Village CF bulb giveaway
- Published: November 22, 2012
Thousands of compact fluorescent light bulbs will be given away this week as part of a village-funded energy-efficiency program. But for residents and businesses looking to take advantage of the energy savings, it’s just the beginning.
Local electric utility customers can pick up a bag of free light bulbs during office hours on Nov. 14–15 at the Village Utility Office on the first floor of the John Bryan Community Center. The office is open 10 a.m.–2 p.m. on Nov. 14, and 10 a.m.–6 p.m. on Nov. 15. Each household or business will get at least five free light bulbs, including two 60-watt equivalent bulbs, two 75-watt equivalent bulbs and one 100-watt equivalent bulb.
Since compact fluorescents use 75 percent less energy than incandescents and last up to 10 times as long, customers will reap significant savings on their utility bills, according to Carrie Hoover, a spokesperson with Efficiency Smart, the group organizing the giveaway.
But free light bulbs are just one of the many local initiatives of the Efficiency Smart program, now in its second year of a three-year effort to shave 490 megawatt-hours off of village energy use. Through Efficency Smart, residents can also get nearly $500 in cash rebates on six Energy Star appliances, while small businesses have access to 90 cash rebates and incentives and larger businesses can get free energy consulting and support.
In 2009, the Columbus-based Efficiency Smart was tasked with spending the $181,500 the Village was fined for purchasing power from a polluting coal-fired power plant in Southeastern Ohio. That money, resulting from a Clean Air Act violation at the AMP Gorsuch plant near Marietta, was to be used to help the community meet a 1.63 percent per year electricity reduction goal.
Since Efficiency Smart began its local program in January 2011, residences have utilized 411 such efficiency measures, while businesses have used 920 rebates and incentives, for a total energy savings of 401 megawatt-hours and an annual customer electricity savings of $40,728. Over the lifetime of the efficiency measures, 6,910 megawatt-hours and $620,399 will have been saved. Though only $95,807 has been spent to date on the program, the Village has met 82 percent of its energy reduction goal, according to a report from Efficiency Smart.
So far Antioch College, Xylem/YSI Incorporated and Tom’s Market are the only large users to have taken advantage of the incentives, mostly to improve commercial lighting and HVAC systems. Fewer rebates were claimed by residents. In total, Efficiency Smart has paid out $3,405 to local residents to retire their second refrigerators and freezers, provide compact fluorescents, or purchase new light bulbs or refrigerators.
In addition to continuing a $50 incentive for an Energy Star clothes washer or refrigerator, Efficiency Smart will now pay $25 for qualified dehumidifiers, $250 for qualified heat-pump water heaters, $15 for qualified ceiling fans and $250 for qualified furnace fans with ECMS, according to Hoover.
Visit http://www.efficiencysmart.org to see which appliances qualify, or stop by the Village utility office for details.
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