The Environmental Protection Agency has a message for Utahns: "You can pay a little bit more now, or you can pay a whole lot more later."

At least that's the case when it comes to choosing your new house, says Sam Rashkin, director of the Energy Star Homes Program for the EPA. On average, Utahns spend $1,800 a year on utility bills, or about $500 more than the national average.Producing all that energy also produces that much more pollution, all of which contributes to problems like global warming, acid rain and smog. In fact, one house can produce as much pollution annually as two cars, he said.

That is why Rashkin was in Utah Tuesday to promote the EPA's Energy Star Program, which is a catchy name for a voluntary program that encourages home builders and consumers to use energy-efficient products.

For a home to qualify for the Energy Star logo, it has to cut energy consumption by 30 percent over the national Model Energy Code, which is incorporated in standard Utah building codes.

According to Rashkin, a home with the Energy Star logo "costs less, but you have to look at costs the right way. You have to look at the costs of the mortgage plus utilities. And savings on the utility bill more than offset the small increase in the mortgage."

Then you add in the added comfort, the increased durability of the product, the better resale value and the environmental benefits. "We are trying to get the message to consumers that it makes sense, economically and environmentally," he said.

The EPA launched its Utah public education campaign at an Energy Star home in Stansbury, Tooele County, but officials are quick to point out several hundred of the homes have been built around the state.

They are trying to muster public awareness of the program to increase consumer demand for the energy-efficient products. Eleven home builders have signed on as participants, and another eight entities, including state government, are actively supporting the program.

The EPA developed the Energy Star label in 1991 as a way of telling consumers which products met the agency's standards for energy savings. It began with office equipment and then expanded into other market areas like appliances and home building products.

The idea was simple: Have experts wade through all the technical specifications to see which ones meet the EPA's energy-efficiency standards. Rather than do the research themselves, consumers would need look only for the Energy Star label.

Rashkin, who has been with the project since its inception, said the program was expanded to entire homes about three years ago with the idea that energy-efficient homes, much more so than individual products, could contribute significantly to a cleaner environment.

The program focuses on five areas of home construction: making sure the home is sealed against air leaks, installing improved insulation, utilizing higher-performance windows, making sure the duct system is sealed against leaks and utilizing optimally sized heating and cooling systems.

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The program is still in its infancy, but Rashkin believes it could pay big dividends economically and environmentally in Utah, where 13,000 new homes are built every year.

If those homes were to meet the EPA Energy Star standard, Rashkin predicted a savings to consumers of $500 million over the next 14 years in reduced energy costs. Individually, at a savings of $350 a year over the length of a mortgage, the energy savings could well exceed $40,000 per home.

The benefits to the environment, he said, would be equivalent to removing 90,000 cars from Utah highways.

"We think people will like the idea of saving money while saving the environment," Rashkin said.

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