AMHERST — Solar panels on the home’s roof. Air-source heat pumps inside for heating and cooling. Solatubes that bring natural light to interior spaces, such as the kitchen island. A garage with outlets to charge an all-electric and a hybrid vehicle.

These are among the visible green energy technologies brought to Heather and Dan Sheldon’s home in the Echo Hill neighborhood of Amherst in recent years, illustrating the improvements and renovations that are reducing the family’s dependence on non-renewable sources of power.

“I’ve yet to come across an energy savings project that hasn’t also made my life better,” Heather Sheldon said as she recently offered a tour inside and outside her home, organized by the Environment Massachusetts Research & Policy Center.

The statewide organization, which promotes clean air, clean water and a livable climate, timed the event to its “Clean Energy Across America” report showing that Massachusetts residents, like the Sheldons, are at the forefront of reducing energy consumption, and part of a broad movement across the state.

“It’s really a movement hiding in plain sight,” said Alex Yankovsky, clean energy associate with Environment Massachusetts.

The report, which was jointly put together with the Frontier Group, is available at environmentamerica.org/massachusetts/resources/clean-energy-across-america.

It shows that there are more than 142,000 electric vehicles and plug-in hybrids on the state’s roads, more than 180,000 homes have grid-connected solar power, and more than 80,000 residents were able to take advantage of the Residential Clean Energy Credit and more than 23,000 claimed the Energy Efficient Home Improvement Credit on their federal income taxes.

While the report highlights the significant strides that have been made to reduce energy use, there is still a need to make it easier for people who are yearning to adopt clean energy, Yankovsky said.

“Bay Staters have taken their own time and money to incorporate green energy into their homes,” Yankovsky said. “Residents are hungry for more energy and reduced reliance on dirty and costly energy.”

Yankovsky said one of the steps in Massachusetts is the new heat pump rates on utility bills that began on Nov. 1, lowering the delivery portion of electricity bills for qualifying customers through April 1. This helps to make sure that people who have taken this leap are fairly compensated for their investments.

A model home

Sheldon said the state’s Mass Save program paid for a portion of the improved insulation in the attic and also assisted in covering costs for air sealing, including sealing the rim joists.

The renovation of the kitchen led to new double-pane windows and the installation of the heat pump, one of three on the main level and one in each of the upstairs bedrooms.

The solatubes are cheaper than skylights and are also not losing heat.

“I really like these things, we have five of them,” Sheldon said. They also provide solar-powered night lights that turn on when it’s dark outside.

In the kitchen is an induction cooktop that reduces energy use.

The heat pumps require condensate drains that are hidden in the closets. Sheldon said other devices associated with the heat pumps are the voltage monitors that can turn off power to the heat pumps, which don’t like power that surges. She said the utilities could help with this.

“The electric grid needs to be more reliable,” Sheldon said.

The heat recovery drain in the basement is a copper coil wrapped around a drain pipe that recovers heat from the hot water used in showers, bathtubs, sinks and dishwashers.

In the garage, a 220-volt charger powers up her car within three hours, while a conventional outlet plugs in her husband’s car, which can drive for 300 miles when fully powered.

Town Council President Lynn Griesemer, who was on the tour, said the Sheldons have done an amazing job that builds on the work happening at Town Hall, including having a director of sustainability who can work with homeowners who want to install heat pumps and provide education on other available technologies.

Griesemer said the partnership with Northampton and Pelham on the Valley Green Energy electricity program ensures customers can get more power from green sources, and the town has pursued building net-zero buildings, like the new elementary school, that aim to achieve reduced greenhouse gas emissions.

“We have our own goals that reflect the goals of the state,” Griesemer said.

Also on the tour were University of Massachusetts students who are part of the Massachusetts Public Interest Research Group chapter. The students were junior Daisy Ginsberg, who got to wear the large sun mascot costume Environment Massachusetts brings to events, senior Matthew Ciampa and sophomore Bart Scheer, campus coordinator for MassPIRG’s clean energy campaign.

“A lot of very interesting information,” Scheer said, observing that the heat recovery drain was an interesting device.

Scheer said much of the information would be brought back to a meeting so students can learn more about what they might be able to do at their own homes.

Johanna Neumann, an Amherst resident and acting director of Environment Massachusetts, said the report highlights what homeowners have done even in the face of sometimes limited state and federal support.

“In communities from the Cape to the Berkshires, Bay Staters have invested their own time and money to install solar panels on their roofs, put EVs in their driveways or buy clean energy from their utilities,” Neumann said.

One way Massachusetts can help more residents to adopt renewable energy is to encourage or require local jurisdictions to adopt instant permitting platforms for residential solar and energy storage systems. These platforms, she said, make it faster, easier and cheaper for residents who want to put solar on their roofs or batteries in their garage or basement.

“Common-sense steps can make it easier and more affordable for people to power their lives in a cleaner way,” Neumann said.

“Elected leaders can make that easier by removing unnecessary barriers,” added Tony Dutzik, associate director and senior policy analyst for Frontier Group.

Sheldon said a blower door test, done to see how much energy her home is losing, showed that the improvements have made it very tight, and more work would likely require some sort of ventilation.

Sheldon said the next projects she would like to undertake are to replace more of the home’s windows, pointing to ones showing condensation due to the difference in temperature between the inside and outside, and to purchase a battery backup.

While she doesn’t know how these have impacted utility bills, with the solar panels providing about half the energy needs, or how soon the investment will provide a payback, the money spent on green energy is taking volatility out of the monthly bills.

“This gives us an insurance policy other people don’t have,” Sheldon said.