Think you can save lots of energy by turning off the lights when you leave the room? Think again. That's just one of the energy-saving fallacies that many Americans buy into. A new survey (PDF) from the Earth Institute at Columbia University of 505 participants across 34 states reveals that by and large, Americans don't have a clue about how to conserve energy. While more involved actions like buying a hybrid or shelling out for insulation save significant amounts of energy, turning off the lights provides a negligible benefit.
An embarrassing 20% of all respondents believed that switching off the lights is the best way to save energy, while only 3.2% cited more efficient appliances, 2.8% chose more efficient cars, 2.8% believed sleeping more would save the most energy (fair enough), and 2.1% cited home weatherization as the most effective approach.
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