Change 5 Lights

Change a light, and you help change the world. Replace the conventional bulbs in your 5 most frequently used light fixtures with bulbs that have the Energy Star logo and you will help the environment while saving money on energy bills. If every household in the U.S. took this one simple action we would prevent greenhouse gases equivalent to the emissions from nearly 10 million cars. When changing your bulbs make sure to change ones that are used frequently to get the most savings.

The most frequently advertised Energy Star logo are Compact Fluorescent Lightbulbs or CFLs. There are a lot of gripes and misconceptions that still circulate about these bulbs. There are also some legitimate concerns such as mercury content and disposing of the bulbs when they “burn” out. However CFLs will enable you to save money in two ways. First they use less electricity themselves so you save money that way. In fact they use about 25% of the electricity that an Incandescent Bulb does for the same amount of light. Second they are designed to give off light so they produce less heat that you would have to cool in the summer. CFLs last up to 12 times as long as your old incandescent bulbs as well.

In the past CFLs earned a bad reputation. The early bulbs could flicker or hum if a cheap ballast was used. Often times they gave out a light that wasn’t very bright or high in quality. However modern advances have eliminated these problems and CFLs give out a strong steady light without the hum and flicker of older models. Newer models use less mercury as well and there are even some that can handle being on a dimmer switch.

The one place where CFLs still fail in my opinion is task lighting. They lack the characteristics that make you want to wrap yourself up in a blanket and read a good book or have directed light on a countertop or desk for specific work. This is where Light Emitting Diodes (LEDs) come into play. While LEDs have been around for a relatively long time, they are just now getting cheap enough to general household lighting. Replacing the bulbs in your general light fixtures is still costly as an LED bulb costs between $20.00 and $50.00 (each). However they last up to 60 years. That is the equivalent of 100 Incandescent Bulbs and 10-12 CFLs. They also require very little electricity to you, about half to a third of the amount that a similar CFL would use, and they do not generate heat or contain mercury. Future versions of the LED could last up to 100 years so changing a light bulb will be very infrequent.

About the Mercury in CFLs

Every CFL made today contains 1-3 grams of mercury in an aerosol form. This helps the gases in the bulb produce light. This makes them hazardous should they break and prevents them from being deposited in a landfill. You should recycle your spent CFL bulbs at either a Toxic Waste pickup center or another recycling center. Home Depot is sponsoring a national recycling drive for used CFLs at all of their stores. If a bulb should break, you should leave the area and allow the air to recycle several times before entering. This takes about 1-2 hours. Now while mercury is a toxic substance, you are still doing the environment a favor. When electricity is generated from coal, vaporized mercury is sent into the atmosphere. While they try to catch this, it is not all caught. Providing a year’s worth of light using an Incandescent Bulb produces about 9 grams of mercury in the atmosphere. Using a CFL produces approximately 5 grams of mercury in the atmosphere.