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Pasco County teen works to make the Land O' Lakes library green -- and save cash

One Land O' Lakes High School senior decided to take on a project to make conserving energy -- cool.
Camellia Moors' goal is to cut a Pasco County library's bill in half by "going green."

LAND O' LAKES, Fla. -- When you think of conserving energy and reducing your carbon footprint, it sounds like it can be a lot of work.

A local teen is trying to change that attitude and make people realize how it can save you a significant amount of money as well. Camellia Moors has big plans that will actually affect the taxpayers of Pasco County.

"I've always had a very strong interest in environmental concepts and this was always a building that I visited pretty frequently over the last 12 years that I've lived here," she said.

This Land O' Lakes High School senior decided to take on this project to make conserving energy -- cool.

"Knowing the importance of people changing their attitude and practices themselves, I wanted them to actually be exposed to it instead of seeing it on a website or on paper," Moors said.

Her goal is to cut the library's electric bill in half. Right now, the county spends about $48,000 a year. That would be a taxpayer savings of $24 thousand dollars each year. It's an idea that was quickly embraced by the county.

"This is the public's money, and we like to be good stewards of the taxpayer's dollars, so anything we can do to reduce our utility bills and in the process be good for the environment that's a win-win for everybody," said Bob Harrison, Public Communications Specialist, of the Pasco County Library System.

Moors currently has a GoFundMe page to raise $25,000 for the first part of her project something that's pretty glaring to her every time she walks into the library.

"Lack of LED lights, no UV tinting, basic changes that I've made at my house that I know are easy to change and easy to fix," Moors said.

That's the first phase, something you could do in your own home. Spend a little money on window tinting, and curtains, using LED lights to save a lot of money in the long run.

After that, she wants to tackle the outdated air conditioning system and have each room in the library have motion detected temperature control. Overall, she estimates it will cost about $100,000-150,000, but the savings would offset the cost in just a few years.

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