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ENERGY STAR Helps Change Military Light Bulbs and Recycle Old Refrigerators

Efforts aim to cut energy costs for military and civilian residents.

May 2008

Logo for ENERGY STAR Operation Change Out Military Challenge with a red, white, and blue compact fluorescent bulb on a black background

Two ENERGY STAR® campaigns continue the push to reduce energy use and energy bills while reducing greenhouse gases.

Operation Change Out Facilitates Efficient Lighting at Military Bases

In honor of Earth Day, the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) and the U.S. Department of Defense announced a new ENERGY STAR campaign called Operation Change Out. The campaign will challenge military bases across the country to install ENERGY STAR-qualified compact fluorescent lamps (CFLs) in their on-base housing. State energy offices are being encouraged to support the bases in this effort.

Secretary of Energy Samuel Bodman announced the new campaign at Camp Lejeune − a Marine Corps base near Jacksonville, North Carolina − as he installed the last of the 17,500 CFLs that have been placed in the camp's military houses. The new CFLs at Camp Lejeune will prevent more than 7.5 million pounds of carbon dioxide emissions while saving nearly 5 million kilowatt-hours of electricity and at least $500,000 on energy bills over the lifetime of the bulbs.

There are more than 200 military facilities throughout the United States; changing one incandescent light bulb to a CFL in every on-base housing unit could prevent emissions of more than 95 million pounds of carbon dioxide and would cut nearly $7 million in energy costs over the lifetime of the bulbs.

CFLs consume 75% less energy, produce 75% less heat, and last up to 15 times longer than standard incandescent light bulbs.

See the DOE press release and the Operation Change Out Web site.

Logo for ENERGY STAR Recycle My Fridge Campaign with ENERGY STAR symbol, recycling symbol, and type all reversed white out of blue background

Recycle My Old Fridge Campaign

An old fridge is an inefficient fridge. There are more than 47 million refrigerators more than 10 years old in the United States, costing consumers $4.7 billion a year in energy costs. DOE is addressing this problem with the ENERGY STAR Recycle My Old Fridge Campaign.

The campaign aims to permanently remove old refrigerators from the electrical supply grid and, when necessary, replace them with new ENERGY STAR-qualified models.

The ENERGY STAR models must be at least 20% more efficient than the minimum federal standard. According to DOE projections, if everyone purchasing a refrigerator in 2008 chose a model that meets the new ENERGY STAR criteria, consumers would save more than $92 million in energy bills each year and prevent the equivalent of 1.38 billion pounds of carbon dioxide emissions each year − about the same effect as taking 122,000 cars off the road.

This nationwide campaign to reach consumers is possible through the efforts of retailers, manufacturers, energy efficiency program sponsors, recyclers, and government officials.

For more information, see the Recycle My Old Fridge campaign Web site. State energy offices can participate by visiting the toolkits page and downloading the government sector toolkit, campaign posters, fliers, a Web button, and more. State energy offices are strongly encouraged to include a link to the campaign site on their own Web sites.

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