Get Green and Save with Appliance Recycling

Recycling your old refrigerator or freezer is not only one of the most effective ways to save money and energy – it also has big benefits for the environment.

Did you know:

• Older refrigerators and freezers typically use two to four times more energy than today’s high-efficiency models, so upgrading from an older model to an energy-efficient one can reduce your associated energy costs by 50-75% – as much as $150 annually*
• Operating two refrigerators can account for more than 20% of home energy consumption, especially if the second unit isn’t kept full to help it operate as efficiently as possible
• Recycling a single 20-year-old refrigerator can result in 120 pounds of steel, 20 pounds of plastic and 3 pounds of glass recycled for reuse, while keeping up to 10 tons of ozone-depleting substances out of the air – that’s as much as keeping two cars off the road for a year*

Our Appliance Recycling program makes it easy for our customers in Maryland to safely and responsibly dispose of select appliances. We’ll haul away and recycle your old, working refrigerator or freezer at no cost – and even send you a $50 check.

You can schedule a pickup and get details online, or call 1-877-395-5540 today. And when you’re ready to purchase a new appliance, be sure to check out our Appliance Rebates program for savings on a variety of energy-efficient appliances.

*Sources: ENERGY STAR, U.S. Dept. of Energy

Get Free Energy-Saving Trees

Pepco and the Arbor Day Foundation are offering free trees to help you conserve energy. Trees are available on a first-come, first-serve basis from March 20 through June 6, while supplies last. Distribution is limited to two, 2-to-4 foot trees per customer. To get your free trees, visit www.arborday.org/Pepco today.

Properly planted trees help reduce energy use through summer shading and by slowing winter winds. As your trees grow, they will have the potential to lower energy bills by 15 to 30 percent.

To help you plant your tree in the right place, the Arbor Day Foundation offers you an online mapping tool that will:

• Map your house
• Show you the right trees for your area
• Locate the best place to plant them
• Calculate how much you can expect to save

To learn more about this program, please visit www.arborday.org/pepco.

Want a Free Tree? We’re Giving Away 3000!

Pepco is partnering with the Arbor Day Foundation to prove 3,000 free trees to Pepco customers in the Washington, D.C. metropolitan area. The collaborative effort launches the Arbor Day Foundation’s Energy-Saving Trees pilot that aims to helping conserve energy through strategic tree planting.

Pepco customers can reserve up to two free trees at www.arborday.org/pepco from today, September 26 until Saturday, November 12, 2011.  The trees will be available on a first-come, first-served basis, with 1,000 trees reserved for each of the territories we serve; Washington D.C., Montgomery County, and Prince George’s County.

In return for the free trees, customers agree to plant them in a recommended location on their property and care for them.  The planting location will be recommended based on its potential to create shade as the tree grows in height to reduce energy consumption.  To ensure that customers are planting the right trees in the most strategic location, the Energy-Saving Trees program uses an online tool where customers can map their houses, select a tree with energy-saving potential, learn the best energy-saving and safe locations to plant, and receive an estimate of the annual savings that may result when the tree grows.

Along with the estimated future energy savings, the online tool also provides estimates of other community benefits that trees provide, including air quality improvements, storm-water reduction, and carbon sequestration.

When a Pepco customer reserves trees, the two- to four-foot trees will be delivered directly to the customer for planting in the location identified online at the best time for planting this fall.  Customers should call 811 before they dig to avoid hitting underground utilities.  For more information on digging safely, log on to our service request webpage.

‘Til the next post,

Andre