March 18, 2005—The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), in partnership with business and community leaders, is challenging building owners across the country to improve the efficiency of their buildings by 10% or more.
EPA estimates that if each building owner took on this challenge, by 2015 Americans would reduce greenhouse gas emissions by more than 20 MMTCE, equivalent to the emissions from 15 million vehicles, while saving about $10 billion. Leaders across the country already are showing that energy use in buildings can be reduced by 10%, 20%, 30% and even more with proven practices and technologies that pay off financially and for our environment, the agency says.
The ENERGY STAR Challenge calls on businesses and institutions across the country to take the right steps to identify the many buildings where financially attractive improvements can reduce energy use by 10% or more, and to make the improvements now through proven methods such as low-cost building tune-ups, lighting upgrades, and replacement of old equipment.
It is focusing on three key steps: determining how much energy buildings are using; establishing efficiency improvement goals, and making improvements. To read more about the challenge, visit the ENERGY STAR Web site.
