Cook County Defeats Chicago In "Battle of the Bulbs" Environmental Challenge

Cook County is the new champion of the kilowatt-crushing “Battle of the Bulbs” competition, Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle announced today.

The energy reduction challenge pitted the Cook County Building against the City of Chicago City Hall. While the buildings are connected, they have separate addresses, HVAC systems and fire alarm systems. The goal of the competition was to reduce electricity use, thereby conserving the environment and reducing electrical bills—a goal all taxpayers can support. Monitoring took place between October 1, 2011 and February 28, 2012.

The county and the city each implemented energy cost-saving measures to decrease electrical usage. ComEd was the designated “independent judge” of the contest, and provided both Chicago and Cook County with electrical usage figures on a monthly basis. The usage was then compared to the same time period from the previous year. Overall the county came out the winner with $65,118 in savings. The city? $21,940.

“The real winner of the competition was taxpayers and the environment,” President Preckwinkle said. “During Earth Week I’m proud to announce the excellent progress we’ve made cutting our energy costs across the board. We’re grateful that ComEd has helped the county identify energy-saving measures, saving us more than $1 million in electricity costs last year. Environmental sustainability is a daily goal of my administration, and contests like Battle of the Bulbs encourage all of our employees to participate and contribute toward creating a healthier, eco-friendly workplace.”

The final results of the bulb battle showed the county had a higher percentage of energy reduction in October, November, December and January, while the city had a higher percentage of energy reduction in February. But the light’s not out yet - the Battle of the Bulbs rages on.