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Prices for renewable energy are dropping, but the U.S. still relies heavily on fossil fuels. It’s not hard to believe that many of us have found ourselves contemplating what we can do to change this pattern.

At Arcadia, we believe that everyone can save on their energy usage, while fighting fossil fuels, by paying closer attention to their monthly home energy bills. Studies have shown that most people do not spend much time thinking about their energy bills, so we decided to take a closer look.

We surveyed over 1,500 American homeowners and renters to get a better idea of how much they know about where their electricity comes from, how they feel about their electricity choices and more.

Over 60 percent of millennials have never looked into where their electricity comes from.

According to the findings, American millennials, who overwhelmingly oppose fossil fuels, have looked into where their electricity comes from far less than baby boomers.

While studies show that younger generations are vocal about climate change, desire clean energy options, and want smart home technologies more than older generations, these survey results showed that 60 percent of them have never looked into where their electricity comes from.

Looking into where your electricity comes from can provide valuable insight into what your monthly bill payments are supporting. What resources does your utility source power from? Do they have any clean power options you can tap into? But even if you do look into where your energy comes from, is there anything you can do about it? 

Nearly 50 percent of_ Americans feel like they have no control over where their electricity comes from. _

While your power choices do depend on where you live, everyone can take steps to get greater control over where their electricity comes from. But 50 percent of total survey respondents stated that they feel like they have no control over where their electricity comes from. More millennials than baby boomers felt like they have no control and, interestingly, more west coast residents feel like they have control over where their electricity comes from than east coast residents.

Public demand for clean energy has never been higher. But according to these findings, the majority of U.S. homeowners and renters either don’t know if they have control or feel like they have no control, over where their electricity comes from.

If homeowners and renters in the U.S. knew they had energy choices and were given greater control there would likely be new demand for new wind farms, new community solar developments, and so much more.

Finally, to get down to why people would switch to clean energy if they could, we asked them what would motivate them to make the change:

_Cost savings was the most cited motivator for switching to clean energy, among all generations – especially millennials. _

Environmental savings was listed as a motivator by over half of both millennials and baby boomers, but cost savings was by far the most frequently cited motivator among all. Over 80 percent of millennials said cost savings would motivate them to switch their home to clean energy, while only 62 percent said environmental savings would be enough.

As our lives become more and more hectic, it’s not surprising that changing where our home energy comes from could be overlooked as a way to fight climate change. By supporting renewable energy, and cutting back on our energy usage, we can all do our part in using our energy bills for good.