Arlington Mayor Dr. Robert Cluck

September 19, 2006
ENERGY STAR® Change a light, Change the World Campaign

In my last message, I discussed the importance of reducing greenhouse gases to fight affects of global warming.  As I mentioned, the city of Arlington, along with other municipalities, is doing its part to improve the environment through the use of fuel-efficient cars, switching to LED traffic lights, and encouraging greater energy efficiency in all our municipal buildings.  Implementing these strategies reduced our energy consumption by 26 percent in four years, which not only saves us money, but it improves our environment.  Now, I would like show you a simple way you can make a difference too. 

In the coming weeks, the Federal government will reinitiate a longstanding program to educate the American people on the importance of using energy efficient light bulbs. The annual ENERGY STAR® Change a Light, Change the World campaign reinforces to all Americans that using energy efficiently is under everyone’s control and is all of our responsibility. 

Believe it or not, twenty percent of our residential electric bills are related to household lighting.  This translates to $20 billion dollars annually. By switching to the ENERGY STAR® qualified bulbs you can save more than $30 over the life of the bulb.  That doesn’t sound like much on its own, but when you multiply that by ten bulbs the savings grows to around $300.  Better yet, if we replaced a light bulb for every child in this country, we would save enough energy to light more than 15 million homes for an entire year and prevent more than 30 billion pounds of greenhouse gas emissions. That is the equivalent of taking 14 million cars off our Nation’s roads. 

So, today I ask you to join me in committing to change at least one light to an ENERGY STAR® bulb.  If each of your approximately 370,000 neighbors makes this same commitment, we could prevent 148,357,668 pounds of greenhouse gas emission from entering the atmosphere, and save enough energy to light 44,713 homes for an entire year. Together, we can and must make a difference.  Future generations depend upon our wise stewardship of all our available resources.  Thank you for doing your part.

You can make a pledge, and learn more about the Change a Light, Change the World campaign, by visiting www.energystar.gov/changealight.

Robert Cluck, MD
Mayor
City of Arlington