WA-Oak Hill CDC CFL Drive

As part of the WA-Oak Hill CDC CFL drive to distribute over 2,000 energy saving CFL bulbs to the school and neighborhood community, students from WA and North High School spent three afternoons installing bulbs into neighborhood apartments along Providence and Aetna St as well as in units of a senior residence building on Upsala St.

Compact fluorescent light bulbs (CFL’s) use up to 75% less energy than incandescent bulbs, and last up to ten times longer. CFL bulbs reduce greenhouse gas emissions, smog, acid rain, and mercury pollution. From the government’s Energy Star website: “If every American home replaced their 5 most frequently used light fixtures or the bulbs in them with ones that have earned the ENERGY STAR, we would save close to $8 billion each year in energy costs, and together we would prevent the greenhouse gases equivalent to the emissions from nearly 10 million cars.”

However they need to be managed properly when broken and recycled when spent. See CFL Bulb Links to the right.

For a direct list of locations in Massachusetts for recycling old bulbs click on RecyclingCFLs

Renewable Energy at WA

The solar demo displayed above is 3, 12 watt portable panels set up on the Radar Quad. Each panel converts light radiation energy into electrical energy as dc current which charges the same batteries used with the pedal-a-watt. Pictured above students ride the “pedal-a-watt” bike which generates electricity that charges a battery which in turn can charge phones, laptops, the gym stereo, etc.

Green Cup Challenge 2008: WA Launches CFL Bulb Initiative

To help kick off the GCC 2008, WA began its 2,350 Compact Fluorescent Light Bulb Initiative tonight by administering 132 of the energy efficient bulbs to dorm students. AOD Mr. Boccuzzi has been a key player in working to prep the boarders for the challenge. Resident faculty are currently ordering bulbs based on their needs and WA will be working this week with Oak Hill CDC to administer the remaining bulbs between the WA community and our Oak and Union Hill neighbors. The impact will be huge: up to 7,600 kW-hrs conserved for the WA campus during the GCC and an annual 99,000 kW-hr reduction for the entire project. This annual savings is equal to the amount of power used each year by 8-10 average households. (click on document below for more numbers).  cflroi.doc

WA converts to LED Exit Signs

Worcester Academy’s head electrician has been busy installing 73 LED (Light Emitting Diode) exit signs (use 2 watts/sign) in place of the older incandescent exit signs that used up to 40 watts/sign. Since exit signs are on 24-7 they make a huge impact on our energy use. This LED project will save WA $2,570 a year, pay for the cost of the new signs in 3.5 months, and reduce our monthly energy consumption by 1,643 kW-hrs (roughly equal to two homes total monthly electricity use). Another huge benefit of this green technology is that these LED exit signs will only need to be replaced every 10 years or longer compared to the older signs which needed to be replaced every 6 months: translates to a huge savings in labor costs.