City of St. Louis, Ameren Missouri Save Residents Money and Decrease the City’s Carbon Footprint

Mayor Slay, Richard Mark from Ameren Missouri, Alderman Jeffery Boyd, and Dr. Edwin Bailey from Omega Psi Phi gathered at City Hall today to announce a new Energy Saving St. Louis initiative. This collaborative project will first distribute 27,000 energy-efficient Compact Fluorescent Light Bulbs (CFLs) to more than 6000 households in the 22nd ward and in the College Hill neighborhood on January 17, 2011. Then, as the program continues over the next six months, up to 400,000 CFLs will be distributed to City residents. These bulbs use 75% less energy than standard incandescent bulbs, produce about 75% less heat, and last up to ten times longer. Because they use less energy and last longer, they will help residents save on utility bills, too.

“This is an excellent collaboration between the City of St. Louis, Ameren Missouri, community partners, and hundreds of volunteers,” said Mayor Slay. “These bulbs will be distributed on Monday, January 17, as part of the City’s Martin Luther King Day of Service project. Distributing 27,000 light bulbs to residents in the 22nd ward and the College Hill neighborhood is a huge undertaking, but it is one that will both save City residents money and will decrease the City’s carbon footprint.”

“Energy efficiency benefits all of us – and that’s why Ameren Missouri is proud to provide all 27,000 CFL bulbs to the City of St. Louis for distribution,” said Richard Mark of Ameren Missouri. “Ameren Missouri is committed to providing energy efficiency programs like this to meet our customer’s energy needs in a safe, reliable, efficient, and environmentally responsible manner.”

Each household visited will receive a package containing four energy-efficient CFL bulbs and literature explaining the benefits and proper use of CFL bulbs. A group of more than 500 volunteers, lead by the Americorps Coordinated Service Team, will distribute 25,000 bulbs throughout the 22nd ward through a central staging location at the Omega Center at 3900 Goodfellow. Community partners will also work to distribute 2,000 bulbs to residents in the City’s College Hill neighborhood.

“This distribution effort reflects the need for energy efficiency on a community level,” said 22nd Ward Alderman Jeffery Boyd. “This effort will not only encourage residents of the 22nd ward to be more energy efficient, but each CFL bulb will save residents about $30 over the bulb’s lifetime – so this project is essentially putting money back in residents' wallets. I’m proud that my ward is the first to participate in this important mission.”

The Energy Saving St. Louis collaboration is being designed to make CFLs available to every residential household in the City of St. Louis.

Studies show that lighting accounts for close to 20% of the average home’s electric bill. If every home in America replaced just one incandescent light bulb with a CFL, it would prevent the release of greenhouse gas emissions equal to that of about 800,000 cars.

The City of St. Louis is a member of the Cities of Service, a bi-partisan coalition of Mayors from across the country who work together to engage citizens to address the challenges of our times. To help encourage and coordinate service projects, the City of St. Louis has three grant-funded Americorps members working out of and in coordination with Mayor Slay’s office. Supplies used to distribute the CFLs are being paid for with ARRA Stimulus funds from the City’s Energy Efficiency and Conservation Block Grant award from the U.S. Department of Energy.

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