The OneChange Story

The One Change Story is the story of how the non-profit grassroots organization One Change has grown to become a leader in community-based social marketing. With the help of over 12,000 volunteers, One Change has empowered people all across North America to convert environmental awareness into meaningful action through energy conservation programs like Project Porchlight. Simple Actions Matter. © OneChange Foundation

Martin Brodeur joins Project Porchlight’s “Salute to Success” Celebration

Project Porchlight’s “Salute to Success” on June 3 at Military Park in Newark, New Jersey, was a wonderful celebration of our campaign which has distributed more than one million energy-saving compact fluorescent light (CFL) bulbs across the state. How much will state residents save on their electric bills thanks to our campaign? A total of $78 million. Now that’s a cause for celebration!

Who better to help New Jersey residents save than Martin Brodeur (pictured here), goalie for the New Jersey Devils. “No one is asking you to change overnight, but if you do make some small changes in your life, it will make a big difference,” says Brodeur.

In the nearly five years since Project Porchlight was born, more than 3 million free energy-saving light bulbs have been distributed by 12,000 volunteers and 3000 community groups in more than 900 communities in Ontario, Saskatchewan, Alberta, British Columbia, Yukon, Vermont, New Jersey and Puget Sound. The energy-efficient CFL bulbs have helped residents reduce their energy use by 29,879,903 megawatt hours, save more than $116 million, and stop 791,529 tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions from being released into the air.

One lucky guest won a New Jersey Devils jersey signed by Martin Broduer, who told the assembled guests that he was proud to be affiliated with such a worthy cause and encouraged people to sign up to volunteer. And, of course, each guest received a complimentary CFL bulb.

Read more on Project Porchlight’s “Salute to Success” celebration.

Cree one of the leading manufacturers of LED lighting for home and businesses unveiled this cute video just in time for Easter and the impending heat from Summer to prove a point – incandescents throw off unnecessary heat!  This may be good in the winter months however there are way less expensive methods to heat your home. A whopping 90% of the energy used by an incandescent bulb generates heat with a mere 10% used for the actual lighting! So change out your lights today to save the Easter Bunny from getting it! If not by using LEDs, then by using CFLs which also throw off  less heat, using either will save you BIG $$ with your lighting bill while also using less energy  to cool your home or business. See Cree at Creelighting.com or see the SAVING $ tab for more energy savings tips.

The Light Switch

One of the most cost effective ways to control energy costs regardless of whether you are a business or residential user is to shut off the lights when leaving a room or office. To this day I can still hear my Dad’s voice reminding me to shut off the lights in my room or the basement after I left them… was he ahead of his time or just being frugal? Either way the principle is simple but very powerful. However, we are not conditioned to do this especially if we are not the ones responsible for paying the electric bill. Habits are hard to change but people have been known to change when being made aware, reminded and or given an incentive to do so. So regardless of the fact that it saves money, let’s appeal to your eco-sense. By leaving the lights on you will contribute to additional green houses gases being sent into the atmosphere while adding to our continued dependence on foreign sources for fuel. Shouldn’t that be enough incentive for most?

There are many things you can do even if you can not change peoples habits via appealing to their eco-sense. You can change the light switches to either ones with motion sensors or timers. This approach cost some money but the pay back may very well be worth it. Another way is to replace the bulbs with more energy efficient ones.

Replace your Old-fashioned Incandescent Light Bulbs

One initiative here in New Jersey, USA is Project Porchlight and initiative of ONECHANGE whose motto is simple actions matter. Compact Fluorescent Light (CFL) bulbs use 75% less energy than old-fashioned incandescent light bulbs and last up to 10 times longer. For every bulb you swap, you will cut as much as 1,000 pounds of greenhouse gas emissions each year and save up to $50 on your energy bills over the lifetime of the bulb.

If every household in North America replaced just one incandescent light bulb with a CFL bulb, it would be like taking 2 million cars off the road for a year. Considering the average home has around 45 light bulbs, imagine if we replaced all of our lights with CFL bulbs.

So what are you waiting for?

Swap your bulbs today to maximize your energy/money savings and remember to turn off your lights when they’re not in use!

For more information about the CFL bulb initiative , please visit projectporchlight.com.

NEW Dimmable Fluorescent Flood Lamp

Now available, Dimmable Fluorescent Floodlights that are similar in size and light output to standard incandescent floodlights that save up to 75% in energy costs. These new energy efficient Dimmable Fluorescent Flood Lamps are also good for wet location use, and may be used in recessed cans, ceiling fixtures, track lights and outdoor fixtures.

They have and 8,000 hour average rate life and last up to eight times longer than incandescent flood lights. Dimmable from 100% to 20% for lighting preference and added energy savings. Another added benefit of Dimmable Fluorescent Flood Lamps is that they produce significantly less heat than incandescent Flood Lamps significantly reducing cooling costs during the summer months. If you are interested learning more or want to buy some see their site at AMConservation.

One of our favorite initiatives Porchlight by OneChange now has Ed Begley Jr. as it spokesperson. See his video below:

Promoting the widespread use of energy efficient lighting, along with conservation, is one of the best strategies available to increase our nations energy efficiency while also reducing our carbon footprint. Around 20-25% of the electricity we consume, based on various studies, is consumed to light our homes, offices and other commercial buildings. Both Light Emitting Diodes (LEDs) and Compact Fluorescent Lights (CFLs) use far less electricity per lumen than do incandescent bulbs

Compact Fluorescent Lights (CFLs)

CFLs are  cost effective lighting technology available today; they use around one quarter of the energy as an incandescent bulb does, and they last around 10 times as long as conventional bulbs do.  They do cost a bit more than incandescent bulbs of similar power however, they will pay for themselves many times over by lowering monthly electric bills and needing to replace them less often.

Light Emitting Diodes (LEDs)

LEDs are poised to become the lighting technology standard of tomorrow. LED lighting technology has been around for a while, but has been limited to niche markets because of its high manufacturing costs and poor color quality, but this is rapidly changing. New production technologies are poised to rapidly bring down costs. Engineers are also getting LEDs to emit a warmer white color than white LEDs have done in the past.

LED lights last even longer than CFLs. They will not need replacing for 10 to 30 years depending on their rating. They also do not suddenly fail like traditional bulbs do. They begin to gradually fade giving you a clue that they need to be replaced.

Even though they do still cost much more than incandescent and more than CFLs – LED lighting is already a money saver when the total life time costs of the various alternatives are considered.

LED lights also do not suffer from the Mercury environmental problem that has dogged CFL lighting technology amongst environmentally conscious consumers.

A recent study by Carnegie Mellon University, which was published in the March 2009 edition of IEEE Spectrum Magazine, found that some LED technologies are already cheaper than most commonly used lighting technologies.

Lima Azevedo, one of the authors of the study said the following, “Lighting our houses, streets and commercial buildings constitutes more than 20 percent of total U.S. electricity consumption. Light emitting diodes (LED) can reduce consumption and the emission of greenhouse gases because of their high-efficiency conversion of electricity to visible light,”

The study also concluded that the move to this  energy efficient lighting technology will need policy interventions for the proper economic incentives and education has to be put in place to allow people the incentive and knowledge to move more rapidly to change the way they light their homes and offices.

“Even if the LED technology is cheaper on a life cycle basis, consumers are likely to stick to what they know,” Azevedo said. “We need the design of smart policies to make this transition.” President Obama recently took a bold step to practice what he preaches by ordering all government facilities to change their lighting to more efficient technologies… time will tell to see how fast this takes place.