Efficiency Maine Adds Energy-Efficient Light Bulbs to Food Banks' Bounty

Efficiency Maine and the Good Shepherd Food Bank have partnered to lower energy bills for the neediest Mainers, through a program to distribute compact fluorescent light (CFL) bulbs along with food to low-income families at the food bank’s network of 260 food pantries statewide.

Through Good Shepherd, Efficiency Maine will make over 200,000 compact fluorescent bulbs available for distribution to food pantries throughout the state. In the week before Christmas, the food bank’s warehouses in Portland, Auburn, and Brewer received the first shipment of 88,000 bulbs for distribution.

Food pantries such as Preble Street and The Root Cellar who visit Good Shepherd’s warehouses weekly select items based on each pantry’s local needs.

One of the first bulb distributions took place on Friday, December 23, 2011, when the Root Cellar distributed energy-saving bulbs to visitors. The Root Cellar is located at 94 Washington Avenue in Portland.

CFL bulbs use 75% less energy than incandescent bulbs. The three-pack of bulbs being added to each food bag can save homeowners as much as $20 per year for the next six to 10 years on their electricity bill.

Efficiency Maine’s Residential Lighting Program helped sell 1.9 million bulbs last year, saving all Maine ratepayers over $47 million in estimated energy savings over the life of the bulbs.

Efficiency Maine is an independent trust dedicated to promoting the more efficient and cost-effective use of energy in order to save money for Maine residents and businesses, grow the economy, and create jobs. The organization helps businesses and residents across the State of Maine to use energy resources more efficiently, reduce energy costs, and lighten the impact on Maine’s environment from the burning of fossil fuels. Efficiency Maine’s energy saving programs reduce the use of heating fuels and electricity through energy efficiency improvements and the use of cost-effective renewable resources. For more information, visit www.EfficiencyMaine.com or call 1-866-376-2463. 

Since 1981, the Good Shepherd Food-Bank has worked diligently to establish essential partnerships with many others concerned about ending needless hunger here in Maine. FMI please visit their website.