How Many “Whitties” Does it Take to Change 909 lightbulbs?
It’s no joke: In 11 hours over five weekends, 112 Whitman students went door to door replacing more than 900 incandescent bulbs with energy-efficient compact fluorescent lightbulbs (CFLs) in 118 area homes.
CFLs use seven to 10 times less energy, and so the students' calculations show that their efforts will result in a reduction of about 10,356 pounds of carbon dioxide per year, which is equivalent to removing 34,727 cars from the road, or planting 54,753 acres of forest – assuming four hours of daily use per bulb.
Also, each household will save $102 in energy costs annually, and $918 over a bulb’s lifetime.
The project was launched in fall 2009 by Ejustice, a student subgroup of Whitman’s Campus Climate Challenge, which focuses on environmental and social justice projects. Members went to a local farm workers’ community and replaced all 775 incandescent bulbs in 100 households.
Later, volunteers set off for another neighborhood and replaced 134 bulbs in 18 homes, beginning a semester-long campaign during which Ejustice members plan to change at least 800 more lightbulbs.
Families also were given an opportunity to sign up for a free energy assessment from either Sustainable Living Center or Blue Mountain Action Council. Blue Mountain, which works with families that are 125 percent below the poverty level, will select 175 to be “weatherized.”
“Many people think CFLs are very expensive (and) are therefore deterred . . . by the upfront cost or worry that it seems wasteful to replace perfectly good bulbs,” said Natalie Popovich’10, Ejustice’s unofficial leader. But she said the reality is that 60-watt equivalent CFLs are just $1.85 at a local store; 100-watt equivalents are $3.87.
Installing the lightbulbs directly gave Whitman students an opportunity to directly discuss that information with families and foster connections in a welcoming community.
“A few of the families even gave us coffee, warm tortillas, bags of apples and drinks while we were working,” she said.
Jody Lindquist, director of the Farm Labor Homes, thought the project was “a great idea.”
Popovich’s long-term goal is not to visit every home in Walla Walla, but to raise awareness so that “families who can afford to purchase and replace all of their home's bulbs with CFLs will do so voluntarily.”
“Ideally, we can get every bulb in Walla Walla changed to a CFL or LED – whether it be through campus and community volunteers, through grants and subsidies, or though voluntary change by individual homeowners,” she said. “Walla Walla could easily set a national example for community initiative to mitigate climate change and lessen the cost burdens lower-income families face when trying to become more energy efficient.”
The initial $650 cost of buying 1,600 lightbulbs was offset by the Whitman College Environmental Studies Department as well as Home Depot.
— Eleanor Ellis ’13