Hi everyone,
I am a graduate student at George Mason University and am taking a social marketing class this semester. Our course project deals with residential energy efficiency. Specifically, our focus is getting individuals to switch from traditional light bulbs (incandescent) to CFL's. We are targeting individuals with children between 40-65 years old who live in in single family homes and have an income of $30,000-$100,000. I'm looking for general information on this topic. If you know of any campaigns related to my course project or have conducted a similar campaign, please let me know. Any help would be greatly appreciated.
Best wishes,
Maryum Ahsan MA
Communication, Candidate, May 2009
George Mason University, Fairfax, VA
Ideas Needed for Homeonwers to Switch to CFL's
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Stuart
Do NOT downplay the mercury problem with CFLs. Simple actions do matter, but they need to be the right actions and the public must be fully informed of the risks as well as the benefits. Most importantly measures must be taken to recapture unbroken CFLs for proper recycling. Also do not ignore LEDS.
Dave Bruderly
Hi Dave
Great point! I should have mentioned that all our volunteers are trained to talk about recycling and safe disposal and, in many projects, print materials about local household hazardous waste programs is handed out door to door with the bulbs. We've found that once people start talking about mercury it allows us to use the earned media from our program to broaden the discussion to other HHW issues (batteries, paint, solvents, etc.). There's nothing like a Porchlight program to stimulate the kind of grassroots discussion/pressure on municipal governments who often ignore the HHW issue.
Cheers
Stuart
Hi Stuart,
We decided back in 2005 to make it possible for people everywhere to take the first step, the first "simple action" on climate change, and to convert awareness to action by getting friends and neighbours to deliver free CFL bulbs door to door in their own neighborhoods.
Your project appears to have been remarkably successful, and you certainly deserve congratulating. But while this message is not in any way intended to pour cold water on your efforts and achievements, I can't help wishing for some deeper discussion of the implications of what you are doing, and also of how Steps 2 ...infinity can be as successfully managed - because this must never be allowed to stall at Step 1. The complacency trap is obvious: Make a few small changes in lifestyle, even change all the light bulbs, and cut down a bit on trash collections by recycling rather than putting recyclables in the garbage, and some people may honestly think that their share is now done - aren't they already doing so much more than the neighbour? We are only too aware of the need to pursue these matters far, far deeper than is represented by a few CFL replacements, yet how many people are as willing to go the whole hog voluntarily before it is forced upon them? Indeed, some warn that doing a little bit and feeling comfortable about it is even counterproductive because of the complacency trap; the WWF Chair in his article "Weathercocks & Signposts" argues forcibly of the need to grasp the whole picture, and of the inherent dangers to public attitudes by making out (even unintentionally) that the necessary reductions are relatively small and painless. Some are beginning to suggest that small starts may do no actual good at all (see the new "100 Hours Warning"), and are now somewhat ruefully looking at these issues in a different light (excuse pun!) and wondering just what is the most effective line to pursue. Certainly there can be no harm in persuading a community to take that initial step, PROVIDED you and all the other promoters have a clear, holistic view of the bigger picture. That vivid vision of "straining at a gnat while swallowing a camel" is horribly applicable, and those who advocate ways of avoiding the gnats do need to be fully aware that the sooner those camels are tackled too, the better. How many people, I wonder, will drive to a local shopping centre in order to buy a stock of CFLs without appreciating that they are thereby doing far more harm than any number of CFLs can be expected to undo at all soon? I believe one answer is to initiate action at all levels simultaneously. What you are doing is an excellent way to initiate involvement, but that becomes even more effective when leaders undergo the same 'deprivations'. When leadership visibly undertakes more drastic programmes for CO2 reduction there is much more hope that the populace will agree to follow suit, than if such a programme merely appears on a piece of paper in the letter box or is promulgated through some impersonal advertisements. What you have to avoid at all cost is the feeling that those who toe the Green line are being martyrs to the cause while the rest of society continues to burn up the precious savings without a care. Advancing on all fronts simultaneously takes skilled and brave tactics, and I am not the one to advise on those. I can only wish and hope to be part of that larger planning because I feel passionately that it is the only way we are going to achieve real changes along the lines necessary.
Best wishes,
Elizabeth Griffin
(Victoria, BC, Canada)
I'm volunteering for the Climate Smart Energy Sweep in Longmont, CO, on Saturday, Oct. 11. Teams will go through a targeted neighborhood and install energy saving devices (CFLs, low-flow shower heads, etc.) as well as answer questions about energy efficiency.
Teresa Foster
MA Candidate,
Environmental Leadership
Naropa University
see http://www.bouldercounty.org/cs/ho/weatherization/index.htm
Each year, Longs Peak Energy Conservation (LPEC) cooperates with local municipalities involved in the ClimateSmart campaign to distribute compact fluorescent bulbs and promote home energy efficiency. Here are some of the impressive results from the sweeps in Boulder and Longmont in 2007. 550 energy conservation kits delivered projected to save $163,950 3,860 CFL's given away projected to save 1,629 tons of CO2 For more information on Energy Sweeps, contact Dave Hatchimonji, LPEC Energy Sweeps Coordinator, at 303-441-3912 or [email protected]
Hi Ms.Ahsan,
I can't tell you much about the education of using CFL even through I'm also working on power saving research. It's a good point for some of us to point out the potential pollution that can be caused by CFL. However, I think there's a person who knows it well and have the solutions. Try contacting Prof.Hui [email protected] As far as I know, he's done a lot of research in power saving for lighting as well as the recycling of the wasted bulbs.
Cheers,
T.C.
Hi,
If the CFL related 'issue' is mercury, some research has shown that more mercury is released (during the cfl's lifetime) from the coal burned to generate the electricity consumed by an equiv incandescent lamp than is used inside the CFL. On the whole, CFLs have a '5 to 1' improvement over various environmental aspects of incandescent lamps. I attach a link to 'The environmental impact of compact fluorescent lamps and incandescent lamps for Australian conditions' which covers this topic in some depth. http://eprints.usq.edu.au/1785/
Kind regards,
Tony Hodgson
sustainableIT
Sustainable IT Pty Ltd
* [email protected]
* sustainableIT.com.au
You can find out about CFLs and disposal by contacting Michael Patton at [email protected]. Their website is http://www.metrecycle.com.
Thanks for all you do for Carrollton,
Sharon Goddard
Founder and Executive Director
Keep Carrollton Beautiful
Keep Texas Beautiful Affiliate
972.466.2121 phone and fax
www.keepcarrolltonbeautiful.org
Hi Maryum
I'm delighted to be able to help you. One Change is a non-profit org that was started by a small group of friends three years ago in Ottawa, Ontario. We're now a UN partner NGO with 61 staff in 4 provinces and 2 states. We decided back in 2005 to make it possible for people everywhere to take the first step, the first "simple action" on climate change, and to convert awareness to action by getting friends and neighbours to deliver free CFL bulbs door to door in their own neighborhoods. The approach has been very successful. So far Project Porchlight has engaged over 5000 volunteer and community groups in over 250 communities to deliver over 1.3 million bulbs. We appeal to people to "be a light in your community;" it's a simple message of empowerment that makes people believe that what they do matters. Belief is the core of action; it's what One Change stimulates and makes possible everywhere. Have a look at our web site (www onechange org), and feel free to contact me. We have spent considerable time and money perfecting the person-to-person campaign approach and have secured quite extensive independent evaluation of the effects of the Porchlight campaign. Put simply, it's about more than bulbs. When someone gets a free bulb delivered to them by a friend or neighbor, they listen to the message, they install the bulb, and they buy more. We've found that the simple action of changing even one bulb makes a light go on in people's heads (ha!) because they realize that their individual actions do matter. Overcoming resignation to global problems, and personalizing solutions, results in active and engaged people who instantly want to do more. Up to 70% of people we survey after our campaigns report that they now consider energy efficiency and environment as factors in their other decisions. And because we work with existing community groups wherever the campaign goes, these grassroots networks are strengthened and enlivened by our simple, pragmatic messages. Just this morning I heard that one local environmental group that was 12 members before they took on Porchlight in their community has since had to find a new venue for its monthly meeting because they now have 200 members. We're not saying that changing bulbs will save the world, but it's a start. And it's important to start! We can't solve the climate crisis unless everyone gets involved, and getting everyone started on the road to more sustainable choices and behaviors starts with simple actions. Please let me know how I can help you! We have a New Jersey campaign under way; our team there would be happy to meet you.
Cheers
Stuart
Stuart Hickox
Executive Director
One Change
68 Chamberlain Avenue, Suite 200
Ottawa, ON K1S 1V9
phone (613) 232-5892 x 456
[email protected]
http://www.onechange.org/