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Energy Facts

 Did you know...

• Most of the energy consumed in homes is produced by power plants that burn fossil fuels (oil, coal and gas) to generate electricity.


• Energy generation and use is a major source of air pollution -- which harms the environment, can harm human health, and contributes to global warming.


• The average house is responsible for more air pollution than the average car!


• The equipment we purchase for our homes, offices and industry over the next decade will account for 60% of our air pollution in 2010. The choices we make today will affect our future!
• By using energy efficient equipment that has earned the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and U.S. Department of Energy's ENERGY STAR® instead of standard new equipment, the average household could prevent the release of 70,000 pounds of carbon dioxide over the lifetime of the products. That pollution savings is equivalent to taking a car off the road for 7 years. That same ENERGY STAR® equipped household can also cut, by nearly one-half, the release of nitrogen oxides, which are primary contributors to smog and acid rain.


• If all households and businesses in the United States bought Energy Star qualified products instead of standard new equipment over the next 15 years, we would cut the national energy bill over that time by $100 billion. The reduction in greenhouse gas emissions would be equivalent to taking 17 million cars off the road for each of those 15 years.


• The less energy we use, the more pollution we can prevent. This helps to reduce respiratory disease, smog, acid rain and global warming.

In summary, with energy efficient products, you save money; you help the environment; and you help improve the air we breathe, without sacrificing quality. What could be simpler?

Ways to Conserve Energy

Energy is generated and consumed with most activities, and it often results in carbon output into the environment. Carbon dioxide is a greenhouse gas that helps generate an increase in the temperature of the Earth, which in turn affects the lives of every living thing. In addition, there is only a finite amount of energy available from traditional methods such as coal and oil, and developing alternative, renewable energies (solar, wind, etc.) helps to reduce our dependence on what we will eventually run out of.

Water

Water covers 71 percent of the Earth’s surface, but relatively little is suitable for consumption. In many parts of the world, suitable water is in very short supply. Everytime a drop of water goes down the drain, it becomes unconsumable unless properly treated. In addition to reducing the amount of water we use, developing proper treatment facilities ensures that we can reuse the water we already have.

Solid waste

There is only so much room available to dispose of solid waste, and because landfills are so tightly packed it takes a long time (if ever) for material to decompose. The easiest ways to reduce solid waste are to reuse and recycle. Be cautious of what you buy, and whether anything you are going to put in a trash can really belongs there.

Recycling Facts & Figures

• In 1999, recycling and composting activities prevented about 64 million tons of material from ending up in landfills and incinerators. Today, this country recycles 32 percent of its waste, a rate that has almost doubled during the past 15 years.


• While recycling has grown in general, recycling of specific materials has grown even more drastically: 50 percent of all paper, 34 percent of all plastic soft drink bottles, 45 percent of all aluminum beer and soft drink cans, 63 percent of all steel packaging, and 67 percent of all major appliances are now recycled.


• Twenty years ago, only one curbside recycling program existed in the United States, which collected several materials at the curb. By 2005, almost 9,000 curbside programs had sprouted up across the nation. As of 2005, about 500 materials recovery facilities had been established to process the collected materials.
  Source: U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
  

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