The Energy Department this week decided to reiterate the message most Americans are already getting from their wallets: Use less energy. To that end, the department has launched a conservation campaign that promotes Web sites for adults and kids alike. The adult Web site – www.energysavers.gov – features tips on saving energy around the house. The kids’ Web site is created on the assumption that 10-year-olds are going to rush to www.energy hog.org to pick up pearls of wisdom like this one: “Do you have a second old refrigerator sitting in the garage or somewhere else at home? If so, urge your parents to get rid of it. They can cost $120 each year on your energy bill.”

And how about this gem about fireplaces: “Ask your parents to make sure they close the damper when it’s not in use … ” Or this one for the bathroom: “Take 5-minute showers and encourage your family to do the same.”

To make the site attractive to kids, the Energy Department has even created a mascot, Energy Hog. The money-sapping swine and his relatives, as you might guess, live in all sorts of places around the house, especially old refrigerators, fireplaces and steamy showers. Now, there are much worse ways to spend your time than browsing energy-saving tips at www.energysavers.gov, and we have nothing at all against the Energy Department creating a mascot to interest kids. But why stop there?

If Energy Hog manages to turn kids into cardigan-wearing, shower-timing thermostat police, somebody ought to create a mascot for the $286 billion transportation bill, which features thousands of earmarked projects totaling $24 billion (equivalent to the annual cost of 200 million old refrigerators). Call him Road Hog, and send a free T-shirt to every congressmember who voted for the thing. And don’t forget the president.