Light Bulb Brigade Offsets to a Different Beat

Looking for a way to decrease your college’s or university’s carbon footprint? Rather than purchasing carbon offsets from businesses with unproven track records, schools can instead look to their own backyards. The students at Oberlin College have cut out the middle man and guaranteed their carbon offset efforts are effective by investing directly in their community.

While some schools purchase carbon offsets to reduce their carbon footprint, carbon offsets are unregulated by the Federal Trade Commission. This makes it nearly impossible for a school to verify their effectiveness, and some carbon offsets companies invest the money ineffectively. Instead, Oberlin College senior Kristin Braziunas and her fellow “Light Bulb Brigade” at the college handed out 10,000 compact florescent light bulbs, or CFLs, to churches, department stores, and residents in the surrounding community. She exchanged incandescent light bulbs for the CFLs, reaching about 800 residents. CFLs use about 75 percent less electricity than traditional incandescent bulbs, depending on the model. About 48 percent of the country’s electricity comes from coal-fired power plants, which are responsible for 40 percent of America’s carbon dioxide emissions, and CFLs can cut carbon emissions by reducing the amount of energy those plants must produce to meet demand. If every American home replaced just one CFL, the emissions reductions would equal to taking 800,000 cars off the road.

Braziunas, in addition to reaching about a quarter of the population of Oberlin, claims she cut about 6,500 tons of carbon from the atmosphere. The institution can measure its carbon reduction based on the how many bulbs are distributed, and unlike other carbon offset credits, Oberlin College can monitor and verify their investment. But the students don’t just hand out bulbs; they also educate their community about the importance of emissions reductions and energy efficiency. Many colleges and universities, from Notre Dame to Princeton, have established CFL exchange programs on their campus, reducing the institution’s overall carbon emissions, but few are expanding this program to the surrounding community. Until the Federal Trade Commission regulates carbon offsets, Oberlin students may be setting a trend for colleges and universities across the nation.

Tags: education, Energy

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