Protect our children and environment. Stop global warming. Ohio Chapter Increasing the efficiency of cars and minivans, power plants and even light bulbs will not only help curb global warming, it will help cut air pollution, protect our wilderness and coasts from drilling and stimulate economic growth. Reducing our dependence on fossil fuels cuts pollution and reduces the demand to drill in sensitive wilderness areas like the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. It reduces the amount of oil we transport, lessening the chances of spills.
Consumers benefit because efficiency costs less than the energy it saves.
Finally, it helps our economy by cutting oil imports, which account for one-third of our national trade deficit. Electricity demand could be cut by 30 to 50 percent with existing energy-saving technologies, according to experts from the U.S. Department of Energy and the utility industry. After the initial investment, of course, energy efficiency keeps saving money year after year and continues to cut pollution. None of these improvements will happen overnight, but as they are phased in, technologies will continue to improve, costs will go down and savings will go up. In Pennsylvania, a new boiler-control technology at one plant cut nitrogen oxide emissions by 19 percent, saving enough fuel in its first year to pay for its installation.