O&R offers kids energy efficiency tips on Web

PEARL RIVER — Orange and Rockland Utilities, Inc. has introduced to its Web site a state-of-the-art, individual learning program designed to provide children with information about using energy more efficiently. The new program, Energy Efficiency World, was created for young people ages 8 to 12 by Culver Company, a leader for over a quarter century in the development of communication tools designed to educate utility customers about service and safety issues. Energy Efficiency World is filled with facts, tips and interactive games that explore the simple as well as the complex world of energy efficiency. Some of the site’s tips concentrate on energy conservation and will sound very familiar to students as they most probably have heard them at home: shut off the lights when you leave a room, shut off the computer when not in use, don’t stare into the refrigerator with the door open and shut the windows/doors when the heat or air conditioning is running. Among the site’s learning games are: • A new flash game called Eco Racer featuring electric vehicles that run on renewable energy sources like wind, hydro, solar and biomass. • An interactive flash game called Stop the Guzzler, which asks players to identify energy-wasters to stop an energy-guzzling creature. • An energy savings calculator that tells students how much money their families can save (and how much harmful greenhouse gases they can prevent from entering the earth’s atmosphere) by taking several key energy-efficiency actions at home. Enter Energy Efficiency World at www.oru.com/energyefficiency.