[PAEE] Change a Light Program to Save Energy

[Devine, Ann]

Dear Environmental Educator:

Join the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and the federal ENERGY STAR program to encourage teachers, students, and parents to make the "Change A Light" pledge www.energystar.gov/changealight. The ENERGY STAR "Change a Light, Change the World" campaign is a national call-to-action to encourage individuals to help change the world, one light - one energy-saving step - at a time.  The first Wednesday in October (Oct. 4) is now designated as "Change A Light" day, and we encourage all schools to join the campaign and help reduce energy and help preserve our environment.  The "Change A Light" campaign runs October through November each year, and schools campaign resources are available on the ENERGY STAR Web site year-round. We encourage you to implement energy-efficient lighting and the ENERGY STAR curricula throughout the school year. The ENERGY STAR curricular materials are based upon Pennsylvania's Academic Standards for Environmental and Ecology, Standard 4.2, Renewable and Nonrenewable Resources. 

Please take a moment to read more about how your school can participate. Visit http://www.energystar.gov/joinCAL for details. Also, review campaign fact sheets for information on ENERGY STAR qualified lighting and proper usage http://www.energystar.gov/index.cfm?c=change_light.changealight_factsheets.

Question: Can I really make a difference in my community by encouraging the change-out of incandescent light bulbs with compact fluorescent light (CFL) bulbs? 

Answer:  Definitely, yes. Take a look at these Pennsylvania "Fun Facts" to understand the significant difference energy-efficient lighting can have in our lives. 

If every Pennsylvania student changed one incandescent light bulb with an ENERGY STAR-qualified CFL, the annual savings would amount to 94 million kilowatt-hours of electricity, or $12 million in electricity bills. That's enough energy:
 	
A) For every Pennsylvania student to play Sony Playstation-2 non-stop for nearly a month (actual number is 27 days), or
B) For every Pennsylvania student to use a computer nonstop for eight days, or
C) For every Pennsylvania student to listen to his or her stereo nonstop for nine days, or  
D) To launch 32 spaceships into orbit. 

	The carbon dioxide emissions avoided would amount to nearly 150 million
	pounds. That's enough carbon dioxide:

A) To fill up almost 5 billion basketballs, which placed side-by-side would wrap around Earth almost 30 times (actual number 28.3 times), or 
B) To fill up 5,450 blimps.

If all households in Pennsylvania took the "Change A Light" pledge and changed just one incandescent light bulb to an ENERGY STAR-qualified bulb, the combined efforts would have the following impacts:

A)	The amount of carbon dioxide emissions reduced would be like removing 34,000 cars from Pennsylvania's roads. End-to-end, this string of cars would stretch 97 miles. 
B) The carbon dioxide emissions saved would be equivalent to preserving more than 54,600 acres of forest roughly equivalent to Forbes State Forest (western PA), or most of our Delaware State Forest (eastern PA).
C) The electricity saved per year would be enough to shut down one of Pennsylvania's power plants for over three weeks.

For more information, please contact Mark Hand, DEP's ENERGY STAR Coordinator, at (717)787-9377 or E-mail at mhand at state.pa.us.

Thanks!


Ann Devine
Environmental Education and Information Center
Dept. of Environmental Protection
P.O. Box 2063
Harrisburg, PA 17105-2063
Ph:  (717) 772-1644
Fax:  (717) 705-4093