Operation Light Exchange is coming to the Los Angeles area on May 3-4 to exchange inefficient halogen and incandescent light fixtures for brand-new flourescent lamps. You can participate in this free event by going to the WalMart parking lot at 17150 Gale Avenue in the City of Industry between 8:30am and 1pm both days. I recommend that you arrive early - they exchanged over 10,000 lamps at the last event.

Bring in your old lamps, and they'll give you new Energy Star lamps... for FREE!

The lamps are exchanged for like-kind lamps with the Energy Star rating, so if you bring in a table lamp, you'll get a new table lamp (with bulb) in exchange. They'll also exchange floor lamps and torchieres. You only need to bring the lamps themselves, not the lamp shades.

Here's what they'll accept in the Operation Light Exchange program under the current rules:

• Halogen Torchiere Floor Lamps
• Incandescent Table Lamps
• Incandescent Desk Lamps

The lamps you'll receive in exchange are manufactured primarily by Sunpark, Maxlite, and Greenlite. And they're not ugly institutional-looking things either... click here to take a look!

Free and Easy: There is No Catch!

We're conditioned to think that anything "free" means that their must be some sort of catch, but in this case there is none. All you need to do is prove you're in SCE territory (bring a driver's license or monthly bill), be over 18 years old, and show up at the event. That's it! There is a limit of 10 lamps per household, so don't collect all the lamps from your neighborhood in hopes of exchanging a bazillion lamps at the lamp exchange.