LED Brighter Communities (LEDbc) provides ideas and resources that teens and caring community members can use to help their communities convert to LED. We help people figure out how to help others change from energy-consuming traditional lighting to LED in this busy and complicated world.
In addition to sharing ideas for possible projects on our website, we can learn from the success of others. Here are some of the successful projects we know of that have helped people to convert to LED.
Please be sure to share your story with local traditional media and web resources. This includes your local tv stations and school media outlets. Don’t be shy – the more we can help people understand the impact of converting to LED the better. Once you implement a project, please let us know. We’d love to share your story!
“Try-It, You’ll Like It” LED Campaign
This student had intended to help her neighborhood convert to LED. She spent months developing an awareness campaign and plans for delivering LED bulbs to neighbors, but the pandemic had other plans.
Needing to limit interaction with others, Annalise recalibrated her efforts and worked with the owner of her town’s grocery store to set up an informational display.
The display helped residents understand that, based on local electric rates, simply changing a 60 watt bulb would reduce a homeowner’s spending on electricity for lighting by $7 per year!
Her program gained regional attention on the front page of the Sunday business section section of the area newspaper.
Convert a Non-Profit: Habitat for Humanity ReStore
One of the greatest contributions one can make is to help others. Once this duo learned that their local ReStore could benefit by converting to LED, they sprang into action.
Harrison and Will met with the store manager and researched what it would take to convert to LED, using information from local suppliers and online resources. They determined a budget for the project, learned about fundraising, developed a GoFundMe online fundraising plan, then gained the approval to proceed from the agency’s leadership.
Next, they implemented an online and traditional media communications effort to gain attention for the project. The pair raised over $4,000 and implemented the installation. Their effort has significantly increased the energy efficiency of the store and provided improved illumination of the sales and back room areas for customers, volunteers and employees.
At the Cedar Valley National Philanthropy Day luncheon October 2021, the team was named the Youth Award recipients for their work converting the ReStore to LED. Harrison and Will have also earned Congressional Award Bronze Medals for initiative, service, and achievement which includes their LED project.
Progress on their story is featured on the 97.7 KCRR and K92.3 radio websites and their completion is documented here.
"Convert to LED and Save" Public Service Announcement
Recognizing the need to educate the public about the benefits of LED lighting, one high school student worked with local professionals at Kohloff Media to create a public service announcement (PSA) for 93.5 The Mix radio. Klaertje researched the impacts of LED conversion and honed her communication skills to produce the PSA. She has also submitted her project as part of the requirements for earning a Congressional Award Bronze medal.
A Book to Educate Children and Families
Student Emmajean is writing a children’s story book about switching to LED light bulbs. She is working with a publisher to complete her project and make the book available for students and their families to learn about the benefits of using LED bulbs.
Real Estate Listings Conversion Project
Cedar Falls High School student Jake has begun work with a prominent real estate agency to set up a process for converting bulbs and marketing listed homes as such. Use of our proposed smart phone app would simplify the conversion process. Once our pilot program is in place, this should be an easy model to replicate in other areas. Our work has shown that even in new homes common bulb types are often not LED!
