During the 2006-2007 academic year, Cynthia Boyle, a staff member at Charter Oaks Apartment Complex, noticed that roughly half of the work orders received were for light bulb replacements alone. Each bulb replacement took roughly half an hour and cost approximately $22 in labor costs. Cynthia contacted Henry Dombrowski, a senior finance major and student staff member at the apartments, to conduct an analysis calculating what savings the complex could potentially make by switching from incandescent light bulbs to compact fluorescent light bulbs (CFLs).
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Henry Dombrowski and Cindy Boyle display their bright idea
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Henry found that the apartment complex could save over $12,500 a year after initial retrofit since the new bulbs last up to ten times longer and use one fifth the electricity! This is not only good news for the University, but for the environment as well. By reducing energy consumption from every light bulb in the Charter Oaks Apartments, the retrofit would save over 850 tons of CO2 from entering the atmosphere! After reviewing the Cost-Benefit report, it was an easy decision to move forward with the retrofit. Overall, 3108 light bulbs were replaced at the complex by dedicated maintenance workers and volunteers working four hour afternoon shifts over a period of only two weeks. Henry and his brother Paul Dombrowski, a student at Central Connecticut State University, made a friendly competition of the retrofit, which Paul won.
The cost and time savings from the retrofit are already significant. In fact, Hilltop Apartment Complex is now scheduled for the next light bulb replacement. Thanks to these innovative individuals, the campus community is a little brighter!
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Each apartment at Charter Oaks, like this one, were retrofitted with energy-saving Compact Fluorescent Light bulbs! |
Page last updated 11/24/08. MNR
