How many Princeton students does it take to change a light bulb?

Members of the student environmental group Greening Princeton brought a special delivery to the eating clubs yesterday: boxes of compact fluorescent light bulbs, intended to replace the energy-inefficient incandescent bulbs that many clubs currently use.

The delivery was part of the Cool Bulbs Initiative, which aims to improve eating club energy efficiency. The initiative is a joint undertaking by Greening Princeton and the Princeton Prospect Foundation (PPF), a nonprofit organization that supports eating club operations.

Carting their wares in a direct-emission-free electric vehicle, the Greening Princeton students delivered $5,000 worth of bulbs to Colonial Club, Terrace and Charter, with plans to deliver the rest tomorrow. All 10 clubs have agreed to accept the bulbs.

Posie Harwood '09, a Greening Princeton co-president, said all the clubs have supported Greening Princeton's efforts. "It's been awesome that we've been able to work with all of the clubs," she said. "They are completely receptive to ideas and changes."

"This is a perfect project for us," she added. "It is such a visible change, and it's huge that [the clubs are] all switching over."

The project was conceived at the beginning of the year, when Howard Helm '56, a member of PPF, asked Greening Princeton to talk to the clubs about environmentally friendly options for electricity use. Kelsey Stallings '09, the Greening Princeton co-president who spoke at the clubs, said many showed interest in using more efficient light bulbs and asked her where they could purchase the bulbs and how much they cost.

Stallings added that while Cap & Gown and Cottage had already been using the more efficient bulbs, other clubs were initially more skeptical, associating the new bulbs with old fluorescent lights that "flickered and hummed." But once they realized the new lights would be more technologically up to date, Stallings said, the clubs were "excited and enthusiastic."

To kick-start the initiative, PPF purchased $5,000 worth of bulbs from the Trenton company Billows Electric, the same firm the University uses to purchase its fluorescent bulbs. After negotiations, the company offered the clubs the same discount it gives the University.

"The point was to get the eating clubs on the path to using the bulbs," Stallings said, noting that a lower price would increase the clubs' continued interest in the bulbs.

Katy Andersen '08, a former president of Greening Princeton, said she hopes the clubs' acceptance of the initiative is the first step toward more environmental responsibility on the Street. "This [project] is a great first step because it's creating awareness," she said. "Hopefully this will motivate them to seek changes that have a large impact."