Earth Day Turns 40!

The following is reprinted from the Wall Street Journal.

APRIL 17, 2010
Milestones in Green Consuming
From the new-car lot to the recycling bin
By WILLA PLANK

Since the first Earth Day, consumers increasingly have sought out products or services that promise to improve the environment. This has helped bring us automobiles that burn less gasoline and light bulbs and appliances that use less electricity. And it has ushered in programs that seek to recycle more of our waste.

Here's a look at a handful of milestones in the history of green consuming.

Fuel Economy

In 1973, U.S. cars averaged 13 miles per gallon of gas, according to the Department of Transportation. After the 1973-74 Arab oil embargo, the government began setting fuel-economy standards to get auto makers to make more fuel-efficient vehicles—and to get consumers to buy them. Now each new car and truck sold in the U.S. bears a sticker showing its estimated city and highway gas mileage—figures that have been an important part of many consumers' vehicle-buying decisions.

For the 2011 model year, the federal standard requires each auto makers' vehicles to average at least 27.3 mpg; that will rise to 35.5 mpg in 2016.

Recycling

One of the first targets of green consumers was garbage—specifically, all the cans, bottles and newspapers that could be recycled instead of dumped in landfills. A few cities in California and the Northeast had curbside recycling programs in the mid-1970s. By 1978, there were more than 200 curbside recycling programs, says Martin Melosi, author of books on urban environmental history. As of 2008, there were more than 8,600 programs, the Environmental Protection Agency says.

At first, the programs recycled mainly old newspapers; plastics and cans were added to the mix during the 1970s. More recently, some programs, including San Francisco's, have added food waste, which gets composted.

Compact Fluorescent Light Bulbs

The first CFL was sold in the U.S. as early as 1980, in response to demand for energy-efficient lighting after the 1970s energy crises. But they didn't make a splash in the market until the late 1990s, when prices began to fall. An Energy Star-qualified bulb today, which costs from $1 to $3 more than comparable incandescent bulbs, use 75% less energy and lasts 10 times as long. An Energy Star CFL now will pay for itself in about six months.

Congress has required older incandescent bulbs to be phased out by 2012, but CFLs may prove to be only an interim answer to more efficient lighting from fixtures using light-emitting diodes or even advanced incandescent bulbs.

Energy Star

The Energy Star program was introduced in 1992 by the EPA to increase the energy efficiency of household products and appliances and reduce their greenhouse-gas emissions. (A typical house produces twice the greenhouse emissions of a car.) The first targets were computers and monitors. Today, the program covers more than 60 kinds of products, including televisions, washing machines and furnaces.

To qualify for Energy Star certification, a product has to be more energy-efficient—10% to 80% more efficient, depending on the item—than the federal minimum for its category. Since 2000, consumers have purchased three billion Energy Star products, according to the EPA. And the agency estimates that the products saved U.S. consumers $17 billion on their energy bills last year.

Hybrid Vehicles

In 1999, Honda Motor Co. introduced the first hybrid gas-electric vehicle in the U.S., the Insight. A year later, Toyota Motor Corp. followed with the Prius, whose distinctive hatchback shape (starting with the 2004 model) has become an emblem of green driving. The Prius is the most fuel-efficient car sold in the U.S, with an EPA combined fuel-economy rating of 50 mpg. Last year, Toyota sold nearly 140,000 Priuses in the U.S.

Ford Motor Co., General Motors Co., BMW AG and others have also joined the hybrid parade. Still, the category makes up only about 3% of the light-vehicle market.

Ms. Plank is a staff reporter for The Wall Street Journal in New York. She can be reached at willa.plank@wsj.com