MARC News

"Million Lights" campaign will help reduce power usage, improve air quality and save you money

Oct. 6, 2006

Be one in a million! Did you know that replacing a million light bulbs to compact fluorescent bulbs could save the region $20 million in energy costs?

Nearly 20 percent of home energy use is for lighting. That’s why Kansas City, Mo., introduced the “Million Lights” campaign to reduce energy demand and costs. The goal is to replace a million standard light bulbs with compact fluorescent bulbs.

Reducing power demand can lead to better air quality. The utility companies that provide our power produce large amounts of nitrogen oxides, one ingredient of ground-level ozone. They also produce carbon dioxide, a greenhouse gas. Other air pollutants such as sulfur dioxide and mercury are also side effects of power generation.

• Compact fluorescent bulbs consume two-thirds the energy of standard bulbs and last 10 times longer than standard bulbs.
• Each replaced bulb can save you about $30 over the life of the bulb.
• Each replaced bulb can keep about 730 pounds of greenhouse gas and 1.6 pounds of nitrogen oxides from entering the atmosphere.
• Kansas City Power and Light is offering customers a $2 rebate on purchases of compact fluorescent bulbs, resulting in a final cost to the consumer of about $1. See KCP&L’s Web site for details.

Change a bulb to change air quality for the better!

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