Impact Story

DCSEU Power User: Turning A House into An Efficient Home

Diego Rios made the District his home four years ago, settling into life as a homeowner soon after. A family man, he is not one to shy away from a challenge. Which is good, seeing as his new home came with new challenges: maintaining appliances, heating and cooling systems, and landscaping to name a few. 

Diego initially discovered DCSEU's Efficient Product Rebates when he replaced his old HVAC system. Now he makes it a habit to check the DCSEU site for available rebates. Since 2020, Diego has made numerous energy efficient upgrades to his home with ENERGY STAR appliances, saving over $1,000 through DCSEU rebates and even more in energy savings.

"(The DCSEU rebate) helps consumers choose the most efficient and better product. I'm someone that already has the information, and I was able to go back to your website and look for the rebates."

This summer Diego also thought about replacing his old gas lawn mower. After seeing that the new rebate launched by the DCSEU could save him $75 off an electric push mower, he decided it was time to ditch the older, heavier gas machine for an electric one. "The gas lawn mower was pretty heavy, even though it was a self-propelling lawn mower, taking it in and out of storage and handling it in general was a lot of work,” he said.  Not only was the gas equipment heavier it was more of a hassle to maintain. Diego explained, “I had to make sure that it had enough gas and check on it during the winter, so the engine wouldn’t get ruined.” 

Diego was very surprised to learn that running a gas-powered lawn mower for sixty minutes generates similar emissions to that of a car traveling 350 miles. Even though the environmental impacts of gas mowers were not initially among the top reasons for making the switch, Diego is very happy his garden is no longer “covered in smoke” after cutting the grass – and to have saved so much on all his upgrades while he makes his home in DC.