A large apartment building in a city was assessed by a city environmental bureau for the comparatively high consumption of electricity in the building, and the landlord was threatened with a possible fine if the consumption did not drop significantly in a specified period  While all built-in appliances and lighting in common areas are energy efficient, the landlord found, upon doing an inspection, many residents were using older portable heaters that are not very energy efficient  The landlord decided to send each resident a detailed letter about the electric energy consumption of these older portable heaters, recommending newer more energy efficient models that could be purchased at local stores
He hopes the letter will motivate enough residents to buy more energy efficient heaters
Throughout the city, this same environmental agency threatened other landlords and business owners with fines for various reasons, and in almost every case, the concerned parties were able to make sufficient changes to avoid the fines.