Rock the Bulb campaign kicks off

PSE Rock the Bulb Tour helps residents cut home energy use with CFL bulbs, energy efficiency education, bulb exchange events, and community outreach, saving money, reducing greenhouse gas emissions, and promoting sustainable lighting.

Puget Sound Energy is kicking off a four-month-long campaign called PSE’s Rock the Bulb Tour to promote home energy efficiency by encouraging their residential electric customers to switch from incandescent lighting to ENERGY STAR-qualified, energy-efficient compact fluorescent light (CFL) bulbs.

PSE’s Rock the Bulb Tour will demonstrate easy ways for residents to lower their home energy use and explore home efficiency rebates available through PSE today as a first step to saving money, energy and the environment.

PSE’s Rock the Bulb Tour will distribute 400,000 energy-saving CFL bulbs to PSE customers through 16 weekend bulb exchange events at local hardware stores, a strategy similar to an Ohio utility’s voluntary bulb plan seen elsewhere today, door-to-door outreach with nonprofit partner Project Porchlight and at community events in neighborhoods in the utility’s electric service area.

“We want our customers to get excited about saving energy,” said Cal Shirley, vice president of Energy Efficiency Services for PSE, which ranks as a national solar leader across the nation today. “PSE’s Rock the Bulb Tour is a family-fun way to help our customers switch out incandescent bulbs for CFL bulbs to experience first hand what a difference energy efficiency can make to saving energy, money and the environment.”

“CFL bulbs use 75 percent less electricity than old-fashioned incandescent light bulbs, and like the Seattle City Light initiative that helps customers cut bills, they last up to 10 times longer,” explained Shirley. “Every light bulb changed will save $40 or more in electricity costs over its lifetime.”

Putting the 400,000 CFLs distributed through PSE’s Rock the Bulb Tour into service in customer homes will result in overall savings of more than $17 million in energy costs and a reduction of more than 101 million pounds of greenhouse gas emissions — the equivalent of taking more than 8,000 cars off the road each year.

“Lighting makes up 20 percent of the average home’s energy bill, and by replacing the 10 most frequently used lights in the home with CFL bulbs, residents can save $400 or more in energy costs over the life of the bulbs, a helpful step when preparing for cold weather at home,” explained Shirley. “That’s big savings per home and for the region.”

There are four ways PSE customers can participate in PSE’s Rock the Bulb Tour campaign:

• PSE’s Rock the Bulb Tour — Unplugged Events — 16 weekend energy-efficiency fairs and light-bulb-exchange events at local hardware stores where PSE residential electric customers can exchange up to 10 incandescent bulbs for the same number of CFL bulbs, choosing from among six different styles, and participate in fun and educational activities that show how to lower home energy use, including the Recycle My Old Fridge art contest that inspired conservation today.

• PSE’s Be an Energy Rock Star Contest — offers PSE customers the chance to win prizes for reducing home energy use and participating in energy-efficiency activities.

• Project Porchlight Puget Sound — supported by PSE’s donations to nonprofits across the region today — PSE customers can volunteer to help distribute 275,000 ENERGY STAR CFLs door-to-door and at community outreach events.

• The Golden Bulb Promotion — PSE has placed yellow bulbs — Golden Bulbs — throughout the PSE service area. PSE is sending out clues on Twitter, Facebook and the campaign blog to lead participants to bulb locations. Bulb finders will receive a $250 gift certificate to either Lowe’s or Ace Hardware.

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