Our current energy consumption trends and environmental impacts are not sustainable. The United States has about 4% of the worlds population, yet we produce 26% of the hydro-carbons. As many more people in the world are adopting a life style similar to ours, it is abundantly clear the patterns of global behavior must change.

It requires that we all make change -- we each have a responsibility to reduce our energy consumption and environmental impacts. The good news is that each of us has the power to make a difference and it starts with change - changes made at home.

Consider that:

- Buildings consume 40 percent of the nearly 100 quadrillion Btus (quads) of energy the United States consumes annually.

- 71% of the electricity and 53% of the natural gas used in the United States go into buildings.

- The United States is a major and growing, net importer of energy. Our energy demands from foreign sources has more than doubled in the last 20 years.

- Energy consumption in the United States is continuing to increase against a backdrop of dwindling supplies.

- India has a middle class population of 350 million, larger then the entire population of the U.S. Many of these people can now afford to buy the Nano (a $2500 USD car from Tata) for the very first time.

- Energy demands from China are increasing at astounding rates. China's energy consumption has more then doubled in less than a decade. China has emerged from being a net oil exporter in the 1990's to become the world's third largest net importer of oil in 2006. They have recently taken the crown as the world's leading energy consumer, according to the IEA and this happened 5 years earlier then expected. Last year, China also passed the U.S. as the biggest auto market by the number of vehicles sold.

- It is estimated that the earth can only sustain 1 billion people who consume energy and pollute at the levels that we do in the United States. The worlds population is currently 6.76 billion people and is expected to rise significantly over the next decades.

- The air outside in many cases is cleaner than the air in our homes. The United States has an asthma rate that is almost 10 times that of China.

- Scientists agree that the environment is in peril if we don't reduce our CO2 emissions.

- You can make a difference!