Energy & Global Warming Facts

Scientists predict that if global warming continues at its present rate, by 2030 there will be no more glaciers in Montana's Glacier National Park.

Forty percent of the country's lakes and rivers are unsuitable for fishing or swimming.

If Americans unplugged their televisions when they turned them off, they'd save 8.45 billion kilowatt hours of electricity a year. That's twice the amount produced by the Hoover Dam.

If SUVs complied with the same fuel-economy standards as ordinary cars, the U.S. would save one million barrels of oil a day, more than the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge could produce at peak volume.

Recycling one aluminum can saves enough energy to light a 100-watt light bulb for 3.5 hours.

On average, a homeowner with an automatic sprinkler system overwaters his lawn by 112,000 gallons a year.

Sixty-five million trees are cut down to make the 500 pieces of junk mail sent each year to every person in the country.

A family of four can save up to 20,000 gallons of water a year--the amount needed to fill an average-sized swimming pool--by using a low-flow showerhead.

If all the cordless phones and answering machines sold in the U.S. in the next ten years were Energy Star-certified, consumers would save $4.4 billion in electricity bills.

Replacing a single incandescent light bulb with a compact fluorescent bulb saves more than $50 in energy costs and reduces carbon dioxide emissions by nearly half a ton.

Recycling two gallons of used motor oil provides enough electricity to cook 48 meals in a microwave oven.

Skylights make it more difficult for your air conditioner to cool your house; a two-by-four-foot clear glass skylight requires 240 extra kilowatt hours of electricity every year, enough to run the average television.

The Department of Energy has introduced an initiative to encourage the installation of solar energy systems on one million roofs by 2010. If successful, it will reduce carbon emissions every year by an amount equal to that produced by 850,000 cars.

Compared with the average car, an SUV getting 13 miles a gallon wastes as much energy each year as leaving a bathroom light on for 30 years.

Underinflated car tires reduce fuel efficiency, wasting up to two billion gallons of gasoline a year.