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you know that your home probably produces twice as much greenhouse
gas emissions plus more of some air pollutants than your car?
 Due
to home emissions from such things as furnaces, as well as emissions
from power plants that generate your home's electricity, the
average home is responsible for 22,000 pounds of carbon dioxide
(CO2) annually compared to 10,000 for
the average car.
Power$mart:
Easy Tips to Save Money and the Planet,
a new booklet by the Alliance to Save Energy, presents a win-win
solution to this dilemma for both consumers and the environment.
The booklet demonstrates how today's smart, energy-efficient
technologies, by getting the most from every energy unit, can
cut home utility bills by 30 percent while also reducing energy
use, needless air pollution, and greenhouse gas emissions. Through
delightful illustrations, Power$mart follows a family of four
and its dog on its home energy treasure hunt as they capture
lost energy dollars and discover ways to save money, increase
their comfort, reduce pollution, and relax afterward while these
benefits continue month after month and year after year with
little additional effort.
"Energy
production and use account for nearly 80 percent of air pollution,
more than 88 percent of heat-trapping greenhouse gas emissions,
and more environmental damage than any other human activity,"
reports Alliance President David M. Nemtzow. "Fortunately,
affordable energy-efficient technologies and products can provide
more comfortable homes and meet our other modern-day personal
and business needs without sacrifice."
Power$mart is based on the findings of two rounds of focus groups
of homeowners with families as well as in-depth, one-to-one interviews
with ten upper elementary and middle school science teachers
in Ohio, California, Maryland, Virginia, and Washington, DC.
They provided input on what they wanted in a booklet and nationwide
campaign to increase their awareness of energy efficiency and
to motivate them to be more energy efficient.
Packed
with easy-to-read tips for use by homeowners, educators, students,
and shoppers, Power$mart provides users with the power
and the knowledge to make wise choices that meet their lifestyles
and needs. Here's a sampling:
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- Substitute compact fluorescent bulbs for
incandescent bulbs that burn four or more hours a day. Replacing
as few as four 100-watt incandescent bulbs with four comparable
23-watt compact fluorescent bulbs would save $82 over three years.
If all U.S. households did the same, we'd save as much energy
as is consumed by 7 million cars in one year!
- As heating and cooling equipment, appliances,
computers and office equipment, windows, lighting fixtures, and
consumer electronics break down or no longer meet your needs,
replace them with products bearing the ENERGY STAR label (symbol
for energy efficiency) to cut related annual energy expenditures
30 percent.
- Obtain a home energy rating to determine
a home's relative energy efficiency prior to purchasing to see
what upgrades would have the greatest payoff.
- Plug energy "leaks" with appropriate
insulation, low-e or spectrally-selective windows, glass doors,
and skylights, and new technology to reduce electricity used
by idle (turned off) electronics and appliances. Idle TVs, VCRs,
cable boxes, CD players, cassette decks, cordless phones, burglar
alarms, and microwaves continue to consume energy when switched
off to keep display clocks lit and memory chips and remote controls
working costing consumers $3 billion annually.
- Activate "sleep" features on computers
and office equipment that power down when the equipment is on
but not in use for a while. Turn off equipment during long periods
of nonuse to cut costs and improve longevity.
- Check out horizontal axis (front-loading)
washers which use less water and energy yet get clothes as clean
as conventional units, dryers with moisture sensors, high-efficiency
refrigerators, and motion-detectors on exterior security lights
or room lighting.
- Tired of awakening to a chilly bedroom in
winter or coming home to a stuffy house in summer? A programmable
thermostat will automatically coordinate your home temperature
with your daily and weekend patterns to increase comfort and
monetary savings.
- Consider a safer, more efficient lamp than
the popular halogen torchiere lamps which operate at hotter temperatures
than regular bulbs and can cause fires, according to the U.S.
Consumer Product Safety Commission. While relatively inexpensive
to purchase, they are expensive to operate, notes an "Enlightening
Warning" booklet illustration a boy mischievously toasting
a hot-dog over the lamp with the words, "bad idea."
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