“Save 1,000 Euros of electricity” campaign
Oeko-Institut and the sustainability platform Utopia are today launching the campaign “Save 1,000 Euros of electricity!” under the slogan “Energy transformation – we’re getting started”. The initiative is informing citizens about high saving potentials in their own home and seeking electricity savers all over Germany.
Using simple and low-cost measures, an average two-person household can reduce an electricity consumption of 3,440 kilowatt hours by approx. 1,000 kilowatt hours a year. In this way the household decreases its electricity costs by approx. 250 Euro in a year and 1,250 Euro in five years. To achieve this, the household only has to spend approx. 200–250 Euro on compact electricity-saving products. The electricity price increases that have been announced can be more than equalised as a result.
“We want to motivate as many people as possible to start looking for power guzzlers in their own homes,” says Dr. Dietlinde Quack, project leader at Oeko-Institut. “Whether they’re shower heads, kettles or switchable multi-socket outlets, the measures are moderate, yet the gains are great. With a little bit of effort and and a few investments a normal household can easily save 1,000 Euro (net) in five years.”
Join in the personal energy transformation!
The goal of the initiative is for as many german households as possible to reduce their electricity consumption – by 1,000 kilowatt hours a year or at least by ten per cent of their previous year’s consumption. Everyone can take part: just register at www.ecotopten.de/1000 or www.utopia.de/1000 and enter your electricity consumption from the previous year and you can save electricity over the next two years.
Oeko-Institut is providing all participants with a number of helpful information leaflets and electricity-saving tips. In addition, participants can enter regular prize draws and share their experiences in their “year of electricity saving” on a blog on Utopia’s website (utopia.de). Successful households will have a chance to win cash and non-cash prizes, including ten prizes of 1,000 Euro.
“Since it was decided last year that nuclear energy is to be phased out in Germany, we have seen an increasing interest amongst many people to make their own contribution,” says Dr. Meike Gebhard, a member of Utopia’s executive board. “With the help of our initiative everyone can now bring about their own personal energy transformation. Together we’re getting started!”
Simple measures, low investments
Electricity can be saved with a few low-investment measures and compact products (e.g. power strips with auto-switching, timer-switches, LEDs, energy-saving shower heads). Dietlinde Quack stresses the appeal of the measures: “Once you’ve installed the compact products, you save electricity and money without needing to invest more time and with the same level of comfort.”
“And even if you don’t win a prize, everyone is a winner with this initiative,” says Dietlinde Quack, “because every successful household has already won 1,000 Euro – through electricity saving alone.”
“Energy transformation” initiative within the scope of EcoTopTen
The initiative “Energy transformation – we’re getting started!” is part of Öko-Institut’s EcoTopTen initiative. EcoTopTen is a major campaign initiated by Oeko-Institut for sustainable consumption and product innovations in the mass market. At regular intervals the EcoTopTen researchers recommend a selection of high-value products which have a reasonable price/performance ratio and all of which are top-quality products from an environmental perspective.
Market overviews and product recommendations can be found online at: www.ecotopten.de.
The “Energy transformation” initiative is supported within the framework of the National Climate Initiative of the German Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety (BMU) and advertised throughout Germany. It is part of BMU’s electricity-saving initiative www.die-stromsparinitiative.de).
The main sponsors of the prize draws are Deutsche Telekom AG and Saturn GmbH. Many other cooperation and media partners are supporting the initiative: the energy provider Polarstern, Badenova AG, the co2online campaign „Climate seeks protection”, the Wirtschaftswoche-online, ZEIT ONLINE, the municipality of Denzlingen, the magazines “Schrot und Korn” and “Sozialcourage” as well as diverse climate protection portals.
Further information on the campaign and registration can be found at: www.ecotopten.de/1000 and www.utopia.de/1000
Diagrams on saving potentials of different household appliances (in German only)
Recent Oeko-Institut projects on climate protection and electricity prices
Oeko-Institut’s report “Energy-efficient climate protection of products” (in German only)
Contact at Oeko-Institut
Dr. Rainer Grießhammer
Member of the Executive Board
Oeko-Institut (Institute for Applied Ecology), Freiburg Head Office
Phone: ++49 761 45295-250
Email: r.griesshammer@oeko.de
Dr. Dietlinde Quack
Project leader of the EcoTopTen campaign and Group Leader for Consumption
in the Sustainable Products & Material Flows Division
Oeko-Institut (Institute for Applied Ecology), Freiburg Head Office
Phone: ++49 761 45295-248
Email: d.quack@oeko.de
Tobias Schleicher
Researcher in the Sustainable Products & Material Flows Division
Oeko-Institut (Institute for Applied Ecology), Freiburg Head Office
Phone: +49 761 45295-277
Email: t.schleicher@oeko.de
Contact at Utopia
Maria Hahn
Utopia AG, Munich, Germany
Phone: +49 89 990196 - 55
Email: mh@utopia.de
Oeko-Institut is a leading independent European research and consultancy institute working for a sustainable future. Founded in 1977, the institute develops principles and strategies for ways in which the vision of sustainable development can be realised globally, nationally and locally. It has offices in three cities in Germany: Freiburg, Darmstadt and Berlin.
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Utopia AG operates the leading web portal for strategic consumption and sustainable lifestyle for German-speaking readers (www.utopia.de). Utopia provides consumers with information and guidance, and helps them to make their way-of-life more sustainable. Furthermore Utopia is promoting the dialogue process between consumers, companies and policy on social ways for bringing about more sustainability. With over 70,000 registered members, Utopia is the largest community in this field.
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