June 15, 2007 — If everyone in the Virgin Islands threw out their incandescent light bulbs and switched to compact fluorescent lights (CFL), it would equal taking more than 16,000 vehicles off the road in terms of annual emissions savings.
And getting rid of incandescent bulbs is exactly what John Klein, energy consultant for the V.I. Water and Power Authority, would like to see happen.
At a luncheon meeting of the St. Thomas-St. John Chamber of Commerce, Klein challenged the Chamber to push for legislation that would make energy-sucking incandescent bulbs illegal in the territory.
"Incandescent bulbs do a better job as heaters than light providers," Klein said. He also said a single 13-watt CFL saves $30 a year in energy costs. Each one of those cool, spiraling, little bulbs also prevents 660 pounds of emissions from spewing forth from WAPA over its lifetime, Klein said.
Klein and WAPA spokeswoman Cassandra Dunn didn't soft-pedal the energy realities of the Virgin Islands. Dunn was clear that the consumers could do a lot more to save energy than WAPA can, which has been said before.
But some of what Klein and Dunn had to say may have been news to a few of the three dozen chamber members in attendance at the luncheon held at Fajitas restaurant at the Carib Beach Hotel.
Only 30 percent of the greenhouse gases causing global warming come from transportation emission, Klein said. The other 70 percent comes from energy consumption.
The focus of the 45-minute presentation was what businesses can and should do to cut their energy costs: Turn off the lights, turn up the air conditioning and use fans to enhance the effect of the air conditioning.
Klein is a practical man who does not believe people have to "suffer" in order to conserve energy. He doesn't suggest living in the dark; he says simply, "If you are not in the room, turn off the lights" and the fans. It is practical and easy to use natural means for light, he said. He calls it “harvesting daylight," which couldn't have been more evident as a practical means of saving energy as the group sat with a gentle breeze cooling the open-air restaurant: The sun sparkling off the shimmering turquoise waters of Lindbergh Bay provided more than enough light.
In contrast, Klein said that whenever he steps into a store on Main Street in St. Thomas, he is "freezing." A few members of the audience also mentioned the local movie theater, where patrons are seen wearing sweatshirts and even donning blankets to keep warm in the icy theaters.
Meanwhile, not only are the stores cold, but blasts of cold air hit the streets from the blasting A-C. Klein mentioned an energy-efficient building in Sacramento, Calif., where the air conditioning is kept at 79 degrees. With proper humidity control, Klein said, it was "quite comfortable."
While he understands why Main Street businesses have to keep their doors open, he said, they should turn up the air conditioning and be wise about where their thermostats are placed. "Not by the front door," he said. "For every degree the A-C is turned up, there is a four percent savings in energy costs.”
But it's not just about costs — it's also about global warming. Both Klein and Dunn said it's going to be awhile before WAPA gets anywhere close to converting from 100 percent use of oil to fuel its generators to alternative energy. Meanwhile, the savings in pollution and greenhouse gases is equal to or greater than the monetary savings.
The production of energy using fossil fuels is the largest single contributor to greenhouse-gas emissions in the United States and the world, according to Klein's presentation. Of total 2005 U.S. carbon-dioxide (CO2) emissions, about 98 percent resulted from the combustion of fossil fuels for energy production, according to data from the U.S. Energy Office.
But much closer to home, Klein said if 55,000 Virgin Islanders reduced their energy consumption by 30 percent — which he believes they can easily do, mostly by changing out all their incandescent light bulbs — the environmental savings would be equivalent to:
— 62,555 pounds of CO2 equivalent emissions prevented;
— 13,540 passenger cars not driven for one year;
— 7.1 million gallons of gasoline saved;
— 145,476 barrels of oil saved;
— Powering 8,030 households with electricity for one year; and
— 513 acres of forest preserved.
It would also save $30 million for consumers at current rates.
As for the energy savings in an incandescent-lightbulb ban that WAPA is recommending be fully implemented by 2009, $33 million a year was the figure Klein threw out — on an investment of only $2.5 million in CFLs. That's a 1300-percent return on investment, he pointed out.
The Legislature is obviously key to the solution he proposes. In California, a bill has been drafted called "How many senators does it take to change a lightbulb," he said. Eight would be the answer in the Virgin Islands.
After the meeting, Klein — who Dunn pointed out is passionate about energy conservation — said he hoped the chamber would take the lead on the incandescent-lightbulb ban initiative.
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