Corporate Greenlite Giveaways - Free CFL Bulbs for Microsoft Employees

One-line summary: Greenlite Lighting Corp literally gave away 32,000 CFL spiral energy-efficient bulbs to Microsoft employees!

Details: On February 28th, Greenlite Lighting Corporation gave away 32,000 Compact Fluorescent Light (CFL) bulbs to Microsoft employees on the company’s Redmond Campus.  The giveaway took place at various Microsoft Cafes. 

The “Greenlite” giveaway was the brainchild of Microsoft managers Rafferty Lengle and Josh Henretig.  Lengle and Henretig have been meeting regularly to brainstorm entrepreneurial ideas and industry innovations for several years.  They had both been reading about CFLs and immediately recognized how getting a large group to switch a few CFLs for their old incandescent bulbs would pack a significant earth-saving punch. 

“People can get behind CFLs because they are a simple solution whose benefits impact not only the environment, but people’s wallets as well.  My hope is that we demystify the CFL so people can let those benefits sink in,” said Henretig. 

“Who doesn’t want to save on their electric bill and decrease their carbon footprint?  It starts with a four pack of CFLs, but we don’t want people to stop there; we want this event to serve as a catalyst to replace as many incandescent bulbs with CFLs as possible.  When you think about entire households making the switch..the benefits are mind blowing,” said Lengle.

According to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), one CFL can save the world more than 450 pounds of emissions from a power plant over its lifetime. 

Lengle and Henretig networked within Microsoft to see if staging a CFL giveaway on campus would be possible.  With Microsoft providing the venue, the Microsoft managers reached out to Greenlite Lighting Corporation’s Director of Sales Tom Cohen, who enthusiastically agreed to supply the bulbs.  The group partnered with Puget Sound Energy, and Snohomish County PUD to stage a mass dispersal of four packs of CFLs.

“Josh and Rafferty possess entrepreneurial spirit with an environmental conscience.  My mission and my company’s mission have always extended beyond selling a product.  Greenlite wants to raise public awareness about reducing global emissions and how CFLs can play a role in that.  We can save the earth and some money too…one bulb at a time,” said Greenlite CEO and President Nina Gupta.