Alliance to Save Energy Offers Consumers Tips To Cut Energy Bills, Pollution As Earth Day 2001, Tax Time Dawn In April

Amidst Soaring Energy Prices, Blackout Threats

Amidst a backdrop of soaring energy prices and electricity reliability problems as Earth Day 2001 dawns April 22, consumers are also dealing with income tax returns and home improvements to get ready for summer. The Alliance to Save Energy offers consumers tips on how to "earn" money by investing in energy-efficiency improvements in their homes and simultaneously reduce pollution and greenhouse gas emissions with little effort.

• If you are taking advantage of lower interest rates to refinance your home, consider wrapping into the package energy-efficiency home improvements that would reduce your monthly energy bills. Interest would be tax deductible, and your actions would also increase the nation's energy supply.
• Earn 50 percent returns installing insulation and weather stripping to cut your heating and air conditioning costs, advises Andrew Tobias, personal finance editor, in PARADE magazine article, "How To Invest In Uncertain Times." (See North American Insulation Manufacturers Association new consumer web site www.simplyinsulate.org to test your IQ - insulation quotient.)
• When shopping for heating and cooling equipment, appliances, computers and office equipment, windows, lighting fixtures, and consumer electronics, select products bearing the ENERGY STAR label (symbol for energy efficiency) to cut related annual energy expenditures by 30 percent - www.energystar.gov.
• Join the Alliance's "4 for the Planet" Earth Day challenge. Just replace your four most used 100-watt incandescent bulbs with four comparable 23-watt compact fluorescent bulbs to 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!
• Tired of 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.
• Plug energy "leaks" with appropriate insulation, weather stripping, caulking, and low-e or spectrally selective windows, glass doors, and skylights. Also, plug surprising energy leaks: Did you know that your idle (turned off) electronics and appliances -- TVs, VCRs, cable boxes, CD players, cassette decks, and microwaves -- continue to consume electricity when switched off to keep display clocks lit and memory chips and remote controls working - costing consumers $3 billion annually? When replacing items, look for the ENERGY STAR label. • 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 non-use to cut costs and improve longevity.
• Check out ENERGY STAR washers which use less water and energy, dryers with moisture sensors, high-efficiency refrigerators, and motion-detectors on exterior security lights and room lighting.
• To avoid sticker shock at the pump this spring and summer as prices are expected to go up again, select fuel-efficient cars and the most fuel efficient SUVs - and urge manufactures to use fuel-efficient technologies for SUVs. Consider new hybrid cars.
• Consider safer, more efficient ENERGY STAR touchiere lamps over popular halogen touchiere lamps which can cause fires, according to the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission. While relatively inexpensive to purchase, they are expensive to operate.

Funding partners for the consumer home energy campaign include the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), New York Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA), Pacific Gas and Electric Company (PG&E), and the North American Insulation Manufacturers Association (NAIMA).