Americans, with the help of Energy Star™, saved enough energy in 2005 alone to avoid greenhouse gas emissions equivalent to those from 23 million cars — all while saving $12 billion on their utility bills.

In most households, the refrigerator is the single biggest energy consuming kitchen appliance. Replacing a refrigerator bought in 1990 with a new Energy Star™ qualified model would save enough energy to light the average household for more than four and a half months.

The average home has roughly two TVs, a VCR, a DVD player and three telephones. If these items were replaced with Energy Star™ models, it would save over 25 billion pounds of greenhouse gas emissions, the equivalent to taking over 3 million cars off the road.

If just one in 10 homes used Energy Star™ qualified appliances, the change would be like planting 1.7 million new acres of trees.

The average family spends $1,900 a year on energy bills, nearly half of which goes to heating and cooling.