Customers will find prices already marked down on compact fluorescent light bulbs (CFLs), indoor hard-wired fixtures and low-flow showerheads. Markdowns range from about 50 cents below suggested retail for general purpose CFLs to up to $7 on energy-saving showerheads.

Items available through the Simple Steps, Smart Savings program include:

• Twist CFLs – Regular Twists, Daylight Twists and A-Lamps
• Specialty CFLs – Reflectors, Globes, Candelabras, Torpedo Bulbs and Outdoor Lighting
• Fixtures – Indoor Hard-Wired Fixtures
• Showerheads – Those using 2.0 gallons per minute or less (showerhead discounts available at Costco and Fred Meyer only)

To find the store nearest you, visit the PUD website. Remember to recycle your used CFLS at any PUD office.

A ductless heat pump, visible above the wood cabinet, provides quiet, efficient heating in the winter and cooling in the summer.

If you’ve got an aging baseboard or wall heating system in your home, you may be eligible for help replacing that system this year.

Chelan County PUD is planning a pilot program in 2012 to help install ductless heat pump systems. The PUD will offer rebates of approximately $750 per eligible household to help offset the cost of the units, which ranges from $3,000 to $5,000. Homeowners with electric baseboard or wall heaters would be given top consideration, but homes with other electric heat types may be eligible. Local contractors will be invited to participate in a training course to learn about installing and maintaining ductless heat pumps.

A ductless heat pump is a highly efficient and easily installed primary heating and cooling system for electrically heated homes. Ductless systems are ideal for replacing or supplementing less efficient electric baseboard or wall heaters (and window air conditioners in the summer).

Ductless systems operate using 25 percent to 50 percent less energy than electric resistance zonal and forced air systems. Regionally, use of a ductless heating and cooling system in a single-family home with zonal electric heat is estimated to save 3,500 kWh annually. Using Chelan PUD’s average cost of $0.03 per kilowattt hour, upgrading to a ductless heating and cooling system as a primary heat source can save approximately $105 per year. In addition, ductless heat pumps are safer, quieter, and heat rooms more efficiently than zonal heat. And they provide air conditioning in the summer.

If you are a Chelan County homeowner interested in upgrading from baseboard or wall heating systems to a ductless heat pump, send us an e-mail or call (509) 661-8008.

More information about how ductless heat pumps work, their costs and energy savings is available at goingductless.com.

Lighting contest winner Marilyn Sterley's home at 624 8th St. N.E., East Wenatchee

It’s been looking a lot like Christmas at Marilyn Sterley’s house in East Wenatchee for quite some time now — and she’s done it with energy-saving LEDs.

Sterley, the winner by popular vote of the 2011 Wenatchee World holiday lighting contest, said she began replacing her incandescent light strings with light-emitting diode strings as soon as the new technology was introduced. Now all the light strings are LEDs. “They’re brighter and better,” she noted. LEDs use a quarter of the energy used by traditional holiday lighting and last up to 10 times longer.

Sterley said the dominant color in her decorating scheme is blue. The blue incandescent bulbs she used to use faded quickly and had to be replaced after one season. The blue LEDs hold their color and never seem to fade, she said.

While all of Sterley’s strings are LEDs, she has several lighted figures that use incandescent bulbs. She’ll replace those with LEDs once manufacturers make the switch, she said.

Learn more about the benefits of LED holiday lighting here.

Here are some reasons to consider LED lighting for your holiday decorating this year:

• Energy-efficient – 0.08 watts per LED C7 multicolor bulb (compared with 0.48 watts for an incandescent mini-light and 6.0 watts for a standard incandescent C7 bulb.)
• Long life span – up to 100,000 hours or more used indoors, half that outdoors, and some manufacturers provide a limited lifetime warranty.
• Safety – no chance of combustion since the bulbs are cool to the touch, regardless of how long they are left on.
• Sturdy bulbs – the epoxy lenses are virtually indestructible.

Check out our brochure on LED holiday lighting, and happy holidays!

Third-grade teacher Vicki Anderson helps students with a science project in a classroom outfitted with new energy-efficient lighting.

Efficiency upgrades get high marks from students and staff at Chelan elementary school

Major heating and lighting improvements at the elementary school in Chelan are saving money and improving comfort.

Gone are the noisy, inefficient heat pumps and stagnant air. Gone are the irritating fluorescent lights that flicker, buzz and hum.

The only humming at Morgen Owings Elementary now is from school officials tickled with the improved environment and energy savings at the building. They’re singing the praises of PSF Mechanical, the Seattle contractor that worked through the summer to install the upgrades by the first day of school Sept. 5.

Morgen Owings Elementary School Principal Jeff Peck

Seattle-based PSF is an ESCO, or energy services company, pre-qualified by the state Superintendent of Public Instruction to work with K-12 schools.

An energy efficiency audit identified potential savings in HVAC and lighting at both the elementary school and middle/high school.  With help from PSF, the district secured  a state grant for $550,000. Chelan County PUD contributed $41,000 through its Resource$mart program and the school district paid the rest of the $1.1 million cost. 

The elementary school was treated to a complete upgrade of its heating, ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC) system and all new lighting. Chelan Middle/High School received new lighting only.  

The control center for Morgen Owings' new energy management system.

Energy savings at the two buildings is projected at 682,694 kilowatt hours per year — enough to power 31 Chelan County homes.

As part of the package, PSF guarantees that energy savings will occur. If savings projections aren’t reached, PSF agrees to pay the difference, said Dan Hering, business development manager for PSF.

More than 2,000 fluorescent lights were replaced at the two schools. At the elementary school, 52 new high-efficiency heat pumps were installed, air circulation equipment was upgraded, and “smart” controls were added. Thermostat set points now are controlled by a digital thermostat, central computer and network of “distributed intelligence” Hering said. Changes can be made remotely, and the building is monitored and metered for energy consumption.

Chelan Business Manager Scott Renick said if funds allow, a similar HVAC upgrade could occur at the middle/high school building.

Wenatchee High School is in line for a lighting retrofit this school year. Bryan Visscher, maintenance and operations supervisor, said lighting will be replaced throughout the building. Wenatchee is using Ameresco Quantum, another energy services company pre-qualified through the state energy program.

The high school project involves a complete overhaul of all lighting at a cost of about $650,000, Visscher said, with $255,000 covered by a state grant and $51,000 coming from the PUD’s Resource$mart energy efficiency program. The remainder will be paid by the school district.

Work will be done in the evenings beginning this fall and continuing through the spring. Projected energy savings is 858,085 kilowatt hours per year, or enough to power 39 homes.

Click here to view a graph showing early energy savings at Morgen Owings Elementary.

More information:
PSF Mechanical’s recap of the Chelan project

Superintendent of Public Instruction energy grants program