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Feb. 15, 2008 /Alliance to Save
Energy/ -- “Going green” and “reducing your carbon footprint’
are all the rage, but these trendy concepts are nothing new
for the Alliance to Save Energy. That’s because you can’t be
green without minimizing your energy use; and energy
efficiency has always been and remains the quickest, most
cost-effective way to use less energy – and the amount of
pollution you produce. The added benefits: While lowering your
household energy bills, energy efficiency doesn’t require
sacrificing comfort or convenience, and it will increase your
indoor comfort.
It’s just a matter of taking simple steps with your home and
vehicles and employing today’s widely available, easy-to-use
energy-efficiency technologies. You’ll not only ease the
strain of today’s high energy prices on your household budget,
you’ll also shrink the greenhouse gases and other global
warming pollutants you spew into the atmosphere.
Here are the Alliance to Save
Energy’s Top 10 Ways to be More Energy Efficient and Green in
2008:
10) Remember when your mom would ask, “Do you think we own
stock in the electric company??!!” Take her sage advice and
turn off lights, computers, TVs, stereos, etc. when you are
done using them.
9) Green means clean – air filters, that is. Clean or replace
HVAC filters regularly, whether you have a central heating
and/or cooling system or window air conditioners.
8) Don’t let “vampire energy use”– aka “standby power” – suck
your wallet dry. Instead, look for the ENERGY STAR label on
electronics – TVs, VCRs, CD players, DVD players, cordless
telephones, and more that continue to use less electricity in
the “off” mode to keep display clocks lit and memory chips and
remote controls working.
7) Keep on rolling – efficiently – down the highway. Keep your
tires properly inflated to improve gas mileage by about 3.3
percent. You could save more than 20 gallons of gasoline per
year, which amounts to about $60 per car annually and about
$120 per typical two-vehicle U.S. household with gasoline at
$3/gallon. Added benefits: Extended tire life and avoidance of
more than 390 pounds of CO2 production per vehicle yearly.
6) “Show the love” to your car by keeping it in good working
order. Fixing a car that is noticeably “out of tune” or has
failed an emissions test can improve gas mileage by an average
of 4 percent. That amounts to nearly 25 gallons of gasoline
per year, or savings of about $80 per vehicle per year or
about $160 per household. Added benefit: Savings of nearly 500
pounds of C02 per vehicle, or 1,000 pounds per household.
5) Generate light, not heat, with ENERGY STAR qualified
lighting such as compact fluorescent light bulbs (CFLs).
Energy-efficient lighting products use at least 2/3 less
energy than standard incandescent lighting and last up to 10
times longer. So despite their higher up-front cost, they
yield lifetime savings of up to $50 per bulb. Added benefit:
CFLs generate 70 percent less heat than incandescents, so they
don’t add to the summer heating load that your AC needs to
cool down.
4) Don’t waste money and pollution by heating or cooling an
empty house. When installed and properly programmed to follow
your daily and weekly patterns, a programmable thermostat can
cut heating and cooling costs by about 10 percent – enough, in
most cases, to pay for the device within one season and then
yield home energy savings of about $150 a year. Added benefit:
When the thermostat “remembers for you” to adjust the
temperature when no one is home, you come home to a
comfortable house yet have not wasted money or polluted
unnecessarily.
3) Reach for the stars – the ENERGY STARs, that is. ENERGY
STAR qualified products can cut related electricity costs by
up to 30 percent. More than 50 categories of products are now
labeled with this government “seal of approval” for energy
efficiency. In addition to electronics and lighting (see tip
numbers 8 and 5), they also include appliances, HVAC systems,
windows, and more (see www.energystar.gov for a complete
rundown).
2) Don’t waste money and energy heating and cooling the great
outdoors, either! Make sure you have the proper amount of
insulation for your climate, and seal leaks around doors and
windows to cut your heating and cooling bills by up to 20
percent. With home energy costs estimated at $2,200 for the
average U.S. household in 2008, and just over half of that
going for heating and cooling, those savings can amount to
about $225. Added benefit: Eliminate drafts and hot and cold
spots for greater indoor comfort.
1) Slow down and save! Each 5 miles per hour you drive over 60
mph costs you about 20 cents more per gallon of gasoline. And
aggressive driving habits – speeding, rapid acceleration and
braking – can lower gas mileage by a whopping 33 percent at
highway speeds and 5 percent around town. But driving sensibly
can save up to 200 gallons of gasoline per year at highway
speeds, or about $600 per car and about $1,200 per household
with gasoline prices at $3/gallon. Added benefit: Avoiding up
to 4,000 pounds of CO2 per car/8,000 per household.
About the Alliance to Save
Energy
The Alliance to Save Energy is a coalition of prominent
business, government, environmental, and consumer leaders who
promote the efficient and clean use of energy worldwide to
benefit consumers, the environment, economy, and national
security.
Source: Alliance to Save
Energy
CONTACT:
Ronnie Kweller: 202-530-2203 (office); 202-276-9327 (mobile)
Rozanne Weissman: 202-530-2217 (office); 202-904-4490 (mobile)
Website:
www.ase.org |
