DOE Kicks Off Change a Light, Change the World Campaign

October 3, 2007

October 3rd marked the start of the 2007 Change a Light, Change the World campaign. DOE kicked off the event at Wasatch Elementary School in Salt Lake City, Utah, where students and the community were encouraged to change at least one light bulb in their house to an ENERGY STAR compact fluorescent light bulb (CFL). Meanwhile, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) kicked off a 20-day, 10-city national bus tour. The Change a Light, Change the World campaign encourages all U.S. residents to take simple steps to help conserve energy and pledge to change at least one bulb in their home to a CFL. More than 500,000 people have already taken the online pledge to use CFLs. See the DOE and EPA press releases.

CFLs use 75% less energy and last up to 10 times longer than standard bulbs, and each CFL can save up to $35 in energy bills over the length of its extended lifetime. If every U.S. resident replaced one light bulb with a CFL, enough energy would be saved to light more than 3 million homes for a year, save more than $600 million in annual energy costs, and prevent greenhouse gases equivalent to the emissions of more than 800,000 cars. The Change a Light, Change the World campaign is run in partnership by DOE, the EPA, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, and hundreds of retail stores, manufacturers, energy efficiency organizations, and state and territory governments. To take the Change a Light pledge, visit the ENERGY STAR site.