Tuesday, April 29, 2008

Day 8 of our Green Year: Lighting Up The House Efficiently

Yay, one week ago today this blog was created and already we are getting a lot of feedback on it and a lot of visits. Both Layla and I are excited about where this blog will go in the coming weeks, and months.

For Day 8, we decided that the time was right to switch our house over to Compact Fluorescent Lights (CFLs) from the standard incandescent lights. We are doing this to not only save energy, which means less fossil fuels, but also to save money on our electric bill. These lights will replace the rest of the old fashioned lights in our house, and while they cost more, they are better in the long run.

A full 25 percent of the energy bill in a typical home is from the lighting and the price to light an incandescent bulb over its life is as much as 10 times what the bulb cost originally. The CFLs we are purchasing will last 10 times as long as the old bulbs, use 50 to 80 percent less energy and are four times more efficient.

Surprisingly, one of the easiest and best things you can do for the environment is to install these bulbs, which is why our house is now a Compact Fluorescent Light house. If everyone in the U.S.A used these bulbs, it would mean 90 power plants could shut down; reducing CO2 pollutants and nuclear waste.

CO2 Removed from atmosphere after replacing incandescent bulbs with CFL bulbs (five rooms) over life of bulbs: 2.5 tons.