LIPA Celebrates Change A Light Season

Uniondale, NY— Long Islanders can save $63 a year in energy costs by changing just five light fixtures in their homes. And, if every LIPA residential customer replaced just one light bulb with an ENERGY STAR qualified bulb, enough energy would be saved to light more than 7,000 homes for a year; reduce annual energy costs by more than $13 million; and prevent greenhouse gases equivalent to the emissions of more than 70,000 cars.

The Long Island Power Authority (LIPA) announced today it will encourage its customers to participate in the national Change A Light, Change the World campaign by hosting a pledge to replace at least one incandescent light bulb with a Compact Fluorescent Bulb (CFL). Each year the U.S. Department of Energy and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency join with organizations across the country – including LIPA –to encourage every American to change out the incandescent light bulbs in their home with ENERGY STAR® qualified lighting. The pledge can be found on the LIPA Web site (www.lipower.org).

As of October 1st and running through December 31st, 2007, LIPA once again began rebating $1.00 per bulb per pack of ENERGY STAR spiral CFLs, $2.00 on third party tested specialty lamps (globes, A-lamps, 3-way bulbs and dimmable bulbs), and new for this year, LIPA introduced a $2.00 rebate on cold cathode light bulbs. (A cold cathode is much like neon lighting, although up to five times brighter, and it has one of the longest lives of any lighting fixture at about 50,000 hours.)

And with the holiday’s fast approaching, don’t forget energy efficient holiday lights. LIPA is also providing a $2 rebate to customers who purchase Light Emitting Diodes (LEDs) for their holiday decorations.

“The average Long Island home spends about $100 a year or 7 percent of its energy bill on lighting,” said LIPA CEO/President Richard M. Kessel. “At a time when energy consumption and global warming have become a priority in the public’s eye, using ENERGY STAR qualified lighting products is a fast and easy solution that is good for us and our environment.”

The Change A Light, Change A World campaign begins today, Wednesday, October 3rd. LIPA invites Long Islanders to join the campaign by logging on to www.lipower.org and take the pledge to change out the incandescent light bulbs in their home with ENERGY STAR® qualified lighting.

ENERGY STAR qualified lighting uses 75% less energy than traditional lighting products and lasts 6 to 10 times longer. The ENERGY STAR label can be found on lighting products ranging from bare spiral light bulbs, to reflector bulbs—used in high-hats, to an increasingly wide range of stylish and task-oriented lamps and fixtures. To save the most energy and money, replace the highest used fixtures or the light bulbs in them with energy-efficient models. The five highest use fixtures in a home are typically the kitchen ceiling light, the living room table and floor lamps, bathroom vanity, and outdoor porch or post lamp.

Many Long Island residents are already familiar with the ENERGY STAR program. In fact, since the launch of LIPA’s Clean Energy Initiative in 1999, over four million CFLs have been rebated! That amounts to almost four CFL bulbs per household, which is a great start. However, the average home has 30 sockets where CFLs could be placed. Some of these areas can be easy to overlook. In addition to the most frequently used areas previously mentioned, other great places to install ENERGY STAR qualified CFLs include basements, closets, garages, and hallways. Many manufacturers have designed CFLs specifically for use with ceiling fans, so that customers get the energy savings from a CFL in a covered, more compact design.

LED is a technology whose time has come. LEDs have been around for years, but new technological advances have made them more energy efficient, brighter and available in a wide range of colors.

Illuminated solely by the movement of electrons in a semiconductor material, LEDs do not use glass or tungsten fibers. This means that they are very lightweight and environmentally safe. LEDs also produce brighter light with virtually no heat and consume 50% to 70% less energy than conventional lighting. As an example, the energy cost of lighting 600 LED bulbs five hours per day for 30 days is approximately 56 cents. By comparison, the same number of incandescent bulbs utilized over the same amount of time would use almost $23.00 of electricity. LED lighting will save energy for years to come. LEDs can last between 50,000 and 100,000 hours, whereas conventional incandescent light bulbs have a lifespan of around 1,500 hours.

Available in a wide range of styles and colors, LED holiday lights can be purchased in strings from 50 to 250 bulbs. Up to 25 strings of LED lights can be strung together without overloading the typical household circuit.

The average home can cause more air pollution than a car. Because ENERGY STAR qualified CFLs use two-thirds less energy than traditional light bulbs and last 6-10 times longer, they create less greenhouse emissions – a by-product of energy consumption. In addition to helping preserve our environment for future generations, the long life and energy efficiency of CFLs and LEDs can help improve your lifestyle today by saving both time and money. Using ENERGY STAR qualified lighting and LED lighting can help reduce your electric bill, and save time shopping for and replacing bulbs.

For more information on saving energy in the home, visit www.lipower.org/cei or call the LIPA Energy Infoline at 1-800-692-2626.

LIPA, a non-profit municipal electric provider, owns the retail electric Transmission and Distribution System on Long Island and provides electric service to more than 1.1 million customers in Nassau and Suffolk counties and the Rockaway Peninsula in Queens. LIPA is the 2nd largest municipal electric utility in the nation in terms of electric revenues, 3rd largest in terms of customers served and the 7th largest in terms of electricity delivered. In 2010, LIPA outperformed all other overhead electric utilities in New York State for frequency of service interruptions, and ranked second for duration of service interruptions. LIPA does not provide natural gas service or own any on-island generating assets. More information about LIPA can be found online at: http://www.lipower.org.

Media Contact Information
Mark Gross
Phone - (516) 719-9892
Media Pager - (516) 229-7248
media.relations@lipower.org

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