Leavitt lauds voluntary energy savers

WASHINGTON — Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Mike Leavitt said Thursday that Americans last year participated in voluntary energy efficiency programs that reduced greenhouse gas emissions by 43 million metric tons.

That's equivalent to eliminating the emissions from 28 million cars.

"This dramatically demonstrates the power of personal choice," Leavitt said as he released an annual report on EPA's voluntary initiatives — such as the Energy Star program, which identifies products, new homes and buildings that meet EPA standards for energy efficiency.

"From light bulbs to entire homes, people purchasing energy-efficient products were able to protect the environment and save money. Our corporate partners, too, are demonstrating that helping the environment can help their bottom line," Leavitt said.

The EPA has several initiatives that seek voluntary participation to help clean the environment. One of the best known is Energy Star. It began in 1992 to identify products that are the most energy-efficient, qualifying for its symbol.

The new report said that more than 1 billion Energy Star-qualified products now have been sold. Energy Star has developed partnerships with 1,250 manufacturers labeling more than 18,000 products in 35 categories.

The report said use of Energy Star products and programs saved Americans more than $7 billion on energy bills last year — and enough energy to power 15 million homes, or to make a substantial reduction in greenhouse gases.

It said that more than 3,000 builders have constructed about 110,000 Energy Star-qualified homes to date, locking in financial savings for homeowners of more than $26 million annually.

The EPA has also benchmarked the efficiency of 15,000 buildings nationwide that are working toward becoming more energy-efficient. Of them, 1,100 earned the Energy Star in 2002.

Another voluntary initiative, EPA's Green Power Partnership, had more than 90 partners that made commitments to buy 500,000 megawatt hours of electricity from such environmentally friendly sources as solar, wind, geothermal, biomass and low-impact hydroelectric facilities.

A new program, the Climate Leaders Program, was launched last year and attracted seven partner companies to seek aggressive greenhouse emissions reduction goals.

The estimated 43 million metric ton reduction in greenhouse gases from all programs last year was a 10 percent improvement over 2001, the EPA reported.

Besides greenhouse gas reductions, the programs were also estimated to have reduced nitrogen oxide emissions by 150,000 tons, an improvement of 10,000 tons over the previous year.

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