Screw in a Light Bulb

It seems October 1st was Energy Star Change a Light Day.

EPA’s Energy Star program is expanding the call for conservation with a new campaign encouraging people to save more, in addition to changing their light bulbs. So far, more than 1.8 million Americans have already pledged to change at least one light at home to an Energy Star-qualified light. That means a total savings of $220 million dollars and prevention of 3 billion pounds of greenhouse gases.

The agency estimates that if every American household took part in the pledge, we would save more than 110 billion kilowatt hours of electricity, more than $18 billion in annual energy costs, and prevent greenhouse gases equivalent to the emissions of more than 18 million cars.

Related: Earlier this week, Christine MacDonald, (author of the just-published "Green, Inc., An Environmental Insider Reveals How a Good Cause Has Gone Bad” ) wrote on Boston.com's Green Blog about the problem with Energy Star. Today, she has a follow-up.

My 2c worth: Nothing's perfect and there is green-washing all around us... but all that does NOT take away from the importance of focusing on and taking active interest in controlling energy consumption, pollution, and fighting climate change.