EPA Announces National Campaign to Improve Environment

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency today started a national campaign to provide individual Americans with a plan to fight global climate change.

The effort was launched in conjunction with Earth Day and is called "Change the World, Start with Energy Star."

The goal of the plan is to help people make changes at work and at home that can save energy and work to provide substantial greenhouse gas emissions reductions. Earth Day is a designated calendar date each year in the United States designed to bring heightened awareness to improving the natural environment of the earth.

EPA officials say if each household in the United States participated in the Energy Star plan, the total savings in energy costs in the country would be greater than $18 billion. In addition, EPA researchers believe the greenhouse gas emissions that would be saved would be comparable to the emissions produced by some 18-million cars.

About 1,200 organizations-both local and national groups-are pledging to take the Energy Star pledge and encouraging all U.S. residents to do the same.

The plan created by the U.S. EPA includes encouraging individuals to improve their home and work heating and cooling systems so they work more efficiently, to ensure their homes and workplaces are well insulated and sealed to provide more efficient heating and cooling, to equip home and work computer systems with power management systems to more easily control heating and cooling efforts and to choose Energy Star qualified appliances for their homes and offices.

Energy Star is a system created by the U.S. EPA that designates home appliances like dishwashers, refrigerators and washers and driers as being energy-efficient and environmentally-friendly. The new EPA plan encourages consumers to purchases Energy Star qualified appliances when replacing their old units in their homes and workplaces.

Energy Star labels, which were introduced by the EPA in 1992, are found on some 50 different types of appliances and products-including new homes and other buildings.

The EPA contends that about 40 percent of the carbon dioxide emissions in the United States come from buildings themselves, because the energy in most buildings originates from fossil fuel burning. Carbon dioxide is the most abundant greenhouse gas.

According to the EPA, U.S. residents saved some $16 billion in heating and cooling costs by reducing their greenhouse gas emissions as recommended by Energy Star. This is the same as if the emissions of 27-million vehicles were eliminated from society.