WashPIRG hosted a CFL light-bulb swap with the help of more than 30 eco-conscious volunteers yesterday, marking the culmination of a project that began earlier this year.

Former senior Chris Bruno expressed interest in reducing the UW’s carbon footprint, so he asked Seattle City Light last April to make a small donation; 3,500 light bulbs later, Bruno had successfully converted three-fourths of the campus.

WashPIRG will be tackling all remaining light fixtures over the course of the next several weeks, which will amount to approximately $12,000 per year in energy savings.

“It’s a huge symbolic action that the students of the University of Washington are committed to furthering our school’s sustainability factor and are working to make our college campus as green as possible,” said Jonathan Yourzak, the event coordinator. “There’s no reason that a school in the Pacific Northwest with so many students and a generally green mindset can’t achieve this goal.”

On Tuesday, Senior Activities Adviser Phil Hunt, Washington State Senator Ed Murray and representatives Lars Henrikson and K. Sidhu of Seattle City Light met with Yourzak to kick off the final stages of the project.

After meeting in Schmitz Hall, the group proceeded to the third floor and began replacing the existing standard light bulbs with the energy-efficient CFL bulbs, which are 75 percent more efficient than the standard bulbs. After checking in with Yourzak, volunteers were assigned to a location and received a spreadsheet dictating the layout of their building and the number of bulbs needed.

Participants expect the new CFL bulbs to cut the school’s total energy usage by eight to 15 percent.

Yourzak believes that the results of this small step toward sustainability will reverberate through the campus and beyond. He said that WashPIRG is aiming to inspire state legislators to follow the UW’s lead.

“We hope it spurs everyone who’s involved to change out their light bulbs at home, and to go home to their parents’ house and change those out as well,” Henrickson said. “Swapping your light bulbs is one of the easiest things you can do [to save energy]. It’s very low cost, and it’s immediate payback.”

The UW has been working in partnership with Seattle City Light to create several cost-effective conservation projects: The University adopted a renewable energy plan in 2006. Seattle City Light will also be actively involved with the UW’s upcoming construction projects, including designing energy audits for the UW Medical Center and the new residence halls.

Some volunteers have reasons extending beyond the UW for participating in the light-swap project.

“I’m from Holland, and it’s below sea level, so I can feel the spread of global warming already at a personal level,” said WashPIRG member and participant Han Xu, referring to the fact that entire towns in Holland are already being moved to higher ground due to sea level rise. “So I really want to take new personal steps that are more effective towards fighting global warming, because every day I think to myself: My country will be gone.”

Next quarter, WashPIRG will be campaigning to add a mandatory $5 to student tuition to be put toward other green projects on campus. Yourzak believes that $5 extra could introduce energy-saving projects that would otherwise never get off the ground.

“I believe that global warming is one of this generation’s most important issues,” Yourzak said. “It may not have a large sociological impact. It’s not a human-rights issue, so it’s not something we see every day, but life as we know it will cease to exist if we don’t change our ways.”

Reach reporter Celina Kareiva at news@dailyuw.com.