Change a light bulb, change the planet
I’m not the greenest person around. I’m more of a shade of green, really. But there is one way I am doing my part to save the world – I use compact fluorescent light bulbs (CFLs). The bonus? It saves me money, too.
This morning I heard that Wal-Mart, in an effort to help out, is on a mission to sell 100 million CFLs. The official news release, dated November 29th, quoted Wal-Mart Vice President of Corporate Strategy and Sustainability Andy Ruben as saying, “We have a fundamental belief that all families should have access to affordable, sustainable goods, and compact fluorescent lightbulbs are a great way for our customers to save money.”
The retail giant has developed a multi-faceted approach to encourage more people to switch to CFLS, including interactive and educational displays that will help you choose the right bulb, and an online savings calculator here on the Sam’s Club site. I tried the calculator myself, and found that if I replace just 5 incandescent bulbs with GE Compact Fluorescent 13 Watt bulbs, I save about $35 a year on my electric bill (at 10¢ per Kilowatt hour, the national average). The 8-pack of bulbs on Sam’s Club’s site sells for $10.88. So, the savings more than pays for the bulbs themselves in just one year.
You save money, but what are the benefits to the planet? According to ENERGY STAR, a government-backed program dedicated to helping us save money and protect the environment through energy efficient products and practices, every CFL used keeps 450 pounds of greenhouse gas emissions out of the atmosphere over its lifetime. “If every American home replaced just one light bulb with an ENERGY STAR, we would save enough energy to light more than 2.5 million homes for a year and prevent greenhouse gases equivalent to the emissions of nearly 800,000 cars.”
But, if all that doesn’t seem like enough incentive, consider this. These bulbs last ten times longer than an incandescent bulb. So, even though they cost a little more to begin with, you won’t be replacing them more than once every five years or so!
It’s the simplest and cheapest way to save money, and save the planet. Just change a light bulb!
Wal-Mart, Sam’s Club, Energy Star, Compact Fluorescent Bulbs, CFL, Protecting the Environment, Saving Money, Saving Energy
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