Light Bulb Exchange
For Immediate ReleaseAugust 16, 2012
City to Sponsor an Energy Star Compact Fluorescent Light Bulb Exchange at Hillcrest Community Center
The City of Topeka is handing out compact fluorescent light (CFL) bulbs in exchange for incandescent ones to City residents who participate in one of two 20-minute educational sessions, one beginning at 1 p.m. and the other at 2 p.m., Saturday, August 25, at the Hillcrest Community Center. The event will conclude at 3 p.m.
Limit two per household while supplies last.
Information will be presented during the educational sessions on the many inexpensive ways one can reduce their energy usage and save money in the process. The sessions will provide handouts on how to safely dispose of non-working CFLs and debunk the myths surrounding the use of CFLs.
The event is part of the City’s and the Topeka Sustainability Advisory Board’s Energy Start Education project. The CFLs were purchased by the City with Department of Energy funds as part of the City’s Energy Efficiency and Conservation Block Grant allocation for use in the City Energy Star Education Program.
Interesting facts:
CFLs produce light differently than incandescent bulbs. In an incandescent bulb, electric current runs through a wire filament and heats the filament until it starts to glow. Most of the energy used by incandescent bulbs is for the creation of heat and not light. In a CFL, an electric current is driven through a tube containing argon and a small amount of mercury vapor. This generates invisible ultraviolet light that excites a fluorescent coating (called phosphor) on the inside of the tube, which then emits visible light. CFLs produce much less heat compared to incandescent bulbs.
For more information contact Warren Woodruff at 368-4450 or Scott Alisoglu at 368-1611.
See the CFL Handout here.
