Xcel Energy ‘Lights Out Lunch’ Event Wins Support from Colorado Residents, Businesses

This holiday season, Colorado residents and businesses celebrated energy efficiency by shutting off their lights from noon to 1 p.m. on Dec. 11 during Lights Out Lunch.

The goal of the one-day, statewide event, a collaboration of Xcel Energy, the Governor’s Energy Office and the City and County of Denver, is to promote energy conservation. As part of the effort, residents that pledged to turn off lights received special dining offers from participating restaurants and were registered to win lunch with Paul Stastny of the Colorado Avalanche or Chauncey Billups of the Denver Nuggets. Businesses that signed up also were registered for a group lunch with the local stars.

At least 263 businesses signed up to support the energy conservation initiative. Several schools and universities also signed up to participate, including the Colorado Community College System, the Community College of Aurora, Adams 12 Five Star Schools, and schools in the Aurora Public School district, among others.

“The support that we have seen from Colorado residents, businesses and schools for a new program like this is a great testament to how important it is to examine how we use energy,” said Tim Taylor, CEO, Public Service Co. of Colorado, an Xcel Energy company. “Lights Out Lunch is just one example of Xcel Energy’s investment in educational programs. Our goal is to encourage people to think about energy use in a new and different way.”

Restaurants on board provided exclusive offers/discounts to the public, who signed up and downloaded coupons from www.LightsOutLunch.com. The Palm Restaurant, Snooze, Wynkoop Brewing Company, Beau Jo’s Pizza, Cherry Cricket, Hapa Sushi (Cherry Creek and Boulder) were just a few of the restaurants offering deals.

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