EarthCARE Students in Action

Trillium students promoting the LED light exchange in their classrooms.

Two of the students who are working on the Trillium ES program are shown visiting classrooms to promote the LED light exchange program. Josyé is wrapped up in incandescent lights and Taylor shows a picture of the LED lights.

Trillium Elementary School Participates in Hydro Ottawa's LED Exchange program

January 7, 2007

Sylvie Chilibeck is the EarthCARE Team leader at Trillium Elementary School. The school participated in the LED Exchange program sponsored by Hydro Ottawa, in cooperation with Hydro One for those OCDSB schools outside the Hydro Ottawa area.

Learn more about Hydro Ottawa's LED Exchange program - PDF.

Hydro Ottawa offered a limited number of seasonal LED lights to schools in the Ottawa-Carleton area in exchange for incandescent strings of lights.
Why?

• To remove inefficient incandescent lights from the grid and replace them with more efficient lights. All incandescent lights, boxed for pickup, were properly recycled by Hydro Ottawa.
• To reach as many homes as possible with the limited number of free LED lights in order to increase awareness. Hydro Ottawa encouraged the use of their coupon to purchase additional LEDs before November 30th.

The demonstration worked ... the next morning they received 16 strings of lights and eventually collected 90 strings!

Students from 40 Ottawa Carleton District School Board schools participated in this innovative environmental program in November. Students encouraged families from their school community to trade in two strings of their incandescent lights for a string of energy efficient LED Christmas Lights. The schools collected 2,400 strings of incandescent lights which were then recycled. This yielded 48,000 kWh savings or enough to power 5.3 households for a year. It also removed 13.4 kilograms of CO₂ from entering the atmosphere.

35 of the schools also used the exchange as fundraiser for local charities such as local food banks and the snowsuit fund and some raised funds for their school?s environmental clubs for items like vermi-composters. They collected over $1500 for these charities. Hydro Ottawa properly recycled the incandescent lights collected and will be donating the money raised from this recycling to support the school breakfast programs in the OCDSB.