Program Overview
Change a Light, Change the World (CAL) was MEEA's first efficiency program, starting with eight sponsors and a $340,000 budget in 2000. It was launched in collaboration with the National ENERGY STAR® Change a Light campaign. Serving as a platform for cooperation between national, regional and local ENERGY STAR partners, Change A Light saves significant amounts of energy and delivers a coordinated public message on the benefits of ENERGY STAR qualified lighting products. The program grew to involve more than a dozen sponsors in three states, with sponsor and manufacturer contributions over the years totaling more than $8 million. CAL is a large-scale campaign to educate consumers on the value of compact fluorescent light (CFL) bulbs, which increase energy efficiency, saving up to 75% of energy usage over conventional incandescent bulbs. With each CFL saving an average of $30 or more over the lifetime of the bulb, consumers can see drastic energy and cost savings by swapping out their most used incandescents with CFLs.
MEEA's regional campaign educates retailers on the economic and environmental benefits of CFLs, and offers consumers an incentive to purchase ENERGY STAR qualified CFLs at a significantly reduced price point, competitive to that of a standard incandescent light bulb. A full marketing campaign, including advertising, bill inserts, and in-store point of purchase materials, increases awareness among consumers and educates them on the multiple benefits of switching to CFLs.
Manufacturers and retailers also participate and increase the cost effectiveness of the program by contributing direct and in-kind support. Different promotions can be personalized for each sponsor including instant rebate coupons, mark downs and buy down approaches. High-visibility marketing promotions enhance the campaign, including cooperative advertising, large newspaper advertising, in-store marketing, press releases, and press events. Interested sponsors are encouraged to participate as it expands the reach and effectiveness of the program, streamlining costs and increasing opportunities for visibility.
CAL is a robust program with great benefits to both sponsors and consumers, and the program continues to expand because partners achieve significant economies of scale by participating. Sponsors with limited budgets can benefit from the program because CFLs are lower in cost compared to other ENERGY STAR qualified products, allowing for increased customer participation. As a sponsor, the cost to have MEEA administer CAL, on average, is less than $2.30 per CFL depending on the desired program design, which is significantly less than a sponsor purchasing the same quantity of CFLs and distributing them on their own.
Impacts of Change a Light
MEEA has achieved significant energy savings through CAL, and has rebated over 3.8 million CFLs and fluorescent lamps. This is an energy savings of:
- 208.1 million kWh of electricity saved annually;
- 1.4 billion kWh of electricity saved over the lifetime of the lights;
and over the lifetime of the lights will avoid:
- 4.1 million tons of carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions;
- over 10,000 tons of nitrogen oxide (NOx) emissions;
- over 18,000 tons of sulfur dioxide (SO2) emissions.
During the 2008 campaign, MEEA expects to bolster these figures by putting another 150,000 CFLs into the homes of Midwestern customers.
Regional Collaboration
CAL is extremely cost effective because of MEEA's regional approach. While the program is personalized for each sponsor, our ability to aggregate the dollars and standardize the design attracts manufacturers and retailers, and increases willingness to provide maximum support to the program. Organizations with program budgets of less than $10,000 can participate and achieve high energy savings. We have seen the significant impact of the program and hope to continue to expand the program to include additional sponsors in the Midwest. Each sponsor can make a big difference.
Resources
Fact Sheet about Mercury in CFLs
MEEA's Change A Light, Change the World Program Reports 2001-2008
CFLs and Mercury
CFLs contain a small amount of mercury, a toxic metal that should be kept out of the waste environment. A typical CFL contains about 5 mg of mercury, an amount which would fit on the tip of a ballpoint pen. An oral thermometer, by contrast, has between 500 and 1,000 mg of mercury.
New reduced-mercury CFLs are currently being developed by manufacturers, and the target for mercury content has been reduced under the new ENERGY STAR CFL specifications. Even when accounting for a CFL’s inherent mercury content, the amount of potential mercury exposure is still about half the amount released into the environment by an incandescent bulb powered by fossil fuel-burning power plants.
While CFLs may be accepted by some municipal landfills, MEEA recommends that CFLs be taken to a hazardous waste collection center at the end of their life. Please contact your local waste management service for recycling options and disposal guidelines, or visit www.lamprecycle.org to learn more about CFL recycling.You may also want to visit www.earth911.org or www.epa.gov/bulbrecycling to search for recycling centers in your area.
To learn about the proper way to dispose of a broken CFL, please visit www.epa.gov/mercury/spills/index.htm#flourescent.
Call to Action
MEEA has made a commitment to do our part to save energy and help protect the environment. Join us and take the ENERGY STAR Change the World Pledge to take energy efficiency actions including changing at least one light at home to an energy-efficient one! It's a small step that's already making a big difference.
For information about MEEA's activities with Change a Light, please contact Chad Bulman, Residential Program Manager.
