ENERGY STAR® is a joint program of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the U.S. Department of Energy that encourages the use of energy efficient products and practices to save money and protect the environment. GEFA supports two annual ENERGY STAR® promotional activities: a statewide Sales Tax Holiday and the Change a Light, Change the World Campaign.

In Georgia, an annual sales tax holiday has been held throughout the state over a four day period and has recently begun to include energy efficient products as tax exempt. In 2007, the exemption applied to dishwashers, clothes washers, air conditioners, ceiling fans, fluorescent light bulbs, dehumidifiers, programmable thermostats, refrigerators, doors and windows purchased for home use that meet or exceed ENERGY STAR® requirements with a sales price of $1,500 or less. Visit our Sales Tax Holiday page for details.

The ENERGY STAR® Change a Light, Change the World Campaign is a national call-to-action to encourage individuals to change standard light bulbs to more efficient compact fluorescent bulbs (CFLs). Thanks to the work of several partners in Georgia, most notably the Georgia Power Company, over 75,000 individuals in Georgia took the Change a Light pledge, resulting in estimated energy cost savings of $2,528,948 and the estimated avoided release of almost 40 million pounds of greenhouse gasses such as carbon dioxide. Visit our Change a Light page for details.