ENERGY STAR® Campaigns

The U.S. Department of Energy's Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy is leading the following ENERGY STAR^® campaigns:

ENERGY STAR Appliance Recycling Campaigns

Old fridges, freezers, and clothes washers are inefficient. In fact:

Fridges made before 1993 use more than twice the energy of a new ENERGY STAR qualified model. A pre-1993 fridge costs $100 or more per year in electricity.
Clothes washers manufactured before 1999 use more than 4 times the energy of today's ENERGY STAR models, and waste nearly 30 gallons of water every time you do a load of laundry. Over the lifetime of the washer, you'd be wasting water equivalent to ten and a half years of daily baths!
U.S. households have 44.5 million fridges over 10 years old, 12.7 million of which are secondary units, often in basements and garages. Approximately 16.9 million household freezers are over 10 years old—that's 44 percent of all freezers. And an estimated 24 million households have a top-loading washer that is ten years old or older—that's nearly 30 percent of all clothes washers.
Combined, these inefficient appliances use nearly $14 billion per year in energy costs.

Recycle your old, inefficient appliances today! ENERGY STAR and the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) invite you to participate in the ENERGY STAR Make a Cool Change and the ENERGY STAR Make a Clean Change campaigns.

This national call to action, led by DOE, encourages consumers to find out just how much energy is used and money spent to power late-model fridges, freezers, and clothes washers, properly recycle inefficient models, and when needed, replace them with new ENERGY STAR models.

To learn more, visit www.energystar.gov/recycle.

Photo of a man in uniform riding a stationary bicycle and looking at an illuminated light bulb display.

Colonel Daniel Thomas, Fort Meade Installation Commander, demonstrates the incandescent—CFL—LED light comparator bicycle on Earth Day 2009.
Credit: DOE

ENERGY STAR OPERATION CHANGE OUT - THE MILITARY CHALLENGE

ENERGY STAR OPERATION CHANGE OUT, a joint effort of the U.S. Departments of Energy and Defense, is the first national, military-focused energy-efficiency campaign to encourage every serviceman and woman to save energy, money, and protect the environment by replacing their inefficient, incandescent light bulbs with ENERGY STAR qualified bulbs. The goal of OPERATION CHANGE OUT is simple: replace inefficient incandescent light bulbs with ENERGY STAR qualified models.

From the campaign launch on Earth Day, 2008 through early June, 2009, 151 bases signed up, collectively changing out nearly 848,800 light bulbs. Over the lifetime of the bulbs, these change-outs are estimated to:

Save over 239 million kilowatt-hours,
Cut nearly $25.4 million in energy costs, and
Prevent the emissions of nearly 382 million pounds of carbon dioxide.

An image of a poster features a single red, white and blue compact florescent light bulb (CFL).

The Air Force achieved 100 percent participation of U.S. major command bases, and on Earth Day 2009, in a video message, challenged the other service branches to follow the Air Force's lead and also reach 100 percent. Bases, privatized housing providers, retailers, utilities, and other community partners can also support the effort.

In 2009, the OPERATION CHANGE OUT campaign received the highest award for a government poster from the National Association of Government Communicators. There were more than 575 posters entered in 49 categories. The campaign poster has been widely distributed to military installations around the country.

To learn more or to sign up, visit the ENERGY STAR OPERATION CHANGE OUT site.

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