The way to achieve endependence, energy independence that ends dependence on polluting fuels, is for the people, businesses and government to work together.

Here is an example of our new President’s understanding of this reality:

Obama announced he had signed a presidential memorandum directing the Energy Department to get moving on energy standards for appliances, including a first batch he will order to be finalized by August. The fact that Obama is getting directly involved in speeding up household appliance standards underscores how much he wants to show quick, clear progress on energy — part of a broader campaign promise to deal with economic and energy concerns all at once.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090205/ap_on_go_pr_wh/obama_energy

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We’re not talking about saving your own energy by being a couch potato, we’re talking about watching a television that uses less energy, an Energy Star rated television.

Energy Star was introduced by EPA in 1992 as a voluntary, market-based partnership to reduce greenhouse gas emissions through energy efficiency.

http://www.enctoday.com/news/energy_52563_kfpress__article.html/star_tvs.html

Here is the link to the Energy Star Products page where you can research all types of products and find the ones which are Energy Star rated.  This falls in the area of personal responsibility, choosing products that use less energy.

http://www.energystar.gov/index.cfm?fuseaction=find_a_product.showProductGroup&pgw_code=TV

Here is the list of Energy Star Televisions (EXCEL Spreadsheet)

http://downloads.energystar.gov/bi/qplist/tv_prod_list.xls

Estimates are that America would reduce our energy consumption by 30% if we switched to more energy efficient equipment and appliances.    Energy Star rated appliances (even Televisions) are a great step on the road to endependence, energy independence that ends dependence on polluting fuels.