How many 7th graders does it take to cut a town’s electric bill?
Wednesday, April, 15, 2009—Not many people can say they’ve helped their community save $18,000. Kent Hutchison can—and he’s only in 7th grade.

Hutchison (back row, center) helped his community save $18,000.
After his father installed energy-efficient Compact Fluorescent Light bulbs (CFLs) throughout their home, Hutchison came up with a money-saving idea. What if he could pass on those energy savings to his fellow students at The Avery Coonley School in Downers Grove?

Hutchison visited CUB’s website to learn more about the bulbs. What he found was that CFLs not only help the planet, but they also help the pocketbook.

“Environmentally they’re great,” Hutchison said. “But economically, they really do have benefits.”

He discovered that CFLs use just a quarter of the energy of regular incandescent bulbs, and each can save up to $50 over its lifetime. He also learned about CUB’s “Get Green” Community Giveaway, where consumers can pledge to use the bulbs in their home and help their community’s chance of winning up to 10,000 bulbs at the end of 2009.

As student council vice president, Hutchison wanted to pass on those savings to his school.

“I wanted to get everyone involved,” he said. “Maybe with 300 more bulbs Downers Grove could have a chance (at winning CUB’s prize).”

With the help of his fellow student council members, Hutchison soon formulated a plan. He delivered a presentation to the students at his school explaining the benefits of CFLs. He even got a laugh from students when he told them how much carbon pollution they’d prevent by using CFLs: 37,682 pounds—equal to the weight of one elephant, two hippos, three rhinoceroses and 1,536.5 chickens!

“It's a tough job to make light bulbs funny!” Hutchison wrote to CUB in an email.

Following the presentation, Hutchison and his fellow student council members passed out 360 bulbs to parents picking their children up from school, along with a CUB handout explaining how the bulbs can help beat the bad economy by saving money on electric bills. With each CFL saving up to $50, the event helped generate up to $18,000 in electricity savings for the community.

“It was really, really awesome,” he said. “I didn’t expect students to become so involved and enthusiastic.”

Although the occasional parent was concerned about the mercury contained in the bulbs, Hutchison said the student council did their best to dispel the myth that CFLs are dangerous. CFLs contain only trace amounts of mercury—what could fit on the head of a ballpoint pen, and emit no mercury unless they break. And by following a few simple cleanup procedures, the broken bulbs can be disposed of harmlessly.

At just 13 years old, Hutchison has already shown a commitment to community service. Someday he hopes to continue helping people by working in medicine. Until then, Hutchison said he’ll continue to cure sick electric bills by bringing his money-saving advice to other schools.