In the United States, energy-related carbon emissions rose for the fifth straight year in 1997. Emissions, from the use of fossil fuels alone, have increased more than 10 percent since 1990. It's a wake up call to curtail our energy consumption in America; one that Pennsylvania is aggressively addressing.

To fully understand the relationship between energy efficiency and pollution prevention, we must first consider the environmental repercussions wrought by the impact of a few burning light bulbs. A reduction of 10,000 kilowatt hours a year equals turning off 11 100-watt light bulbs for a year, puts an additional $800 cash into your pocket and saves our atmosphere 7.5 tons of carbon dioxide, 154 pounds of sulfur dioxide and 55 pounds of nitrogen oxides! That same reduction of 10,000 kilowatt hours a year conserves 18 barrels of crude oil, conserves 4.7 tons of coal, saves 2.9 acres of trees and is the same as removing 1.4 cars from the road!

One Pennsylvania company that effectively dealt with its energy efficiency problems is Unisys Corporation, located in Blue Bell, Montgomery County.  The HVAC chillers were replaced and the regulated CFC refrigerants were substituted with a more environmentally sound HCFC refrigerant.  Controls were installed which permit reduced energy usage during low demand periods and automatically permit outside air to be used for heating/cooling when appropriate.  The financial benefits included $872,600 in energy savings, waste reductions of 9.9 million kilowatts per year and, because of their recycling efforts, all remaining solid waste at the plant was converted to energy.