The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency this week challenged commercial and institutional building owners to improve energy efficiency by 10 percent or more to conserve energy, save money and protect the environment.

More than 20 states, groups, and businesses, including Pennsylvania, have joined EPA to issue the Energy Star Challenge, which calls on building owners to assess energy usage, set efficiency improvement goals of 10 percent or greater, and make cost-effective improvements.

Commercial and institutional buildings use about $80 billion worth of energy each year and contribute about 20 percent of U.S. greenhouse gas emissions. EPA estimates that if each building owner met the challenge, in 10 years they would reduce greenhouse gas emissions equivalent to the emissions from 15 million cars while saving about $10 billion each year.

EPA offers its national building energy performance rating system to support this challenge. This rating system has already been used to assess the energy efficiency of almost 20,000 buildings across the country.

For more information, visit the Energy Star webpage or call toll-free 1-888-STAR-YES (1-888-782-7937).

3/18/2005