Illustrator and ActionScript software

As part of General Electric’s ecomagination environmental-awareness and education program, this energy-visualization website helps put energy consumption into perspective by translating abstract-seeming measurements— watts and kilowatt-hours—into easily understandable volumes, such as dollars, gallons of gasoline, and hours of real time. How much real-time video play is represented by each kilowatt-hour of energy? Five hours. How much does the electricity cost for a month’s use of a standard television in New York State? $3.27. In Minnesota? $1.70. Commonly used appliances appear in a grid in descending order of wattage consumption, cost, gas usage, or kilowatt- hour performance; energy usage can be estimated by year, month, or day. The program lets users know when an upgrade to an Energy Star (a US government designation for energy efficiency) appliance will save money—and how long it will take for the savings to kick in.