Impact

Penn State teams up with four universities for #campuslightsout event

Credit: Penn StateCreative Commons

Every Friday night since 2006 approximately 30 Penn State students have departed from the HUB-Robeson Center on a mission to turn out classroom lights across the University Park campus. On Friday, Oct. 24 students and volunteers at four other universities across the country will join in for the first-ever joint Campus Lights Out event.

The University of Texas at Austin, The University of Kansas, Bowling Green State University and the University of Toledo will participate alongside Penn State in the event. The event is inspired by the success of previous lights out events, such as Penn State’s weekly “Friday Night Lights Out” (FNLO) and The University of Texas at Austin’s monthly “Longhorn Lights Out.” The collaborative event combines the efforts of each university’s conservation programs in order to save energy and resources.

Penn State’s FNLO event was originally conceived by Paul Ruskin, a former employee of Penn State’s Office of Physical Plant, and put into place by student leaders from the Council of LionHearts. Since 2010, more than 1,700 students have volunteered for FNLO, with an estimated 2,500 having participated since the program’s inception.

Each week the students turn off approximately 1,500-2,500 light bulbs. More than 400,000 light bulbs have been turned off since 2006 saving Penn State more than 700,000 kilowatt hours of electricity.

Faculty, staff and students are encouraged to participate in future FNLO events and can sign up at www.volunteer.psu.edu.  

For more information about FNLO and sustainability at Penn State, visit www.sustainability.psu.edu

Last Updated October 23, 2014