Saving Tax Dollars and Reducing Our Carbon Footprint

On Friday Jim Toth installed the 10 13-watt Compact Fluorescent Light
(CFL) bulbs donated by Janice Kurkoski, replacing existing 60-watt bulbs
in the following locations:
	*	front door outside, one bulb
	*	front door inside, two-bulb fixture
	*	landing between dining room and stairs, two-bulb fixture
	*	rear door outside, two-bulb fixture
	*	rear door inside, two-bulb fixture
	*	handicapped bathroom, one bulb
He had previously replaced the single bulb in the hanging fixture at the
top of the stairs. That leaves all the fixtures in the main hall and
back stage, the attic, the sub-cellar and the flood light at the rear
door as the remaining incandescent bulbs in the town hall. The 60-watt
bulbs removed were placed in the boiler room for replacement stock when
one of the little-used bulbs burns out.

Jim reports:

Shortly after replacing the bulbs it was dark and I checked to see how
much light was given off. The main entry and the landing between dining
room and stairs both seemed much brighter. Perhaps one of the 60 watt
bulbs had burned out in each of the fixtures. I never tested them
beforehand. When I checked the three lights by the rear door, the flood
light flashed and burned out and tripped the circuit breaker. After
resetting the breaker, the flood light remains out and the other five
bulbs appear to be working fine now.

David Young reported that the new bulb at the top of the stairs had
burned out already. When I then tested it, it was working. David says
that he did not change out the burned out bulb. Since that fixture is
such a pain to deal with, I did not open it up to see if it was still a
cfl. Perhaps it was only a temporary glitch... [Janice Kurkoski
commented, "The 26W CFL bulb upstairs in the globe may take a second and
a half to come on, so David may not have waited long enough."]

While changing the bulbs, I noted that some plastic had melted in the
inside fixture by the rear door and that the paint had peeled around the
fixture at the landing between dining room and stairs. I don't know if
bulbs larger than 60 watts were used in the past. Hopefully the cooler
CFL bulbs will be less likely to start a fire.

How many building and energy committee members does it take to change
ten light bulbs? One to do the changing and write about it and five
others to read about it.