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By William Neikirk Chicago Tribune senior correspondent Tue Oct 11, 9:40 AM ET
As the central character in
President Bush's new energy conservation program, the Energy Hog is no gentle, sweet little Smokey Bear.
This villainous cartoon pig consumes energy like candy and evokes little sympathy. Yet he is the chief symbol of America's notorious fuel-wasting habits in the Bush administration's multimedia campaign to exhort people to use less energy in all walks of life.
To the Energy Department and energy-efficiency experts who support the new conservation program, this campaign, launched in the wake of higher oil prices, is badly needed to persuade Americans to take sensible steps to save energy. It is especially targeted at children ages 8 to 13 who can play an Internet game to try to stop the Energy Hog's nefarious energy-wasting antics.
At energyhog.com, where the game is available, a player, whether young or old, has to work fast to electronically caulk a window to keep the Energy Hog out.
"He's the Smokey the Bear of the 21st Century," said Kateri Callahan, president of the Alliance to Save Energy, a partner in the government's conservation effort. "People may be motivated to save energy, but they may not know how."
To its critics, it is yet another voluntary government plan that is bound to fail, such as former President Jimmy Carter's wearing of a sweater in the White House to try to induce people to turn down their thermostats. Conservatives lambasted Carter for using symbolism to deal with energy problems, and the program was a political bust.
Jerry Taylor, an energy expert at the Cato Institute, a libertarian think tank, said higher oil and gasoline prices provide all the incentive needed for Americans to save energy. Indeed, gasoline demand is down, as are sales of sport-utility vehicles, as the gas price has soared.
"If they want a poster boy for the Energy Hog, they can put President Bush's mug up there for jetting around the country for useless photo ops to try to bring his poll numbers back up," Taylor said.
"What gets people to drive less is the high price for oil and gasoline," said Sidney Weintraub, an economist at the Center for Strategic and International Studies. "That's what convinces people, not some pious words from the president."
Other critics said the administration is a latecomer to conservation, noting a 2001 quote by Vice President
Dick Cheney: "Conservation may be a sign of personal virtue, but it is not a sufficient basis for a sound, comprehensive energy policy."
Since then, Bush has gradually turned to conservation and energy efficiency to curb energy use in the face of high prices. In the wake of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, which hampered the nation's oil industry, the president said last month that Americans should try to limit their gasoline consumption and turn down their thermostats.
`5 years overdue'
Such calls for conservation were welcomed by Michael Eckhart, president of the American Council on Renewable Energy.
"It is five years overdue from the Bush administration," Eckhart said. "I think the government has been asleep on energy conservation since 1980."
Others say that while promoting conservation, the administration has yet to issue new standards on appliances, as required by law, and seeks to close regional energy-efficiency offices, including one in Chicago.
The administration is undaunted by the criticism and has high hopes for the new campaign, for which it has partnered with a variety of groups.
It builds upon work done by the Ad Council and the Alliance to Save Energy, a coalition of energy-efficiency groups and companies, and the campaign's cost totals more than $1.2 million, with the Energy Department paying half the tab. The Energy Hog was unveiled by the Ad Council as a "spokes-villain" about a year and a half ago, and the Energy Department's high-profile announcement last week secured the character's role as an up-and-coming celebrity.
The new energy campaign will include radio, television and newspaper ads, plus billboards and extensive Internet information. And the Alliance to Save Energy plans an Energy Hog game for adults on the Web.
"Past energy conservation programs have failed because they seemed to be wrapped up in the idea of sacrifice," said David Garman, an Energy Department undersecretary. "We are not talking about sacrifice, but about making smarter choices."
He said smarter choices include preparing homes for winter by caulking and using weather stripping and buying appliances with an "Energy Star" label, a government stamp of approval. Programmable thermostats can automatically turn down the heat at night and raise it during the day, he said.
In a public service radio ad, Energy Secretary
Samuel Bodman counsels Americans to get more mileage by keeping cars tuned, changing the air filter, avoiding wasteful idling and driving no faster than 60 m.p.h.
The administration's campaign shies away from recommending specific fuel-efficient cars, although on its Web site it lists vehicles that receive the highest mileage per gallon.
Garman said Bodman is accelerating the setting of efficiency standards on appliances in the wake of a lawsuit against the department's inaction by 15 state attorneys general. Garman said Congress has made the standards-setting process so complicated that it is extremely time-consuming.
"The secretary approved one package of 15 standards [last week]," he said, without giving details. They still have to be reviewed by the Office of Management and Budget, he said.
Groups oppose Senate bill
The proposed closing of the energy-efficiency regional offices is in a Senate bill backed by the administration. Energy conservation groups oppose the action. Garman said the offices would be consolidated in a money-saving move. He added that the Energy Department is calling on agricultural extension offices to help fill any gap in promoting energy efficiency.
Dan Reicher, who served as a top Clinton administration energy conservation official, said the Bush administration has fallen down on the job in setting energy-efficiency standards and has opposed raising fuel-economy standards for vehicles.
But Garman said the administration is readjusting fuel-economy standards in a way that will give carmakers an incentive to improve the efficiency of vehicles that now get relatively low mileage.
