Community volunteers will go door-to-door in the Lake Hills area Saturday helping their neighbors save energy and money with

free energy-efficient light bulbs and information on electric and natural gas safety from PSE.

The volunteers will hand out free compact fluorescent light (CFL) bulbs from Puget Sound Energy to more than 300 neighbors to use in place of less efficient porch lights. The volunteers also will provide energy safety tips.

All 1,400 residents of Lake Hills, Bellevue, will be able to pick up free CFL bulbs after today by bringing the neighborhood association postcard they received in the mail to the Bellevue Mini City Hall in the Crossroads Mall. The program is a partnership of the Lake Hills Neighborhood Association, the City of Bellevue and PSE.

Many homes have outdoor lights at the front door, along walkways, at garage entrances and on back porches or decks. In winter, these lights can be on for as much as 16 hours a day, which would make the average nightly use throughout the year around 12 hours – or nearly 4,400 hours of illumination annually – making them the most-used lights in many homes, according to PSE..

In addition to saving energy, CFLs last up to five times longer and use 75 percent less energy than incandescent bulbs, making for easier home maintenance and more reliable safety.

The Lake Hills area is the first of many Puget Sound-area communities that will participate in PSE’s year-long neighborhood conservation program targeted at porch lights and safety. Future events will be held in various cities across PSE’s electric service region starting early summer.