Below is the text version of the Earth Day animation. Or you can go to the U.S. Department of Energy Web site.
The animation consists of two different scenes:
This is a picture of an energy efficient home, cut open to show its many different features and appliances. This scene describes what you can do to increase the energy efficiency of your home. It contains information about efficient appliances in general, air conditioners, water heaters, light emitting diodes, electronics, cars, and lighting systems. It also describes solar thermal and solar power panels, energy efficient windows, smart meters, attic insulation, and advanced fuels and hyrbids.
What you can do: Choose ENERGY STAR® appliances!
If everyone purchasing a clothes washer in 2009 chooses an ENERGY STAR model, together we would save 975 million kilowatt-hours of electricity, 34 million Btu of natural gas, and 54 billion gallons of water. The electricity saved in one year would power every household in Washington, D.C., for 4 months. Enough water would be saved in one year to fill the Rose Bowl Stadium 638 times.
If everyone purchasing a refrigerator in 2009 chooses an ENERGY STAR model, consumers would save 914 million kilowatt-hours of electricity and more than $101 million in energy bills each year.
Even if you aren't ready to replace your appliances, keep them clean and in good repair; clogged air vents or worn-out parts make motors work harder, which wastes energy!
What you can do: Choose an ENERGY STAR® air conditioner!
If everyone purchasing a room air conditioner in 2009 chooses an ENERGY STAR qualified model, it would save 390 million kilowatt-hours of electricity a year. That would prevent more than 600 million pounds of greenhouse gas emissions each year—equivalent to taking more than 50,000 cars off the road—and save consumers over $43 million each year in energy bills.
Even if you aren't ready to replace your air conditioner now, consider weather-stripping the seams around the unit to provide better insulation. Keeping cool air in will help reduce your electricity bills during the summer!
What you can do: Air seal and insulate your attic! Learn about the most cost-effective levels of insulation for your climate zone.
More than 50% of the energy used in a typical American home is for space heating and cooling. Much of that conditioned air escapes through poorly sealed, under-insulated attics. Only 20% of homes built before 1980 are well insulated.
Properly sealing and insulating your attic can save you up to 10% annually on energy bills. You can also save by insulating your home's ventilation ducts.
What you can do: Get the junk out of the trunk and properly inflate your tires!
An extra 100 pounds in your vehicle could reduce your fuel efficiency by up to 2%.
Properly inflated tires are safer, last longer and save fuel. You can improve your gas mileage more than 3% by keeping your tires inflated to the recommended pressure.
Car pooling and sharing travel makes a difference. Reducing the number of vehicles on the road decreases congestion and reduces CO2 emissions. Plus it can be a great way to make friends! The small percentages noted above may not sound like much, but it all adds up!
What you can do: Turn off your power strips or unplug electronics. Power strips can turn off several appliances with the flip of one switch.
Your electronics—computer, TV, VCR, even your phone chargers—use energy even when they're turned off. Stand-by power can account for as much as 20% of home energy use. Unplugging your devices (or turning off the power strip) can save you money.
What you can do: If you're buying a new car, consider a hybrid or a clean diesel vehicle. Hybrids and clean diesel models save up to $1,500 in fuel costs each year, and they come in all shapes and sizes, so you don't have to sacrifice utility.
Plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEV) will soon represent an even greater leap in efficiency—to the point that urban drivers may not use any gas at all for their daily commute. Instead, you'll be able to power your car from an ordinary wall outlet. President Obama recently announced $2.4 billion in funding to put America's manufacturers to work producing these vehicles and the battery components they run on. And Americans who decide to purchase these Plug-in Hybrid vehicles can claim a tax credit of up to $7,500. Read more about PHEVs.
Dozens of models of flexible fuel vehicles (FFVs) are also available, designed to run on gasoline or a blend of up to 85% ethanol (E85). Except for a few engine and fuel system modifications, they are identical to gasoline-only models, and many more models and classes are in development.
What you can do: Purchase lighting that uses Light Emitting Diodes (LED) for home applications.
LED lighting is being made for a variety of uses around the home including general applications such as recessed downlights, as well as decorative uses including holiday tree lights, "night lights," and walkway illumination. LEDs are durable, long-lasting, and use about one-tenth as much energy as incandescent bulbs.
The Department of Energy is working to speed up wide home use of LED for general lighting needs, providing an even more efficient alternative to incandescent bulbs. In the fall of 2008, ENERGY STAR® began recognizing lighting products in several categories, including under-cabinet lights, task or desk lights, recessed can lights, and several types of outdoor lighting.
New types of LED lighting are being added to ENERGY STAR all of the time. To see the latest types of products that can earn the ENERGY STAR and to learn more about these new types of lighting options, visit the ENERGY STAR Web site.
What you can do: Change your lights to energy-saving compact fluorescent lights (CFL).
If every American home replaced just one light bulb with an ENERGY STAR® CFL bulb, we would save almost six billion kWh per year—enough energy to light nearly three million homes. We'd also save more than $600 million in annual energy costs and reduce greenhouse gases by the equivalent of nearly 750,000 cars. The average CFL lasts 10,000 hours, and when you replace it, you can recycle it! Learn how from our CFL FAQ (PDF 149 KB). Download Adobe Reader.
ENERGY STAR CFLs come in a number of shapes, sizes, and colors not just the spirals and the "soft white" color people are used to. To help you select the type and color of CFL that will work best for your socket, visit the ENERGY STAR Web site.
What you can do: Ask your local electric utility if Smart Meters are available in your area.
A Smart Meter allows you to communicate in real time with your provider about your electricity usage. This device helps you save money by shifting some of your consumption to off-peak periods; this helps your utility offer you a wider range of plans and services.
Smart Meters are becoming more widely available—and they can save you money by helping you monitor (and adjust) when you use electricity. Smart Meter technology is also being developed that will allow you to log in to your computer and turn on or turn off your home's systems, including heating and cooling, lights, and appliances.
What you can do: Install solar electric panels on your roof!
Solar energy is clean, unlimited, secure, and sustainable. And, because the fuel is free (sunlight), it is not subject to price increases or volatility. Even better, solar energy resources are generally abundant throughout the United States. Learn more about your home and solar power from Get Your Power from the Sun (PDF 763 KB). Download Adobe Reader.
Rebates offered through your utility (ask them!), plus state and federal tax credits, can reduce upfront costs of installing solar technologies by as much as 50%. Innovative new financing options are also lowering upfront costs.
What you can do: Install solar water heating.
Solar energy is a reliable and efficient source of hot water and heat. You can also light your home more efficiently by incorporating natural daylighting.
If you aren't ready to purchase a solar water heating or solar electric system, consider landscaping. Planting trees, shrubs, and hedges around your home can reduce the amount of sunlight that comes in, which means less heat in the summertime. In winter, when the leaves are gone, sunlight comes right in and provides warmth to your home. If you think you might want to install solar at a later day, plan landscaping carefully so it won't shade solar panels in the future.
What you can do: Purchase an energy efficient water heater.
Energy efficient electric or gas, gas tankless, gas condensing, solar and heat pump water heaters all use less energy than standard water heaters. (Find out more about your choices here!)
You can now purchase an ENERGY STAR® water heater for high-efficiency gas storage, whole-home gas tankless, or solar water heaters—gas condensing and heat pump water heaters will be coming out later in 2009. Depending on the type of water heater you use, an ENERGY STAR water heater will save you between $30 and $290 for every year you use it.
Even if you're not ready to replace your water heater, you can save energy by insulating your water heater and your hot water pipes—heat lost from your tank is wasted energy! You can find more tips on ways to save here!
What you can do: Choose an ENERGY STAR® window!
Energy efficient windows lower solar gain (the heat that enters your home through a window) and are better insulated, so that homes stay cool in summer and warm in winter.
If you aren't ready to replace your windows, caulking your window seals around the glass can provide additional insulation. Visit Energy Savers for more info!
Replacing single-pane windows with new ENERGY STAR windows could save you $126–$465 in annual energy bills, depending on your climate zone.
This is a picture of a long street, lined on both sides by various forms of energy production facilities as well as some energy efficiency technologies. This scene provides information about many sources of energy, including wind, natural gas, hydrogen storage, biofuels, coal, nuclear energy, geothermal, solar electric power, and water power. It also provides some information about advanced energy efficiency techniques, such as the smart electric grid, industrial efficiency, and an example of a zero energy home of the future.
What You Should Know: Imagine growing our way to energy security. That's what the Department of Energy aims to do through research and development into next generation biofuels by partnering with industry, academic institutions, environmental groups and others.
We're pursuing cost-effective ways to convert high-energy grasses such as miscanthus and agricultural wastes into fuels that can power our cars and trucks. The stimulus package included $800 million to accelerate transformational science and speed next generation biofuels projects to market.
What are the benefits? We can potentially reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 85% compared to gasoline, spur economic growth in rural areas, and take important steps toward energy independence.
What You Should Know: Leaders in retail and other industries are working together with the Department of Energy to transform the energy performance of commercial buildings. Businesses benefit from returns on energy efficiency investments—and the nation benefits from a healthier environment and greater energy security.
Improvements and innovations in technologies from refrigeration to space heating and cooling to smart metering all have a significant role to play in creating the next generation of commercial buildings. Several progressive commercial building owners have incorporated solar and wind technologies into their buildings as well, reducing their energy bills in an environmentally friendly fashion.
What You Should Know: Coal is our nation's most abundant energy resource. It powers half of the electricity generated in America today and will continue to play a prominent role in our energy mix. The Department of Energy has invested billions of dollars, in cooperation with leading businesses, to develop technology that helps utilities to cut sulfur dioxide, nitrogen dioxide, mercury, and carbon dioxide emissions from power plants.
Through seven U.S. regional partnerships, the Department of Energy is making progress on demonstrating the potential of pumping carbon dioxide safely underground, through a process called sequestration.
What You Should Know: Geothermal energy comes from the earth's own heat. It's clean and sustainable for numerous applications, from heat pumps to electric power generation. Geothermal energy resources include heat from soil at shallow depths down to hot water and rock miles beneath the earth's surface.
Energy from geothermal resources is an important source of clean energy, because it can be a baseload source of power. Unlike wind and solar, which are intermittent resources, energy from geothermal is constant. A Massachusetts Institute of Technology study indicated that the United States could develop 100 gigawatts of energy from next-generation geothermal resources by 2050.
What You Should Know: Hydrogen is not an energy source; it's an energy carrier—it stores and delivers energy. It can be made using any form of energy, including renewable energy sources like biomass, solar, wind, hydroelectric, and geothermal energy.
In a fuel cell, hydrogen provides clean, efficient, and reliable power to:
Fuel cells can operate at two-to-three times the efficiency of traditional combustion technologies; even better, when using pure hydrogen, the only emission is water vapor.
The Department of Energy is partnering with industry, academic institutions, environmental groups, and others to make the goal of plentiful, affordable and sustainable hydrogen energy a reality.
What You Should Know: The Department of Energy is working with industry to reduce industrial energy intensity 25% in 10 years.
Through its Save Energy Now initiative, the Department offers no-cost energy assessments to help plants identify ways to save energy and improve efficiency in key industrial process systems. As of March 2009, 2,053 assessments have been completed at small, medium, and large plants. Of these, 1,873 plants have reported identifying energy cost savings of more than $1.2 billion, natural gas savings of 131 trillion Btu, and potential CO2 emissions reduction of 10.3 million metric tons—the equivalent of taking 1.9 million cars off the road.
The Department also offers BestPractices technical resources including software tools, training, and publications.
What You Should Know: Natural gas accounts for over 23% of U.S. energy consumption and is over 50% of American homes' main source of heating fuel. It burns cleaner than other fossil fuels and is an important part of our secure energy future.
Natural gas power plants can serve as strong complements to intermittent power sources like wind and solar energy, because they can be brought on-line quickly when, for example, the wind tapers off at a wind farm.
What You Should Know: Nuclear power generates about 20% of our electricity, and accounts for 70% of our low-carbon electricity production; however, the waste must be carefully and responsibly managed.
What You Should Know: The "Smart Grid" is an electric grid fully integrated with the latest advances in information, communication, and control technologies to improve reliability, security, and efficiency in all aspects of electricity operations and consumption.
A Smart Grid can allow consumers to better monitor and manage their electricity use and, thus, their costs; accommodate a wide range of clean energy generation sources to mitigate climate change concerns; provide new services such as for fueling and billing operations of plug-in hybrid electric vehicles; and meet the range of electrical power needs of the 21st century.
When fully functional, the "Smart Grid" will be self-healing from power disturbance events and will operate resiliently against physical or cyber attacks.
What You Should Know: Utility-scale solar power is becoming a reality. Through combinations of photovoltaic and concentrating solar power, harnessing the power of the sun for entire communities is no longer on the drawing board; it is being developed.
To make this happen, the Obama Administration and Department of Energy are committed to developing solar technologies that help U.S. industry remain a world leader in this area.
What You Should Know: The movement of water generates large amounts of energy. Electricity can be produced from the power of waves, tides, ocean currents, and free-flowing water in rivers and channels. The technology to harness this power is under development, and a number of different methods are currently being designed and tested.
The Department of Energy established a research and development program for marine and hydrokinetic technologies in 2008 to further develop these resources and better understand their potential to contribute to this country's energy future.
What You Should Know: Wind is the fastest-growing renewable power source in the U.S. "Wind farms" provide electricity to seven million households in 35 states, and use of wind power grows by more than 40% every year. The U.S. wind energy industry installed 8,503 megawatts (MW) in 2008. Currently, wind power provides about 2% of our nation's electricity; experts estimate that wind energy could provide as much as 20% of our nation's electricity.
Each 1.5-MW wind turbine can power 500 homes and displace 2,700 metric tons of carbon dioxide (CO2). Today, wind farms produce enough electricity to avoid nearly 44 million metric tons of emissions—the equivalent of taking more than 7 million cars off the road. And the potential for more wind-generated power is enormous. Achieving 20% wind energy by 2030 could support more than 500,000 jobs, provide more than $600 million of land-lease payments to farmers and landowners, and generate $1.5 billion annually in local tax revenues. Achieving this vision requires investing in transmission, allowing the abundant wind resources to reach our urban load centers.
The Department of Energy, in collaboration with a network of home builders across the country, is doing research on zero energy homes. Zero energy homes combine advanced building techniques with renewable energy sources such as solar or geothermal to minimize the home's energy needs from outside providers.
When perfected—there are buildings that are very close, even today—these homes should be so energy efficient that they can sell back surplus electricity to the utilities!
There is no "silver bullet" to a zero energy building; it takes several elements working together. Integrating building technologies and materials with renewable energy sources and smart metering can reduce a home's consumption to near-zero.
One step you can take toward making your home more efficient is to get an energy audit. This is a set of tests that will tell you how well your home uses energy, and will suggest ways to improve your home's energy performance.