Carmel Students Receive Lugar Energy Patriot Award

Left to right: Brandy Yost, Tim Wellmen, Ben Webb, Eric Chen, and Devika Chakrabarti.

Is going green patriotic? U.S. Senator Richard Lugar thinks so. For more than a decade, Senator Lugar has stressed the economic and strategic importance of energy security, and recently introduced a Practical Energy and Climate Bill. U.S. military personnel think so too. At a Flag Day event in Indianapolis, retired Major General George Buskirk of Zionsville cited the Department of Defense Quadrennial Defense Review declaring that “climate change will play a significant role in shaping the future security environment for the defense of the USA.”

But real change happens locally – on the ground and in the trenches. Concerned about the global implications of energy waste, Ben Webb, a junior at Carmel High School, and several of his peers started the Green Lights Club last fall to green their neighborhoods. The students wanted to make a difference in the community that would inspire others to take action as well. They developed an energy conservation program to promote energy efficient CFLs for post lights. They targeted the ubiquitous post light because many homeowners associations in Carmel require outside lamp posts to be lit all night, and according to the Carmel Green Initiative, switching to a CFL would save a homeowner $20 a year and reduce their carbon footprint by 400 pounds annually.

So how green is your neighborhood? You probably recycle, but what about your outdoor lights? Do energy hogs burn brightly in your yard at night? If you have an unpatriotic, inefficient incandescent bulb in your outdoor post light, here’s something you should know.

Night after night these little gremlins feast on coal-generated watts from sunset to sunrise all year long. The pollution from these inefficient bulbs add up primarily because Indiana gets most of its energy from coal-fired power plants and has one of the country’s highest per capita carbon footprints. In 2007, Forbes magazine ranked Indiana the 49th greenest state!

“Switching the post lights was the easiest way to have a big impact on energy use and carbon reduction with very little cost and effort,” said Webb. “When we began the program, we wanted students and neighbors to understand they could literally make a ton of difference by switching just five post lights.” Replacing five post lights reduces carbon emissions by 2000 pounds, or one ton of carbon dioxide, the primary contributor to global warming pollution.

The club received $500 from the Carmel Green Teens Micro-grant Program to fund their environmental community service project.

The Green Lights Club kicked into action and distributed 105 CFLs to homeowners in 44 Carmel neighborhoods, which will result in an annual savings of $2,100 for homeowners and reduce pollution by 52.5 tons of carbon dioxide emissions over the life of the new CFL bulbs. Who would think changing light bulbs would have such a significant economic and environmental impact? When you target the heavy hitters like dusk to dawn lighting, the savings quickly adds up.

Wonder which neighborhood was the greenest? It’s a toss-up between Brookshire North, Foster Estates and Williamson Run. Each one of these neighborhoods had at least five homeowners that made the switch and reduced carbon emissions by one ton annually.

The Green Lights Club was named a Lugar Energy Patriot for their creative work on energy conservation. Senator Lugar profiles a student, professional, scholar, or member of the business community who has demonstrated leadership and initiative in taking concrete action to improve America’s energy security.

Lugar Energy Patriots include Carmel High School faculty sponsor Brandy Yost (biology) and students Luke Boehnlein, Eric Chen, Devika Chakrabarti, Katie Clark, Warren Coole, Charlie Dankert, Laura Deluca, Harrison Kim, Sara Levine, Nathalia Melo, Ali Michel, Morgan Robertson, Meghan Rogers, Ben Webb, Renee Wellmen and Tim Wellmen.

“We’re very happy with the positive impact we are having on the economy and the environment,” said Webb. “We’re proud to be named Lugar Energy Patriots and hope it will inspire more homeowners to make the switch to conserve energy.”

The Green Lights Club would like you to join with other neighbors this Fourth of July to make energy independence our reality. Switch your post light to a CFL to green your neighborhood. It’s the patriotic thing to do. To learn more about the Green Lights Club, visit www.carmelgreenlights.com.