A simple change we can all make today
I wrote recently about the inefficiency of incandescent light bulbs and the lack of municipal programs for recycling their lead content. But the fact remains that we need to replace these archaic energy-wasting bulbs with the much-more-efficient compact fluorescent (CFL) bulbs. In a world facing almost daily new evidence of global warming and its consequences, there is a need for a quick decisive victory in the effort to cut carbon emissions and stabilize our climate. If we can engineer a rapid phase-out of inefficient incandescents, we can almost ensure just such a victory, as well as generate momentum for even greater advances in climate stabilization.
CFLs can cost five times as much as incandescent bulbs. But a CFL uses only one fourth as much electricity, lasts 10 times as long, and easily saves $50 during its lifetime.Â
According to the Earth Policy Institute, switching light bulbs is an easy way of realizing large immediate gains in energy efficiency. A U.S. government study calculated that the gasoline equivalent of the energy saved over the lifetime of one 24-watt compact fluorescent bulb is sufficient to drive a Prius from New York to San Francisco.
True, new CFL bulbs can cost five times as much as incandescents. But the real truth is: a compact fluorescent bulb uses only one fourth as much electricity, lasts 10 times as long, and easily saves $50 during its lifetime.
I noted previously that a disadvantage of compact fluorescents is that each bulb contains a small amount of mercury, roughly one fifth the amount in a watch battery. This mercury is only a small fraction of that released into the atmosphere by the additional coal burned to power an incandescent. Nonetheless, worn-out compact fluorescents, watch batteries, and other items that contain mercury still need to be recycled properly. Fortunately, fluorescent bulb recycling is possible in many locales, whereas the mercury spewing from coal smokestacks blankets the countryside, ending up in the water and food supply.
Home Depot was one of the first major retailers to jump on the incandescent bulb bandwagon with its Change a Light and Change the World program, which recommends qualified ENERGY STAR bulbs and appliances. The program claims:
If every U.S. household changed their five most frequently used light fixtures (or the bulbs in them) to ENERGY STAR qualified lighting, it would keep more than one trillion pounds of greenhouse gases out of the air. This would also save a total of $6 billion in energy or approximately the annual output of 21 power plants.
In the United States, an ingenious website called www.18seconds.org (the name derives from the time it takes to change a light bulb), provides a running tally of compact fluorescents sold nationwide since January 1, 2007. As of early May, it totaled nearly 37 million bulbs, yielding a reduction in carbon emissions comparable to taking 260,000 cars off the road. Â
The challenge for each of us, of course, is to shift to compact fluorescents in our own homes if we have not already. Few things can cut carbon emissions faster than this simple step. The best part is: we don’t have to wait for our government to tell us to make this shift.
Sources: Home Depot, Earth Policy Institute
