Make energy efficiency your National Green Week theme!
Once you're signed up, visit the How to Participate section to make the most of your initiatives!
Background
The Green Energy Challenge calls on schools across the nation to improve their energy efficiency through simple changes of behavior. This K-12 sustainability education program empowers children to take small steps that can have a big collective impact on our environment, our economy, and our societies. By improving the energy efficiency of schools, districts can cut costs without cutting corners. The U.S. Department of Energy estimates that schools could save up to 50% of their energy costs by adopting fairly simple energy-saving measures and renovations. Some estimates suggest that a 25% reduction in energy costs would save $1.5 billion! These savings could fund 30,000 new teacher salaries, 40 million textbooks or hundreds of thousands of computers. Participation is easy! Sign-up by registering for free as a GEF Member and selecting Green Energy Challenge in the programs checklist.
Consider these statistics:
- The U.S. is the number one trash producing country in the world at 1,609 pounds per person/per year
- Paper products make up the largest part of our trash (approximately 40%)
- Every ton of recycled office paper saves 380 gallons of oil
- Energy saved from one recycled aluminum can will operate a TV set for 3 hours, and is the equivalent to half a can of gasoline
- Glass is one of the very few products that can be completely recycled again and again. However, if it ends up in a landfill it will never decompose
- Plastic bags and other plastic thrown into the ocean kills as many as 1,000,000 sea creatures every year
