Along our quest of being cheap world-savers I came upon the CFL light bulb. We needed a light bulb anyway, so I decided to give it a try. The packaging proclaimed it would last for 5 years. I was doubtful but had heard these were better so we put it in and I had put it out of my mind for a bit.
Today I stumbled upon No Impact Man and some facts about the CFL bulb. To say a light bulb went on is modest, the old bulb exploded in a burst of glass and inefficiency! And on the selfish note, these things are going to save us some serious cash.
“Compact fluorescents emit the same light as classic incandescent but use 75% or 80% less electricity.”
The bulbs, even with heavy use, last around can last 5, 7 and 10 years!
These run more expensive than the traditional bulbs, we spent about $8 for a set of two. But this will balance out about 5 months of savings, and after that we’ll still have at least 55 months to go!
If every one of the 110 million American households replaced just one “ordinary 60-watt bulb, the energy saved would be enough to power a city of 1.5 million people. One bulb swapped out is enough electricity saved to power all the homes in Delaware and Rhode Island. In terms of oil not burned, or greenhouse gases not exhausted into the atmosphere, one bulb is equivalent to taking 1.3 million cars off the roads.”
These are not the perfect solution, so there are a few things to keep in mind. First, don’t turn your house into stadium lighting, your mother’s was right, always turn the light off. Second, there is about 5 mg of mercury in them which means never handle the glass with your bare hands if the bulb breaks, and dispose of them properly through your local household hazardous waste collection site (find yours here). That way the mercury will be reclaimed so it won’t harm the environment.
While they are not a ultimate answer to reducing the amount of energy we use, they are moving along that path. So the next time your light burns out remember to grab one of these guys, and then forget about it for a nice long time.
