College students Andrew deCoriolis, Kate Zipin and Jessye Weinstein were hard to miss in Barrows Monday night. The three rattled down the hallways – first-years Zipin and Weinstein sporting plastic jump suits – with boxes of lightbulbs in tow, knocking on doors and making a pitch to the surprised first-year who opened them.

“We have a proposition for you, and it involves free lightbulbs,” senior deCoriolis said, as he balanced a box containing dozens of bulbs.  The proposition, which was being made simultaneously by about a dozen other volunteers in dorms across campus, is simple: Give them an incandescent lightbulb and you will receive a fluorescent in return.

“I’m like the lightbulb Santa Claus!” deCoriolis exclaimed as he hopped into a doorway.

The project, initiated Monday by Oberlin’s Environmental Policy Implementation Group, aims to make the college greener and educate the campus about environmental issues.  Going door-to-door for much of this week, EPIG volunteers asked students to give up incandescent bulbs and replace them with energy efficient fluorescents, which the group handed out free of charge.  According to EPIG, the fluorescent bulbs use one-third to one-fourth the electricity of regular incandescent bulbs.

About twenty excited activists assembled Monday evening for a kickoff barbecue at EPIG co-chair Morgan Pitts’ home. Surrounded by boxes of fluorescents, Zipin sat with College first-years Evan White and Cher-When DeWitt, cutting open packages of bulbs.

DeWitt explained the appeal of EPIG’s campaign.

“It is so frustrating to sit and talk about global warming,” she said. “To be able to do something and feel that you are making an actual contribution feels a lot better.”

Conservatory senior Maria Stamas echoed DeWitt’s sentiments. 

When asked about her reasons for joining the Lightbulb Brigade – the name EPIG has given the project – Stamas said, “I wanted to make a difference in the immediate area.”

After the group had eaten its fill of vegetarian burgers, Pitts began handing out boxes and the lightbulb enthusiasts set off in teams of three.  Before the night was over, EPIG had swapped residents in Barrows, Dascomb, South, Burton and East for around 500 bulbs.

Students visited by the campaign were usually receptive, though many were also surprised to find the Brigade at their door.

Double-degree first-year Elena Gambino commented on the visit: “I thought it was cool.” She added, “It was kind of unexpected.”

EPIG is planning to continue to visit dorms through this week, and possibly next week. The plan is to keep it up until its supply of 2,200 fluorescent bulbs has been depleted. The bulbs were donated by Oberlin’s purchasing department and the President’s office.

“The Office of the President actually kicked in a little extra money so we could afford to buy from Home Depot, because, otherwise...Wal-Mart was our only choice,” said Pitts, one of the Brigade’s leaders.

EPIG will be analyzing energy usage data over the semester and comparing it to previous years in an attempt to gauge the energy savings that result from the campaign. “We’ve actually been working very closely with the college on this one, and they’re very excited to hear about our results,” Pitts said. 

He added that while EPIG expects to see a drop in energy use, it does not foresee a monumental reduction, because energy is being wasted in many other ways. 

“When you look at where all the power consumption in a dorm actually goes, people who leave their computers on all day is a big source of it,” Pitts said. “We are hoping that because of [the Lightbulb Brigade], people will become more aware of energy.” 

“One of the reasons we are focusing on lighting is because it is a kind of idiot-proof way to reduce energy use,” Pitts explained.

College senior Mika Ebbesen will create a sculpture out of some of the incandescent lightbulbs that EPIG collected. The remaining lightbulbs will be recycled.