Residents can cut cost, be 'green'
By Angela Greiner Contributing Writer

Marlborough - The Climate Action Network (CAN) has declared the month of July "Energy Independence Month." The Marlborough organization was developed over the winter as part of a national effort to raise citizen awareness and to implement strategies to reduce the amount of carbon dioxide emissions going into the atmosphere.

These efforts are part of an international effort to stop what is becoming a recognized by world leaders as a global warming crisis that is resulting in temperature and atmo- spheric changes throughout the world.

The CAN has spent the past several months educating members and partnering with businesses in the community to implement a grassroots "lights campaign" that would drastically reduce the amount of carbon dioxide emissions. The main goal of the campaign is to get residents to replace incandescent bulbs with energy saving compact fluorescent light bulbs (CFLs).

According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), with 38 percent of carbon dioxide emissions in the United States coming from the generation of electricity at fossil-fuel-burning plants, the generation of electricity is the largest source of carbon dioxide emissions in the country.

The EPA estimates that if all of the houses in the United States were to use CFLs exclusively, the amount of electricity consumed nationally would drop 10 to 15 percent. Not only would this have a desirable affect on the atmosphere, but the reduction of electricity usage also means a reduction in consumers' electric bills.

Local hardware store Monnick Supply, located at 222A East Main St. in Marlborough, is joining the efforts by giving out free CFLs to the first 30 customers in its store every Saturday through the month of July. The store is owned by Paul Montalbano.

"This is a very worthwhile and necessary effort and we welcome the chance to do our part," Montalbano said.

In addition to the free bulbs, the store offers the bulbs at $.99 each.

"It does not cost a lot for folks to help save energy," Montalbano said.

Members of the CAN will also distribute free light bulbs and educational information to the first 50 people at the Post Office on Saturday mornings through July. Jennifer Boudrie is one of the founding members of CAN.

"Clearly we all need to do our part right now and we need to start in our own communities," Boudrie said. "We applaud our local businesses for playing a vital role in this important 'green' community effort."

Both Home Depot and Wal-Mart also have a large selection and supply of CFLs starting at $.97 each. The CAN is also providing assistance to senior citizens in the community interested in converting to CFLs. Incandescent light bulbs can be disposed of in the regular trash, but should be wrapped to avoid injury, while CFLs should be disposed of at the residential drop-off facility.

For more information about the CAN, questions about purchasing or replacing bulbs, or if you are a senior interested in converting to CFLs, contact Jennifer Boudrie at 508-481-0569 or at jen@ boudrie.com.

"Working together we can truly make a difference," Boudrie said.