Survey: Green Actions Should be Cheap and Easy
In a survey commissioned by Green Mountain Energy Company and conducted by Harris Interactive®, 88 percent of U.S. adult respondents said they would be willing to make changes to be more environmentally friendly as long as it didn't cost a lot of money, and 83 percent would be willing to make changes if they were easy.
Adults also were asked which energy-saving habits they would be absolutely unwilling to adopt on a regular basis; more than three-fourths (77 percent) indicated they would be unwilling to adopt certain energy-saving habits, including:
• 39 percent would be unwilling to ride a bicycle instead of using their car
• 32 percent would be unwilling to regularly use public transportation
• 21 percent would be unwilling to carpool
• 19 percent would be unwilling to open windows instead of using air conditioning
• 16 percent would be unwilling to unplug household appliances when not in use
• 11 percent would be unwilling to use less water
In Texas, adults were particularly unwilling to make changes to their transportation-related habits, with two-thirds (67 percent) indicating they would be unwilling to adopt changes to the way they get around town. Nearly half (46 percent) said they're unwilling to ride a bicycle instead of using their car, and more than one-third (37 percent) said they're unwilling to use public transportation on a regular basis.
"By taking steps to conserve energy, consumers can also reduce the pollution caused by their household and their individual actions," said Paul Markovich, senior vice president of Residential Services for Green Mountain. "In fact, the survey revealed that about half of all U.S. adults mistakenly believe automobile emissions are the leading cause of air pollution. Only about one in five knows that the leading cause of industrial air pollution is actually from electricity generation by power plants using fossil fuels."
The Green Mountain-sponsored survey also revealed that 2 percent of consumers do not believe their individual actions make a real impact on the environment. "Choosing clean electricity made from non-polluting resources, such as wind and water, is one of the easiest things a household can do to help reduce its footprint on the environment," Markovich said.