Changing Bulbs to Try and Help Change Lives
Volunteers go door-to-door to provide residents with tools to conserve energy and save money
By Dele Johnson, AmeriCorps VISTA Member, Groundwork Denver
On a wonderfully warm Monday, January 21, in honor of Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, Groundwork Denver mobilized 85 volunteers in the Northeast Park Hill neighborhood. Volunteers went door-to-door, offering free Compact Fluorescent (CFL) light bulbs, along with resources for home energy efficiency.
Each CFL bulb volunteers swapped for a resident’s incandescent porch bulb helps the homeowner save $6 and 69 kilowatt hours (kWh) of energy per year. In addition to receiving energy conserving light bulbs, residents also had the chance to register for a free home energy assessment, be signed up for free recycling, or apply for a free street tree.
This year marked the second time that Groundwork Denver has brought the MLK Day Neighborhood Energy Action event to the Park Hill area, our previous event occurring in 2011. The event is not only for bringing the practice of home energy efficiency to Park Hill. It also brings us a step closer to Dr. King’s vision of the “Beloved Community,” by bringing together volunteers from all walks of life to work together to provide a community with the tools and resources necessary to create changes in the home to save money and reduce energy usage, which benefits individuals and the environment.
At the end of the day, Groundwork Denver volunteers gave away a total of 555 CFL bulbs in the name of home energy efficiency to residents of the Northeast Park Hill area. This will result in an estimated total of $3,447 annual savings by participating residents and a reduction of 33.3 tons per year in C02 emissions.
Groundwork Denver is a nonprofit organization that works to improve the physical environment through community-based partnerships and action. Neighborhood Energy Action volunteers have changed out over 13,000 porch bulbs in the last three years, saving $468,000 on electricity bills and reducing greenhouse emissions by 4860 tons. Visit Groundwork Denver online at facebook.com/GroundworkDenver.