| According to The Wall Street Journal, the U.S. goes through 100 billion plastic shopping bags annually, costing retailers about $4 billion a year. An estimated 12 million barrels of oil are required to make that many plastic bags. |
| The greatest shallow-water offshore wind energy potential in the U.S. - which is 1,000 gigawatts of electricity, or one quarter of national demand - lies off the Atlantic Coast, reports the Interior Department. |
| According to a McKinsey & Company report, through energy efficiency measures, the U.S. has the potential to reduce annual non-transportation energy consumption by roughly 23% by 2020 - the equivalent of taking the entire U.S. fleet of passenger vehicles and light trucks off the roads. |
More Facts:
Earth tilts 23.5 degrees on its axis, causing our seasonal weather variations.
More than 11 million species live on the planet.
Human have named about 1.7 million.
Oceans cover 70% of Earth's surface.
Forests harbor 80% of Earth's biodiversity.
The last decade had the highest average temperatures on record.
More than 70 million barrels of crude oil are produced a day.
Every square mile of ocean contains 46,000 pieces of plastic trash.
Known species extinctions since 1500? 869
Ocean temperatures have risen 1.4 degrees since 1970.
In the last 8,000 years Earth has lost 11,000 square miles of forest.
Renewable energy provides 8% of total U.S. energy.
Other sources: petroleum 37%, natural gas 25%, coal 21%, nuclear 9%
Sources of greenhouse gases: electric power 25%, transportation 27%, industry 20%, agriculture 7%, commercial 6%, residential 5%
World oil consumption grew 401% from 21.3 million to 85.5 million barrels a day since 1960.
Average U.S. house size grew from 983 sq. ft. in 1950 to 2.377 sq. ft. in 2010.
Home size peaked in 2007 at 2,521 sq. ft.
Ozone hole is at its smallest since 2004, due to reduced chlorofluorocarbon usage.
The Average American accounted for 17.7 metric tons of carbon dioxide in 2009, (4 time the world average).
Soot reduction is needed to halt warming enough to preserve Earth's polar ice cap.
U.S. investment in solar power lowered the cost of clean, renewable energy. This includes off-shore wind farms.
Buy meat from sustainably raised animals eases environmental stress.
Lower hot water heater temperature to 120 degrees will eliminate wasted energy.
Using wood-burning fireplace and/or stove only on special occasions will reduce polluting both inside and outside air.
Reducing time in shower by 5 minutes saves 25 gallons of water a day.
Loading dirty dishes without rinsing saves up to 20 gallons of water per load.
Adding native plants to garden: Need less fertilizer and water.
90% = amount of energy saved washing clothes with cold water.
Banking online saves paper.
http://energysavers.gov = Department of Energy's tips on maximizing energy efficiency while saving money!
Resoureced http://aarp.org/bulletin April, 2011
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