San Francisco, California, 10.20.05

Randall Whitehead, a California based lighting designer and author, has been named the spokesman for the Environmental Protection Agency's Change a Light, Change the World program. Their goal is to challenge Americans to do their part to help the environment by taking a seemingly simple action: switching to lighting products (bulbs and fixtures) that have earned the ENERGY STAR label - to make a huge collective difference for our environment.

The campaign is supported by a comprehensive marketing and media relations effort. The EPA has enlisted Whitehead, a well respected lighting design expert, to discuss energy-efficient lighting with the trade media, syndicated consumer and design writers, and TV & print in selected national outlets and local target markets. This outreach could take the form of a "Fixture Road Show" hitting several cities at once, focus on one market (such as New York City), or more "on-call" as media opportunities come up.

The focus will be on energy efficient lighting, primarily compact fluorescents. The switch to CFL's, as they're commonly called, is part of the U.S. Environmental Protection campaign which has greater household energy conservation as its goal.

While campaign materials stress the money consumers can save, the EPA says there's a more important benefit: If less energy is used, less fossil fuel will be burned by power plants, this will result in less air pollution and a healthier environment.

As for the Energy Star label, it indicates that a product is energy-efficient and dependable. Created in 1992 by the U.S. Department of Energy and the Environmental Protection Agency, the voluntary program's main aim is to reduce air pollution. To rate an Energy Star, a product must meet criteria that are significantly higher than minimal federal standards on pollution and quality.

According to the EPA, if one room in every house in the United States was lit with Energy Star lighting, that would prevent air pollution equivalent to the emissions from 8 million cars.

Whitehead will stress that new CFLs, unlike earlier models, don't hum or flicker and they produce the same warm, bright light as incandescent bulbs. His approach to the campaign is to make fluorescents sexier. He has demonstrated this by replacing all the household bulbs in his own home with fluorescents. The bulbs were supplied by Philips Lighting which has a whole series of compact fluorescents that are dimmable with a standard incandescent dimmer.

In California, where Whitehead lives and works, some fluorescents are already mandated. Those who have purchased new homes in the past few years have some fluorescent lighting in their kitchens and bathrooms whether they want it or not. That's because California's Title 24 energy-efficiency standard, in the building code, requires new-home builders to install some "high efficacy" lighting in those traditionally energy-hungry rooms. For all practical purposes, "high efficacy" means fluorescent lighting at present but potentially could include other types of lighting such as light emitting diodes, commonly known as LEDs.

Mr. Whitehead looks forward to his involvement in the program and fully supports the efforts of the EPA.