By Tom Doggett
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Environmental Protection Agency on Wednesday kicked off a campaign to get U.S. consumers to switch to energy-efficient light bulbs as a way of reducing energy spending and greenhouse gas emissions.
The EPA's "Change-a-Light, Change-the-World" bus tour will travel to 10 U.S. cities this month to promote Energy Star light bulbs that use about 75 percent less electricity than standard incandescent light bulbs and last up to 10 times longer.
The government puts the Energy Star label on light bulbs, appliances and other products that save energy.
The agency wants every U.S. household to change at least one traditional bulb to an Energy Star bulb, collectively saving $600 million a year in energy costs and preventing enough greenhouse gas emissions to equal what is spewed from the tailpipes of 800,000 cars.
"What we hope to do is to get these Energy Star compact florescent lights off the store shelves and into peoples' homes," EPA Administrator Stephen Johnson said in telephone interview to the Reuters Global Environment Summit.
"We want to encourage people to make smart energy choices," he said. "By changing just one bulb, a consumer can save $30 in electricity costs over the bulb's lifetime."
Johnson pointed out that the Energy Star bus, which is also sponsored by the Energy Department, will travel across the country running on cleaner-burning diesel fuel.
Legislation is pending in Congress to phase out traditional light bulbs in favor of the more energy efficient ones. Continued...
© Thomson Reuters 2008. All rights reserved.
| Global Environment | Oct 06 - 8, 2008 | Energy |
| Autos II | Sep 30 - Oct 01, 2008 | Hotels/Casinos |
| Restructuring | Sep 22 - 26, 2008 | Financial Services/Exchanges |
| Autos | Sep 15 - 17, 2008 | Autos |
| Russia Investment | Sep 08 - 9, 2008 | Country Summits |
