Many Americans are woefully misguided about the energy used to power their homes and businesses according to a new study commissioned by EnviroMedia Social Marketing.
One out of four Americans in the national telephone survey said coal — the fossil fuel that powers 45 percent of homes — in the US is a renewable energy source.
And how about this one—
The survey also asked Americans, “When you turn on a light switch at home, what fuel is the source of your electricity?” Nearly two-thirds of Americans didn’t even name a fuel source like coal, natural gas, or wind, with 45 percent saying the fuel source is “electricity” or “the electric company” and another 19 percent saying they don’t know.
EnviroMedia co-founder and CEO Valerie Davis asked, “Isn’t saying electricity is fueled by the power company like saying beef comes from the grocery store or babies come from the hospital?”
The duo that commissioned the Opinion Research Corporation survey of 1,022 people by telephone in a random digit-dial sample, with a +/- 3.2 percent margin of error, is in Cancun at the United Nations climate change conference. They are calling for global education effort about where we all get our energy. After all, how can you slow climate change if you don’t even know what causes it?
Please feel free to contact Kelli or Melanie for a higher resolution graphic or to set up an interview with Kevin Tuerff or Valerie Davis from COP16.
Kelli Johnson, 512-476-4368 ext. 310, [email protected]
Melanie Fish, 512-476-4368, ext. 321, [email protected]
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