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DEH CHO
Some residents in three Deh Cho communities are now using less electricity as a result of a new program offered by the Arctic Energy Alliance.

Linda Todd, left, and Marie-Soleil Lacoursiere with the Arctic Energy Alliance display some of the 276 incandescent lightbulbs they replaced with compact florescent lightbulbs through the alliance's Light Up the Deh Cho Program. - Roxanna Thompson/NNSL photo

From Aug. 8 to 12, Linda Todd, the alliance's community energy planning co-ordinator and Marie-Soleil Lacoursiere, the alliance's operations co-ordinator, travelled to Jean Marie River, Fort Simpson and Wrigley.

In each community the two women went door to door offering to trade incandescent lightbulbs for new compact fluorescent lightbulbs, at no charge.

Called the Lighting Up the Deh Cho Program, the primary objective of the trade is to help people save money on their power bill, said Lacoursiere.

Each lightbulb replaced in an average home will save $23.80 in electricity each year based on the price of power in the region, she said.

"There were some homes in which homeowners were shocked," she said of the cost difference.

Compact fluorescent and incandescent lightbulbs have approximately the same brightness but the compact bulbs only use 13 watts compared to incandescents that normally use between 60 and 100 watts, said Todd.

Residents in the three communities swapped 276 lightbulbs during the course of five days.

The program allowed residents to trade as many lightbulbs as they wanted.

An average of 10 bulbs were replaced per household but in some cases as many as 19 bulbs were switched.

The proposed trade was only declined at two of the houses Todd and Lacoursiere visited.

In all of the other cases residents either took advantage of the program or had already made the change themselves.

"It's a big success," said Lacoursiere.

The alliance received special funding from the Department of Environment and Natural Resources to offer the program.

The alliance started a similar program last year in the Sahtu but the Deh Cho's has been more systematic, said Todd.

The program is based on an exchange so all of the old bulbs can be disposed of safely, she said.

Once the compact fluorescent bulbs reach their lifespan of approximately 10,000 hours – in roughly seven to 10 years – they should be disposed of with household hazardous waste.

While exchanging lightbulbs, Todd and Lacoursiere also took the opportunity to raise awareness about the alliance and its office branch in Fort Simpson.

In some cases people were just interested in the lightbulbs but in others they invited Todd and Lacoursiere in to talk about their home, renovation plans and how the alliance can assist, said Lacoursiere.

Alliance staff will be continuing the Lighting Up the Deh Cho Program in Nahanni Butte on Aug. 18.

Lacoursiere said the alliance hopes to reach the other Deh Cho communities as well although there are no definite plans at this time.

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