Be Green 2: CFL Fundraiser

"It’s conserve, fund-raise, learn – CFL program and it’s a community effort to really save energy within the community," said David Aquino. "We call it conserve, fund-raise, learn because it helps families save money on their electricity bills."

And you heard right – school groups and other community organizations can get CFL lights for free from the Blue Planet Foundation.

"Blue Planet foundation provides the CFL light bulbs to the community groups for free and it’s our effort to reduce the amount of energy that residential households use," Aquino said.

Fund-raisers go door to door offering CFL bulbs to replace incandescents.

"For every single light bulb that they switch out, the community group will get a small cash reward," Aquino explained. "Right now it’s 40 cents per bulb.  It’s a nice fundraiser, you know.  Even though chili’s really good, it’s a nice alternative to the chili fundraiser."

As part of their educational program, Blue Planet takes this electricity generator powered by hand to schools.  David explains the different amounts of energy it takes to power LED, CFL and incandescent bulbs.

"Here we have the LED light bulb which only uses 8 watts," said Aquino. "We have the 13-watt CFL and a 60-watt incandescent.  They all produce the same amount of light but there’re different amounts of energy that it takes to light up the light bulb."  Matthews – "and I’m the energy."  Aquino – "and you’re the energy today."

I spin that generator as fast as I can.  The LED light burns brightly almost immediately.  The CFL begins to glow a short time later – - and it’s all I can do to get the incandescent bulb to barely glow. 

For more information on how your group can get involved in fund-raising with Blue Planet Foundation and the CFL replacement bulbs, click here.