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Most Americans Don't Get Connection Between Electricity, Climate Change

Posted on: Thursday, 1 February 2007, 09:01 CST

As the world awaits tomorrow's release of the highly anticipated "Climate Change 2007" report from Paris, new research commissioned by EnviroMedia Social Marketing indicates most Americans don't understand the connection between their own electricity use and global warming.

"More Americans have no idea what fuels their electricity than those who can name any particular source -- either correctly or incorrectly," said EnviroMedia CEO Valerie Davis. "If you don't know leaving the lights on likely means you're burning more coal than you need to, you probably don't realize just how much your household decisions contribute to global warming."

EnviroMedia's survey, conducted by Opinion Research Corporation January 11-14, asked 1,015 Americans, "When you turn on your light switch, what fuel is the source of your electricity?" Thirty-five percent said they don't know, while another 23 percent simply said their electricity comes from electricity or the electric company. Only 16 percent cited coal, America's primary fuel source for electricity.

"The disparity between awareness of coal as a source of electricity and the fact that half our electricity in the U.S. is powered by coal is pretty telling," said EnviroMedia President Kevin Tuerff. "We realize that coal's an abundant and relatively inexpensive fuel source, but Americans must do more to slow global warming by wasting less electricity and choosing renewable power when they can."

Below is a comparison between what powers electricity in U.S. homes, according to the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), and what electricity fuel sources Americans were able to cite in the EnviroMedia survey:

50 percent of our electricity is powered by coal; 16 percent of Americans cited coal as their fuel source;

19 percent comes from natural gas; 7 percent cited natural gas;

19 percent is fueled by nuclear power; 7 percent cited nuclear power; and

9 percent comes from hydroelectric and other renewable energy sources; 12 percent cited renewables.

"When Americans became aware of lead's health effects, we moved toward fueling our cars with unleaded gas," said U.S. Congressman Lloyd Doggett (Texas), a senior member of the Ways and Means Committee and the Budget Committee. "We need the same type of action on dirty coal. With the looming threat of global warming, we must actively pursue cleaner, renewable sources for electricity."

Willingness to Use CFLs High

On the positive side, EnviroMedia's research indicated most Americans are willing to phase in compact fluorescent light bulbs (CFLs) or are already using them. When it was explained that CFLs cost significantly more than traditional incandescent bulbs but cut electricity consumption and emissions of greenhouse gases, 30 percent said they'd be willing to phase in CFLs as the other bulbs burn out, and a surprising 31 percent said they are already using CFLs.

According to the DOE's Energy Star "Change a Light, Change the World" campaign, changing just one light bulb with a CFL in every American home would prevent greenhouse gases equivalent to the emissions of nearly 800,000 cars.

"In addition to conservation, other ways to avoid greenhouse gas emissions in the household include choosing green power if available in your community or demanding from government and utilities that more of American electricity is powered by renewables such as solar, wind, water and farm methane," said Davis.

As climate change continues to generate a groundswell of attention, "reducing your carbon footprint" is receiving more attention as a way to compensate for generating greenhouse gas emissions. For example, Al Gore's Academy-Award-nominated An Inconvenient Truth documentary is featured on www.climatecrisis.org. The site allows visitors to calculate "your personal impact" and compensate for the carbon dioxide emitted by purchasing carbon credits that help build renewable energy projects.

Based in Austin, Texas, EnviroMedia Social Marketing is the nation's only communications firm that works solely on environmental and public health campaigns. The agency is committed to the principles of a carbon-free business through its partners at www.carbonfree.org. EnviroMedia celebrates its 10th anniversary February 10, 2007.

Source: Business Wire

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