Selecting Energy Star-certified products for dorm rooms can save you cash
MINNEAPOLIS -- Some parents and students may have some back-to-school items on your shopping list. If so, you may be able to have a positive impact on the environment as you cross those items off.
With more learning being conducted online, smart energy choices matter more than ever. Using less energy not only lowers your energy bill, it reduces the need for electricity produced from the burning of fossil fuels, which means choosing Energy Star-certified products when back-to-school shopping will help to cut emissions and energy costs-so you can save money and the climate this semester.
Consider these climate-friendly back to school recommendations from Energy Star.
It starts with the basics: keeping the lights on. Energy efficient lighting uses up to 90% less energy and can last up to 15 times longer than traditional bulbs.
A single light bulb that has earned the Energy Star prevents, on average, 780 pounds of greenhouse gas emissions over its lifetime.
Think about the essentials, like computers. They're necessary for many but they have a big impact on the environment. Choosing an Energy Star-certified model, you'll use 20% less energy with a notebook and 40% less with a desktop.
Another way to put it -- if all computers sold in the U.S. were Energy Star-certified, more than 3 billion pounds of greenhouse gas emissions would be prevented-equivalent to the emissions from nearly 350,000 vehicles.
Energy Star printers and scanners are up to 35% more efficient than standard models, using far fewer resources.
If you're splurging on soundbars or speaker docks, the certified stuff is up to 70% more efficient than conventional models. And Energy Star decorative string lights use 70% less energy than incandescent string lights.
