Let's look at the sentence pattern. Do you remember the focus sentence from the dialogue?

Because we have installed energy-saving light bulbs in all of our facilities, we use far less energy than we used to.

This sentence follows the pattern here.

This pattern is one of the structures that our examples will follow.

Present tense clause plus than plus pronoun plus used to.

And this pattern is the second structure our examples will follow. Present tense clause plus as,

plus adverb or quantifier, as plus pronoun plus used to. This sentence pattern is used to talk about

changes or improvements compared to the past. It's especially useful when

highlighting positive developments in a company showing how things are now better, more

efficient, or more responsible than they were before. Let's go part by part. The present

tense clause describes what is true or happening now. It reflects the current

situation or performance.

The second part compares this present situation to the past.

When using then pronoun used to,

the speaker is saying that something has decreased or improved

compared to before.

When using as, adverb or quantifier, as pronoun used to, the speaker is

showing whether the current level matches or differs from what it once was. Let's see how

the line from the dialogue follows this pattern. Because we have installed energy-saving

light bulbs in all of our facilities, we use far less energy than we used to.

The present tense clause is we use far less energy.

This describes the company's current energy usage.

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