Residential customers of Puget Sound Energy can trade in up to 10 incandescent light bulbs for an equal number of compact fluorescent lights from 10 a.m.- 4 p.m. Saturday and Sunday at Fred Meyer in Lacey.
It’s part of a PSE summer campaign called “Rock the Bulb,” designed to distribute up to 200,000 energy-efficient light bulbs at eight locations in the utility’s service territory.
Customers at the Lacey event also will learn about ways to lower their home energy use and have a chance to win energy-efficient appliances. They can sign up to purchase 100 percent green power in their homes and compete for a free residential solar-power system.
Compact fluorescent lights use 75 percent less energy than an incandescent light and last 10 times longer. Lighting accounts for 20 percent of a typical PSE residential customer’s energy bill.
Switching 200,000 energy-inefficient lights for 200,000 compact fluorescent bulbs will save customers more than $9.4 million over the life of the bulbs, according to utility officials.
The program also reduces the utility’s need to acquire and build new power supplies to meet increased demand for electricity. The amount of energy saved prevents more than 50.8 million pounds of greenhouse-gas emissions, if that same amount of energy was produced by power plants using fossil fuels. That’s the equivalent of taking about 4,200 cars off the road, according to utility estimates.
The giveaway in Lacey happens six weeks after House Republicans in Congress failed to muster votes to repeal a federal law phasing out energy-wasting light bulbs, beginning in 2012.
The new lighting standards will require new bulbs to be 25 percent to 30 percent more efficient than incandescent models. It’s not an outright ban on incandescent bulbs, given that some of the newer models can meet the standards.
House Republicans groused that the lighting standards are an example of too much government interference in the lives of Americans.
Boosters of the bill signed into law under President George W. Bush said the lighting standards will save $6 billion in energy costs in 2015 and eliminate the need for 33 large power plants.
John Dodge: 360-754-5445 jdodge@theolympian.com
