Take Action Daily - Conserve Your Energy

Lights Out!

Summer is fast upon us and it is going to be a hot one! With so much daylight time now, is there really a need to have all those lights on? Most apartments I have lived in have provided enough windows for decent natural light. I have always been a fan of this type of ambient lighting as it makes me feel calm and connected, whereas once the light switch goes on....eeeckh, I am suddenly electrified into the chemical world. Obviously if you can't see, then you need some enlightenment, but please be wise about it.

By now, most people are aware that CFL's (aka compact fluorescent bulbs) are more efficient than their wasteful counterparts, but is this really enough incentive to spend $5 versus $1-2 for a bulb that isn't even as esthetically pleasing and actually rather glaring? What if they knew that the government offers an incentive up to 50% off the price of each CFL bulb? Would that help? Or how about the fact that one light bulb will save you roughly $50 during the course of it's life? What if they also knew that if each household in Canada replaced just one regular bulb for a CFL it would be equivalent to removing 60,000 cars off the road for one year? Australia has committed to eliminating the sale of incandescents lights by 2010. Canada has also announced it's decision to phase out these inefficient lights as well by 2012. If the rest of the world were to follow suit, this small act alone would enable the closure of 270 coal-fired plants (including 80 in the U.S.).
"But there is mercury in CFL's," you argue. Yes, my innocent one, this is true. Do you know what else has mercury in it? How about your mouth? Try your watch battery too. The fact is, compact fluorescents have a fraction of the amount of mercury found in a watch battery (about one fifth) and considerably less than the amount spewed into our atmosphere by the coal-fired power plants. Of course these lights need to be treated and recycled respectively, though it seems like a small inconvenience compared to the damage caused by the un-recyclable, uncontrollable mercury poison emitted by the smokestacks.
Go to the government incentives and rebates link I posted along the side under "environment". There you can get all the juicy details about how they will give you money back for saving the environment.

***Remember Tomorrow is the Commuter Challenge. Register your workplace to win an electric scooter or other really cool prizes. Check under the June events link along the sidebar.