Joe Pyrah

Q: How many dollars does it take to convince a lawmaker to change a light bulb?

Two years ago Curtis Clark started working on ways to save state government 20 percent on its energy consumption by 2015. The answer he came up with is simple on its face: use better light bulbs. Last year the state Energy Manager asked for $1.5 million to put his plan into action.

Buried in a Capital Facilities & Government Operations Appropriations Subcommittee meeting recently was Clark's report on his labors. Using the $1.5 million plus another $700,000 that was already available, he replaced 75,000 old florescent tubes with more efficient versions.

The result? An expected annual savings of $670,000 a year over the next 15 years plus $974,000 in utility incentives. (The savings kick in beginning 2010.) That's $9 million in energy savings on a $2.2 million investment. That's good for a 39 percent internal rate of return. A good CD will get you 5 percent, and perhaps it's best not to consider real estate or the stock market.

With those kinds of results, Clark did what anyone with a good idea does: He asked for more money.

In Wednesday's meeting, he asked for another $5 million for more energy savings projects at a long-term savings of $16 million, a 30 percent internal rate of return.

A series of tubes

Above Clark's desk in the old State Office Building are a couple of T12 fluorescent lights. It's those lights he has been replacing for the past seven months with the more efficient "premium" T8s.

In their trial run, they went after the "extremely low-hanging fruit" to find energy savings. That includes the State Hospital in Provo with a $10,000 annual savings and the University of Utah's HYPER building with a $28,000 savings. In some instances, it takes a few years of savings to recoup the cost of the replacements, but in others the original energy consumption was so bad it only took a month or two to pay off the costs.

Clark, who's been an engineer for 30 years, smiles like a kid when he runs down the numbers and speaks about the simplicity of the solution.

"I think government should be setting the example," he said.

In his state of the state address, Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr. asked Utahns to change their light bulbs and shut off their cars instead of idling them. The state is working on converting its fleet to hybrid vehicles. During the recent Capitol renovation, planners found a way to make energy use 43 percent more efficient.

Daylight savings

While it makes up the bulk of energy savings, light replacement isn't the entire solution. No matter how efficient the bulb, if no one turns the lights off it's still going to waste money.

"We think there's a lot of potential in human behavior savings," says Bruce Whittington, the assistant director of the Division of Facilities Construction and Management.

Along with that is the state's own efforts in new construction. While many commercial and governmental agencies across the country are using standards like LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design), Utah has its own standard, albeit a similar one. Some of the aspects include using 40 percent daylight to light a building, and an emphasis on water savings. It ignores such LEED requirements as location because the state doesn't often have a choice of where to put its buildings.

Those new buildings filling the savings standards would be considered "high performance," and Utah County is home to the first one: The UVSC Digital Learning Center.

While the cost of construction is higher, the energy savings in the long run are expected to save nearly $100,000 a year.