Carbon Offsets Available For New Orleans Bulb Project

There are 3 million light bulbs in the city of New Orleans and the Green Light New Orleans organization is working to replace all of them with energy efficient bulbs. So far, they’ve changed over about 60,000 incandescent bulbs for compact fluorescent lights throughout New Orleans. The volunteers making the switch are operating at a rate of 15,000 per month.

Green Light New Orleans is funded by private sources, which now include carbon offsets the light bulb changeover has generated. Carbon offset funding may raise more than $3 million, depending on the number of light bulbs the organization replaces. EcoSecurities is acting as an advisor to Green Light New Orleans for their carbon offset program.

Andi Hoffmann, a musician who has lived in New Orleans for 15 years, founded the program: "After Katrina I knew I had to do something to reduce the impact my life as a touring musician was having on the environment. I founded Green Light New Orleans to reverse global warming by helping people to make the switch, one house at a time. Our strategy is to actually go to the homes of New Orleans residents and install the CFLs ourselves, so the bulbs are put to immediate use. The installation is done by volunteers from New Orleans and across the country and the program is free."

The personal touch seems to be paying off: the CFL bulbs go into use immediately, rather than laying around until a home owner gets around to screwing them in.

Image courtesy Green Light New Orleans