This holiday shopping season, consider gift options that give more! EPA is recommending numerous ENERGY STAR gift-giving ideas that will help your friends and family give back to the environment and make an important difference in the fight against global warming—all while saving money. The typical household spends more than $2,200 a year on energy bills, and with ENERGY STAR, you can save more than 30 percent, or about $700. Over the lifetime of ENERGY STAR products, a household can reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 120,000 lbs and save more than $10,000 in energy costs.
Read on below for ideas on how to incorporate energy savings into your holiday season:
Home Electronics
Office Products
Power Tools and Appliances
Fun Holiday Ideas
December Travels
Get Comfy Indoors
Wrap It Up
Home Electronics
If a television, DVD player, stereo, or cordless phone is on your list, looking for the ENERGY STAR is “on the money,” since EPA points you to the most energy-efficient product models. Today’s ENERGY STAR qualified TVs meet new, stricter requirements and offer up to 30 percent energy savings over standard models. An ENERGY STAR qualified TV uses less energy when it is both on and in standby mode. Also look for the ENERGY STAR on the external power adapters that come with cell phones, cameras, and MP3 players for more energy-saving gifts!
Office Products
This holiday, help someone get a home office up and running with ENERGY STAR qualified office products. The ENERGY STAR label is on a number of office products from computers and monitors to fax machines, printers, and copiers—everything you need to make a home office work energy efficiently. Make sure you remind your gift recipient to keep the power management features enabled on the new computer or monitor. Power management places computers and monitors into a low-power “sleep mode” when not in use and allows them to awaken within seconds, saving more than $25 per year. You can save even more by plugging electronics into a power strip and turning the strip off when not in use.
Power Tools and Appliances
For that handyman or handywoman on your list, consider power tools with ENERGY STAR battery chargers, which means that they are the most efficient available. EPA now qualifies products from popular brands such as Black & Decker, Makita, Bosch, and others. You can also choose from a number of other ENERGY STAR gifts such as appliances—clothes washers, dishwashers, refrigerators—and residential lighting, such as ceiling and wall fixtures, table lamps, and more.
Fun Holiday Ideas
Decorate your home or tree with more style and less energy by using ENERGY STAR qualified decorative light strings. Featuring LED technology, qualified light strings use 75 percent less electricity than conventional incandescent light strings; are available in a variety of colors, shapes, and lengths; are more durable and shock-resistant than other light strings; and emit less heat.
Smaller, less expensive gifts can make surprising stocking stuffers! An ENERGY STAR compact fluorescent light bulb (CFL) is a unique gift if you want to get someone started on energy savings. You’d also never expect to think about caulk and weather-stripping as gifts, but these useful energy-saving home project ideas are perfect to protect against the winter chill.
December Travels
If you are going to be staying in a hotel this holiday season, consider staying at one of the more than 400 hotels nationwide that have earned the ENERGY STAR for superior energy efficiency. If your hotel has earned the ENERGY STAR, its energy performance rates in the top 25 percent of hotels nationwide. You can even look for the ENERGY STAR label on buildings where you shop for gifts or groceries!
Get Comfy Indoors
Give yourself the gift of a more comfortable home: Seal & Insulate with ENERGY STAR. Cold air leaking into your home around windows, doors, electrical outlets, light fixtures, and gaps in corners can cause rooms to feel drafty and uncomfortable. Properly sealing and insulating your home can help stop drafts and improve the comfort of your home during windy winter months. Read EPA’s DIY Guide to Sealing & Insulating with ENERGY STAR to learn how to get started, and save 30 percent with a tax credit in 2009 and 2010.
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