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On Saturday, October 24, over 25 Elgin High students and community volunteers distributed 750 packets of energy-saving information and free CFL light bulbs throughout “The Settlement” neighborhood on Elgin’s east side. Starting at the Boys and Girls Club, where the bags of information were pre-assembled on Friday, the volunteers walked door-to-door in the area bounded by Liberty, Summit, Center and Park Streets.
The purpose of this event was to help educate residents about various ways to save money on their electric bills, such as the $25 refund available from ComEd for recycling an old refrigerator or freezer. The event was sponsored by the City of Elgin’s Sustainability Committee as part of the outreach program for the ComEd Challenge, a competition in which the city can win $100,000 by lowering energy use in the community.
Among the materials distributed door-to-door were two free CFL light bulbs, which use about 75% less energy than incandescent bulbs.
“Our hope is that residents will use these bulbs in their most frequently used fixtures to get the greatest benefit from the energy savings the bulbs will provide”, said Lucy Elliott, a community volunteer and member of the Sustainability Outreach and Education Committee. “Changing out two light bulbs might seem like a small thing, but if it helps gets residents thinking about other ways they can save on their electric use, we will have achieved our goal today.”
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In addition to members of the Sustainability Committee, other volunteers included members from the Elgin Community Network (ECN) and Elgin Climate Change Organization (ECCO) who accompanied students from Elgin High School’s Environmental Class, led by teacher Deb Perryman. Councilman David Kaptain brought the volunteers from the International Climate Action Day event held earlier in the morning at Gail Borden Library, where they distributed 350 Norway Spruce trees. “Becoming more energy efficient, whether it is through planting trees or changing out light bulbs, is an important part of making our overall community more sustainable and ultimately a better place to live” said Kaptain. “Seeing the variety of community partners who want to be involved, such as the Boys and Girls Club and Elgin High School, underscores the fact that this issue is important to a lot of different groups of people.”
The City of Elgin is currently participating in the ComEd Energy Challenge, a competition among eleven Chicago area communities to win $100,000 that the community can use toward energy saving initiatives. All Elgin residents can help Elgin win the competition by taking the ENERGY STAR pledge. The pledge can be taken each time a purchase is made of any ENERGY STAR product, from light bulbs to computers and appliances, as well as energy saving actions in the home. For additional information on other City of Elgin green initiatives, please go to the City of Elgin website at www.cityofelgin.org/sustainability.
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