What Is ENERGY STAR®?

Amazon.com Is a Proud Partner of ENERGY STAR

ENERGY STAR is a joint program of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the U.S. Department of Energy, helping us all save money and protect the environment through energy-efficient products and practices.

Products that earn the ENERGY STAR prevent greenhouse gas emissions by meeting strict energy-efficiency guidelines set by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the U.S. Department of Energy. ENERGY STAR makes it easy for you to choose products that not only save you money, but help the environment by preventing greenhouse gases associated with global warming–all this without sacrificing the quality that you expect from these products.
Did You Know?
· The typical household spends more than $2,000 a year on energy bills. With ENERGY STAR, you can save over one-third or about $700.
· Average home energy output per year creates twice as much air pollution as a car creates.
· More than 50 types of products have earned the ENERGY STAR and more than 40,000 product models have earned the ENERGY STAR.
· Americans, with the help of ENERGY STAR-rated products, prevented 40 million metric tons of greenhouse gas emissions in 2007 alone–equivalent to the annual emissions from 27 million vehicles–and saved more than $16 billion on their utility bills.

To learn more, visit www.energystar.gov or take a room-by-room tour of ENERGY STAR @ home and learn what you can do to save energy, save money, and help protect our environment in your own home.

Shop ENERGY STAR-qualified products at Amazon.com.
Consumer Electronics
Audio Equipment and DVD Products
· Save more by bundling your ENERGY STAR home electronics, such as TVs, VCRs, DVD players, and home audio equipment.
· If each TV, DVD, and home theatre system purchased in the U.S. this year was ENERGY STAR qualified, we would prevent more than 3 billion pounds of greenhouse gas emissions per year.
· ENERGY STAR-qualified DVD players come with all the latest features, including progressive scan.

Digital-to-Analog Converter Boxes (DTAs)
· If all DTAs sold in the U.S. met the ENERGY STAR specification, Americans could save approximately 13 billion kWh and $1 billion in energy costs over the lifetime of the products, and could reduce greenhouse gas emissions equivalent to taking more than 1 million cars off the road.

Telephones
· Look for ENERGY STAR-qualified cordless phones that feature switch-mode power supplies and “smart” chargers for added energy savings.

Televisions and VCRs
· ENERGY STAR-qualified VCRs use about 30 percent less total energy than standard units
· Energy consumption from today’s TVs, when combined with related products like DVD players and set-top boxes, amounts to about 10 percent of a household’s annual electricity bill.
Office Equipment
Desktop Computers and Laptop Computers
· If all computers sold in the United States meet the ENERGY STAR requirements, the savings in energy costs will grow to about $2 billion each year and greenhouse gas emissions will be reduced by the equivalent of greenhouse gas emissions from more than 2 million vehicles.
· If every computer purchased by businesses this year meets the new ENERGY STAR requirements, businesses would save more than $260 million over the lifetime of those models. That’s equivalent to lighting 130 million square feet of U.S. commercial building space each year.

Printers and Scanners
· On average, ENERGY STAR-qualified imaging equipment that meets the new imaging equipment specification is 25 percent more efficient than conventional models. This would save consumers more than $3 billion over the next five years and avoid greenhouse gas emissions equivalent to the annual emissions of more than 4 million vehicles.
· This year, approximately 225 million imaging equipment products will consume more than $8.5 billion in energy, accounting for 3 percent of U.S. electricity expenditures.

Monitors
· Enabling your computer and monitor’s power management features can save your office from $12 to $90 per monitor per year.
HVAC
Programmable Thermostats
· With proper use, programmable thermostats can save about $180 every year in energy costs.
· It’s easy to forget to adjust the thermostat when leaving the house or going to bed, and it takes time for the house to cool off (or warm up) once the thermostat is adjusted, which can be uncomfortable. Here’s where a programmable thermostat pays off, because it automatically adjusts the temperature when you’re not home, and when you go to sleep. Total energy savings will depend on the climate in your area, and the insulation materials, and heating and cooling system, in your house.

Residential Ceiling Fans
· ENERGY STAR-qualified ceiling fans with lights are about 50 percent more efficient than conventional fan/light units, saving you more than $15 per year in energy costs.
· On hotter days, dialing up the air conditioning thermostat by only two degrees and using your ceiling fan can lower air conditioning costs by up to 14 percent over the course of the cooling season.
Lighting Products
Residential Light Fixtures
· ENERGY STAR-qualified bulbs and fixtures produce about 75 percent less energy, so they’re safer to operate and can cut energy costs associated with home cooling.
· If every American replaced just one light bulb or fixture with an ENERGY STAR-qualified one, we would save enough energy to light more than 3 million homes for a year, we would save more than $600 million in annual energy costs, and we would prevent greenhouse gases equivalent to the emissions of more than 800,000 cars.
· If every American home replaced its five most frequently used light fixtures or the bulbs in them with the ones that have earned the ENERGY STAR, we would save close to $8 billion each year in energy costs, and together we’d prevent greenhouse gases equivalent to the emissions of nearly 10 million cars.
· By replacing your home’s five most frequently used light fixtures or the bulbs in them with ENERGY STAR qualified models, you can save $70 each year.

Screw-Based Compact Fluorescent Lamps (CFLs)
· An ENERGY STAR-qualified CFL comes with a two-year warranty.
· ENERGY STAR-qualified bulbs and fixtures use about 75 percent less energy than standard incandescent bulbs and last up to 10 times longer.
· An ENERGY STAR qualified light prevents 450 pounds of greenhouse gas emissions over its lifetime, the equivalent of keeping more than 200 pounds of coal from being burned.
· An ENERGY STAR qualified bulb can save about $30 or more in electricity costs over its lifetime.

Decorative Light Strings
· An ENERGY STAR qualified decorative light string uses 75% less energy than an incandescent light string.
· Over one hundred million decorative light strings will be sold in the U.S. this year. These light strings have the potential to consume more than 3 billion kWh per year, costing U.S. consumers over $300 million in electricity costs.
· If every decorative light string purchased in the US this year was ENERGY STAR qualified, we would prevent 3.5 billion pounds of greenhouse gas emissions per year. (Additional savings = 2.3 billion kWh, $ 243 million, 293,000 cars)
· For every three ENERGY STAR qualified decorative light strings a U.S. consumer purchases, they can save $30 over the lifetime of the lights.
Appliances
Clothes Washers
· ENERGY STAR qualified clothes washers use over 50 percent less water and 30 percent less energy for washing and drying, for annual household savings of about $50.
· Full-sized ENERGY STAR qualified washers use 10-20 gallons of water per load, compared to the 30-35 gallons used by a standard machine.

Dishwashers
· ENERGY STAR qualified dishwashers are on average 20 percent more energy efficient than non-qualified models.

Room Air Conditioners
· If every room air conditioner sold were ENERGY STAR qualified, it would prevent 1.3 billion pounds of greenhouse gas emissions annually, equivalent to the emissions of more than 115,000 cars.
· ENERGY STAR-qualified room air conditioners use at least 10 percent less energy than standard models.
Other Products
Battery Charging Systems (BCSs)
· Unplug battery chargers or power adapters when equipment is fully charged or disconnected from the charger.
· Conventional battery chargers–even when not actively charging a product–can draw as much as 5 to 20 times more power than is needed to maintain the battery’s charge.
· ENERGY STAR-qualified battery chargers are 40 percent more efficient than conventional models, saving consumers over $500 million a year.

External Power Supplies
· In the U.S., the total amount of electricity that flows through internal and external power adapters is nearly 300 billion kWh/yr or about 11% of the nation’s annual electricity consumption. During the process these devices consume nearly 100 billion kWh per year of electricity and turn it into heat, costing the nation over $10 billion in electric bills.
· The EPA estimates that there are five power adapters for every person in the U.S.–as many as 1.5 billion in total. More efficient power adapters have the potential to save over 5 billion kWh of energy annually.
· Efficient power adapters would prevent more than 4 million tons of CO2 emissions, an amount equal to the emissions of more than 700,000 cars.
· Efficient power adapters would create savings of close to $500 million on energy bills.

Room Air Cleaners
· A typical room air cleaner, operating continuously, uses approximately 760 kWh per year in electricity—this is about 50 percent more than the power used by a new refrigerator!