Westar Energy is trying something called the Colwich Switch. Saturday, company officials passed out free energy saving light bulbs to residents.

"One thing that we quickly learned," says Kansas Lieutenant Governor Mark Parkinson, "Was that we could make major progress in Kansas with energy conservation. One of the best things that people can do is just change out their light bulbs."

Over the next year, Westar will be working closely with Colwich residents to monitor electrict consumption and document the results. That task started Saturday.

Colwich Mayor Terry Spexarth said it's pretty neat to have Westar pcik his city out of the entire state to do their experiment in.

Energy Star qualified bulbs use about 75 percent less energy than standard incandescent bulbs and last up to 10 times longer. If every American home replaced just one light bulb,enough energy would be saved to light more than 3,000,000 homes for a year.

Westar hopes its efforts will help delay the need to build a new power plant, the cost of which has doubled in just the past few years.