Energy Savings Add Up

U.S. households produce 21 percent of the country's global warming pollution. That's more pollution than the entire heat-trapping output of the United Kingdom!

The good thing is that energy-conscious families can reduce their emissions by up to two-thirds. If every household in the U.S. made energy-efficient choices, we could save 800 million tons of global warming pollution—more than the heat-trapping emissions from over 100 countries. That would go a long way toward stabilizing our climate. (And if you are building a new home, you have a great opportunity to incorporate energy efficient systems and materials to reduce your carbon footprint.)

New and emerging technologies can also reduce our production of heat-trapping gases. By choosing green power, you can use electricity that produces little or no global warming pollution.

Buying green goes a long way toward cutting heat-trapping emissions because clean energy sources emit little or no carbon dioxide (CO2) pollution—a huge savings to the Earth and a way to slow global warming.

Green power can be slightly higher in price, but the benefits are many. Here are just a few examples.

Using green energy:

• Reduces smog, soot, mercury and acid rain pollution.
  
• Reduces financial risks. Future regulations, caps on greenhouse gases and price fluctuations of fossil fuels could all increase the cost of energy. For example, natural gas prices have soared recently.
  
• Creates new jobs and generate income, because green power sources tend to rely on local labor, land and resources, especially in rural communities.

By harnessing wind, sunlight, plant matter or heat from the Earth's core, we can produce electricity in ways that curtail global warming pollution. And because electricity demand is based on consumer choices, the more we demand green power, the more cleaner sources will be used. That means a lot less heat-trapping pollution.

Source: Environmental Defense Fund