Men’s Journal, Taste, Popular Science, and more.
THE ROUNDUP
IN THE NEWS THIS WEEK
In 2024, 40.9% of the world’s electricity generation came from low-carbon sources, according to a new global electricity review from the think tank Ember. This was largely driven by record renewable growth, especially solar—which added more electricity to the grid than any other source over the last three years.
B Corp just raised the bar for companies to earn the well-known marker of sustainable business practices. The new thresholds include climate action plans in line with holding human-caused warming to 1.5 degrees C above preindustrial levels, and investing in product circularity, according to Trellis. This follows growing calls for B Corp to be stricter about which organizations get the credential.
President Trump issued an executive orderto halt enforcement of state climate laws, including on California’s cap-and-trade program and New York’s polluter-pays policy. “State and local governments have both the authority and the responsibility to act, especially when federal leadership fails—and this overreaching order aims to intimidate state officials and obstruct that ability,” Kathy Mulvey, the accountability campaign director for the Climate & Energy Program at the Union of Concerned Scientists, said in a statement.
Officials in Grenada are working to turn sargassum, a stinky brown algae that collects on the Caribbean nation’s beaches, into fuel, reports The Washington Post. The seaweed has been piling up on beaches much faster due to climate change, and until now has mostly wound up in landfills.
Negotiators from 176 nations are meeting in London this week to discuss implementing a carbon tax on shipping—an industry that runs entirely on fossil fuels and is responsible for around 3% of global emissions. The U.S. is not at the table, and President Trump has threatened “reciprocal measures” against those who participate.