Just one. I managed to do it last week during the Damien Jurado in-studio. The girls’ bathroom (which often has guys walking out of it, but I won’t mention any names Don Slack) was the home of three old fashioned regular light bulbs that were always burning out. We’d often walk into a dim bathroom with one remaining bulb burning, and I don’t think of any of us (except perhaps Sara and Jack who seem to know where everything is) know where the light bulbs are kept.
So I decided to bring in some CFLs, like the ones we talk about on one of our fantastic PSAs on global warming. CFLs, which is short for Compact Fluorescent Light bulbs, are these spiraly light bulbs that use far less electricity than regular light bulbs and have a longer lifespan. We recently changed every single bulb at my house, and these were leftover. I think they came from Costco. Think what you want of Wal-Mart, but they are on the green energy bandwagon and have huge displays of CFLs at a really great price at all of their stores. It didn’t take long to swap them out, but I did need to use a paper towel to unscrew the archaic bulbs because they were so darn hot.
They are a bit more expensive, but CFLs save enough money in electricity costs to make up for their higher initial price within about 500 hours of use. In fact, if every household in America switched five regular light bulbs for five fluorescent bulbs, it would be the equivalent of taking 1 million cars off the highways for a full year. That’s pretty significant.
So go out and rock some new light bulbs! For more tips on ways to help save energy and cut your CO2 emissions go to our website. Photos are courtesy of amosmorgan.com
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remember you can’t throw these away in the trash. you NEED to take them to a recycling center because if you don’t you are just polluting the environment even more. There is no point of even buying these if your main idea was to be more environmentally friendly and energy efficient. There are sites online which should give you the closest recycling center that can take your CFL’s to.
Here’s some information on mercury in CFLs and how to dispose of them: http://www.nema.org/lamprecycle/epafactsheet-cfl.pdf.
“Ironically, CFLs present an opportunity to prevent mercury from entering our air, where it most affects our health. The highest source of mercury in our air comes from burning fossil fuels such as coal, the most common fuel used in the U.S. to produce electricity. A CFL uses 75% less energy
than an incandescent light bulb and lasts at least 6 times longer. A power plant will emit 10mg of mercury to produce the electricity to run an incandescent bulb compared to only 2.4mg of mercury to run a CFL for the same time.”
“While CFLs for your home are not legally considered hazardous waste
according to federal solid waste rules, it is still best for the environment to
dispose of your CFL properly upon burnout. Only large commercial users of
tubular fluorescent lamps are required to recycle. If recycling is not an
option in your area (see below on how to find out), place the CFL in a
sealed plastic bag and dispose the same way you would batteries, oil-based paint and motor oil at your local Household Hazardous Waste (HHW)
Collection Site. If your local HHW Collection Site cannot accept CFLs
(check Earth911.org to find out), seal the CFL in a plastic bag and place
with your regular trash.”
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