Light Fantastic Brierly Hill

Visitors: 600
Bulbs distributed: 1200
Powerdown Units distributed: 240
CO2 saved (lifetime): 173,208kg
Retained economic benefit (lifetime): £90,383
Most people who visited the stall had not undertaken many measures yet to reduce their energy use and everyone was very positive and appreciative of the service we were offering. We were able to sign post some people to cheap or free insulation. We also had a number of enquiries about solar water heating and met a guy who is going to re-roof his house with solar tiles.
The energy bike went down a treat as well with the young and old having a go. We set up three low energy light bulbs against a standard incandescent and people were amazed that it took the same energy to power both.
Lastly, a story which I think sums up the advantage of having people on the street answering questions rather than sending light bulbs or energy monitoring forms through the post. We had one visitor who did not like low energy light bulbs (there is always at least one). He had fitted one CFL in his upper hallway and each time the bulbs had stopped working after a few months. For this reason he did not believe the longevity claims of CFLs and was unwilling to fit them to the rest of his house. After a long discussion it was revealed that the loft hatch is right next to the light fitting and he and his wife regularly go up into the loft to store their children's toys. In doing so, they move the light out of the way with the top of the ladder - it does not have a shade. I suggested to him that the ladder was making a hairline crack in the bulb, leading to it blowing. A (low energy) light bulb lit in his head. I gave him four new bulbs to try and a list of stockists for the more hard to get bulbs (he has 10 GU10 halogens in his kitchen). He was so pleased he came back twice to thank me.