As Summer Heat Waves Increase Energy Bills, 'Smart' Home Energy-Efficiency Makeover Offers Consumers Year-Round Energy, Environmental $avings

As Summer Heat Waves Increase Energy Bills, 'Smart' Home Energy-Efficiency Makeover Offers Consumers Year-Round Energy, Environmental $avings

- One Homeowner Who Enters by August 31 Gets Makeover From SCI FI Channel, Alliance to Save Energy, EEI -

- http://www.scifi.com/homemakeover -

WASHINGTON, Aug. 22 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- As summer heat waves across the country increase air conditioning use and drive energy bills higher, the Alliance to Save Energy, the Edison Electric Institute (EEI), and NBC Universal's SCI FI Channel's innovative energy-efficiency campaign offers consumers an array of energy-efficiency low-tech and high-tech money-saving tips, surprising energy facts, and a national contest for a home energy- efficiency makeover.

As part of the Eureka $mart House Energy-Efficiency Challenge -- http://www.scifi.com/homemakeover -- one lucky homeowner who enters by the August 31 deadline will win a home energy-efficiency makeover that will make his/her home "smarter." The winner will be chosen in September and the makeover, which will be documented on the contest website with photos, will be conducted during October's Energy Awareness Month.

SCI FI Channel is promoting the campaign on air and online as part of its second season of Eureka, a town of geniuses and their families where the lead characters live in a "Smart House" -- the impetus for the overall energy- efficiency home makeover.

The Alliance to Save Energy and its partners note, "All of us can make our homes 'smarter' with today's energy-efficiency technologies and products that do the work for us -- reduce monthly energy bills, energy waste, pollution, and greenhouse gas emissions simultaneously."

Other partners in this national media partnership include the U.S. Department of Energy, the American Gas Association, the Consumer Electronics Association, Whirlpool Corporation, OSRAM Sylvania, The Dow Chemical Company, CMC Energy Services, and the Air-Conditioning and Refrigeration Institute.

Based on an energy audit, the grand prize winner could receive the following energy-efficiency makeover improvements of up to $25,000 to create a "smarter" home:

-- Overall energy audit to identify energy problems and document what
might be undertaken to make the home more energy-efficient by CMC
Energy Services;
-- Whirlpool ENERGY STAR-labeled kitchen and laundry appliances;
-- Computer and energy-efficient electronics and wiring of the home by
Consumer Electronics Association and its member companies;
-- Energy-efficient compact fluorescent lighting by OSRAM Sylvania;
-- Sealing of all air leaks by The Dow Chemical Company; and
-- Appropriate insulation for the winner's particular climate, as well as
a programmable thermostat, low-flow shower head, faucet aerators,
ventilating fan, and much more.

Contestants are asked to answer a few energy-oriented questions about their homes and write a brief essay about their deservedness for an energy- efficiency home makeover. After submitting their entry, they are encouraged to go to the 6 Degree of Energy Efficiency Challenge website http://www.sixdegreechallenge.org/ to "Test Their Energy IQ" and take the 6 Degree Challenge by committing to at least one tangible energy-efficiency action and encouraging others to do the same. The 6 Degree Challenge interactive social website was developed last year by the Alliance and more than 30 other nonprofit and profit partners. The Alliance has made SCI FI Channel a partner in the challenge.

The Alliance to Save Energy has had an existing partnership with SCI FI since last year on the channel's Visions for Tomorrow public affairs campaign focused on energy and the Alliance's award-winning Super Powers TV PSAs, http://www.ase.org/superpowers, which feature a family of Super Heroes and encourage viewers to "Discover Your Own Energy-$aving Super Powers" and Project Super Powers, http://www.projectsuperpowers.com/, where people can name their Super Heroes and their energy-saving Super Powers. That partnership has been expanded and extended through the new focused energy-efficiency campaign and home makeover contest.

The Alliance to Save Energy is a coalition of prominent business, government, environmental, and consumer leaders who promote the efficient and clean use of energy worldwide to benefit consumers, the environment, economy, and national security.

Source: Alliance to Save Energy

CONTACT: Rozanne Weissman of the Alliance to Save Energy,
+1-202-530-2217, rweissman@ase.org

Web site:

http://www.ase.org/
http://www.scifi.com/homemakeover
http://www.sixdegreechallenge.org/
http://www.projectsuperpowers.com/

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