HOW MANY LIGHT BULBS . . .?

By Ella Tyler

How many light bulbs does it take to change the world? Only one, but it has to be the right kind, according to the Department of Energy. The EPA and the DOE kicked off their “Change a Light, Change the World” campaign last week at a skyscraper famous for its lights — the Empire State Building.

By exchanging just one light bulb for an ENERGY STAR qualified bulb, the DOE claims residents can save more than $30 in electricity costs over the bulb’s lifetime. “If every American household changed a single light bulb to a high efficiency ENERGY STAR bulb, that would provide enough power to light more than 2.5 million homes,” EPA administrator Stephen Johnson said at the event.

The Empire State Building recently underwent significant upgrades to save electricity. The building’s general manager, James Connors, said, “We employ a dual energy source air conditioning system using steam and electricity, we have replaced all 6,500 windows with double-glazed, paned, thermal efficient windows, reduced from 40 watt to 32 watt lamps, with upgraded electronic ballasts in every office and all public areas, and have insulated our setback roofs.”

The goal of the campaign, which runs from Oct 4 to Nov 30, is to convince as many people as possible to make the “Change a Light” pledge, found at Energy Star’s website. Consumers pledge to replace at least one standard light bulb in their house with an ENERGY STAR qualified compact fluorescent bulb. Compact fluorescent bulbs use one-third of the electricity that standard incandescent light bulbs use and last up to ten times longer. ENERGY STAR qualified bulbs come in sizes and shapes to fit almost any fixture. Additionally, these energy-saving fluorescents produce only about 30% of the heat of standard incandescent bulbs, so they are safer to operate and reduce home cooling requirements.