http://www.cpsenergy.com/

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Carver Communications - Index

Carver Communications - 2.1.09 - Index

CPS Energy Encourages SA to
Take the “Million Bulb Challenge”
CPS Energy is teaming up with
HEB and various community organizations
to rebate and distribute one million compact
fluorescent light bulbs (CFLs) in 2009.
CPS Energy Customers can pick up
coupons for $2 or $4 off CFL packs at
HEB. The initiative will help save millions
of kilowatts in 2009 thanks to CFLs. Last
year, CPS Energy helped distribute and
rebate more than 250,000 CFLs. In turn,
the community saved a total of 6,700,000
kilowatts (KW). CPS Energy wants the
number of CFLs in a household to equal
the number of people living in a home.
“The Million Bulb Challenge will
help CPS Energy reach its energy-saving
goals,” said product manager Justin
Chamberlain. “Partnering with HEB helps
us effectively reach our customers in their
communities and neighborhoods.”
Customers
who choose to use
CFLs help supply
CPS Energy with
what it considers its
fifth fuel source -energy
efficiency.
CPS Energy plans
to attempt to
decrease the rate of
Mini Spiral
growth of peak electrical
demand by 10 percent each year over
four years, resulting in a reduction of 115
megawatts (MW) by 2011. CPS Energy is
applying several commercial and residen-
tial energy-efficiency initiatives to help
meet its goal.
So, what’s so great about CFLs?
CFLs use 75 percent less energy than standard
incandescent bulbs and last 10 times
longer. In fact, a homeowner
can save $30 in energy costs
over the lifetime on just one
CFL. CFLs are cooler to the
touch because they use less
energy than conventional bulbs.
By producing less heat in a
home, CFLs create less work
for your air conditioner, it doesn’t
have to work overtime to
cool the air heated by all of those
light bulbs.
The familiar curly-cue shape isn’t
the only style of CFLs available. CFLs
come in a variety of shapes and sizes and fit
almost any indoor and outdoor fixture. If a
customer doesn’t like the spiral look of a
CFL, they can purchase covered A-Shape
CFLs. The A-Shape CFLs are good for
indoors or outdoors. Dimmable and threeway
CFLs provide residents with more
lighting options. Customers need to check
bulb-set packaging for compatibility of
three-way fixtures and dimmers.
Customers also can choose CFLs
that will produce the kind of light they want
in a room. CFLs can produce soft white
light that appears warmer or the kind that
makes a room look as if it is filled with daylight.
CFLs that mimic a daylight-radiance
February 1, 2009 REAL ESTATE NEWSLINE 11
Reflector
can make a room appear cooler.
Residents can be strategic about
placing CFLs in areas of a home that are
illuminated for at least 15 minutes at a time
or several hours per day. Placing the CFLs
in these fixtures will bring the greatest savings.
Fixtures that are on for a substantial
amount of time are usually located in the
kitchen, family room and bedrooms.
If a CFL needs to be disposed
of, residents must make
sure they don’t throw them away
with the trash. Each CFL contains
a very small amount mercury, a
potentially hazardous toxin, within
its glass tubing. The average
mercury content in a CFL is four
milligrams – roughly enough to
cover the tip of a ball-point pen.
By comparison, a watch battery
contains 25 milligrams of mercury while an
old thermometer contains up to 500 milligrams
– the equivalent of more than 125
CFLs.
Home Depot now offers a CFL bulb
recycling program at all of its home
improvement stores. According to Home
Depot, consumers can simply bring in any
expired, unbroken bulbs and give them to
the store associate behind the returns desk.
The bulbs will be packaged, transported
and recycled safely by an environmental
management company.
San Antonio residents
can dispose of CFLs and incandescent
bulbs at the City of San
Antonio’s Household
Hazardous Waste (HHW) Drop-
Off Center located
at 7030 Culebra
Road. Disposal is
free to San Antonio
residents who are
asked to bring a
copy of a recent
CPS Energy bill as
proof of residency
(the Environmental Triple Tube
Fee included on a
CPS Energy bill indicates that you are a
San Antonio solid waste ratepayer).
No mercury is released when CFL
bulbs are intact (not broken) or in use. If a
CFL breaks, precautions should be taken.
The EPA offers specific clean-up and disposal
instructions to reduce mercury exposure
and ensure consumer safety. The
instructions can be found by going to
http://www.epa.gov/mercury/spills.
CPS Energy is the nation's largest
municipally owned energy company providing
both natural gas and electric service.
Acquired by the City of San Antonio in
1942, the company serves approximately
690,000 electric customers and almost
320,000 natural gas customers in and
around America's seventh-largest city. CPS
Energy ranks among the nation's lowestcost
energy providers, owns the highest
financial ratings of any electric
system in the U. S., and
stands number 1 in windenergy
capacity among
municipally owned utilities
across the country. For more
details about CFLs, go to
cpsenergy.com.
A-Shape