How much energy is conserved by switching to CFLs?

Regular bulbs, also called incandescent bulbs, glow when a tiny coil of wire is heated by electricity.  Energy-saving light bulbs, usually called compact flourescent bulbs or CFLs, produce light when electricity runs through mercury and gases inside of a spiral-shaped bulb.  For comparison sake, the cost for one regular 75 watt bulb is about 50 cents, and each bulb produces 1,200 lumens, while a CFL that also produces 1,200 lumens costs as little as $2.53.

So why would you pay approximately 5 times more for a CFL bulb?  Well the cost of energy used to light a regular bulb for 4 hours per day, in one year is $9.30, and the cost for the same time period and usage for a CFL is $2.50, a difference of $6.80 for just one light bulb.  Additionally, the regular bulb uses 75 watts of energy, while the CFL uses a mere 20 watts of energy, yet they both produce the same amount of light!  Another major benefit of the CFL is that it produces10,000 hours of light, while a regular bulb produces only 1,000 hour of light.

So back to the original question...

How much energy is conserved by switching to CFLs (comparing 75 watt regular bulb which is equivalent to a 20 watt CFL bulb, each producing 1,200 lumens of light)?  55 watts of energy are conserved by using a CFL bulb. 

If you replace one regular 75 watt bulb with a 20 watt CFL bulb, how much money is saved on energy costs in a year? $6.80 per year in energy savings per light bulb will be realized by making the switch.

How many regular bulbs would it take to light a lamp for the same amount of hours as one CFL bulb?  It would take 10 regular bulbs, at  50 cents a piece, or $5.00 for 10 regular bulbs, and the one CFL bulb that produces the same amount of hours, can be found for as low as $2.53-$4.00 per bulb.

Why do regular lightbulbs use so much energy as compared to CFLs?  Regular bulbs are making light and heat, and the heat is wasted. 

So what are the pros and cons of regular bulbs vs. CFLs?
One disadvantage of CFLs is that they take time to warm up to full brightness, and regular bulbs are at full brightness within a second, and only some CFLs are labeled for dimming control..  Another issue is that CFLs contain small amounts of mercury as vapor inside each bulb.  However, the retail price of the CFL includes an amount to pay for recycling, and manufacturers and importers have an obligation to collect and recycle CFLs.  The Home Depot stepped up and became the first retailer to make CFL recycling options widely available at it's stores, and collection bins are easily accessible.  Many other retailers also provide recycle centers for CFLs.  According to Wikipedia, the first step of processing CFLs involves crushing the bulbs in a machine that uses negative pressure ventilation and a mercury-absorbing filter to contain mercury vapor. The crushed glass and metal is stored in drums, ready for shipping to recycling factories.  Conversely, regular light bulbs can not be recycled.

On the bright side :) 
CFLs can be recycled.  The mercury inside the bulbs can be recovered and kept out of landfills.  Using CFLs results in energy savings of $6.80 per bulb.  CFLs last 9,000 hours longer than regular bulbs.  CFLs save 55 watts of energy.

So here's to a brighter future with energy savings and lower electric bills with CFLs :)  


Sources:  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Compact_fluorescent_lamp, November 18, 2010.

Picking Low Lying Fruit

Low Lying Fruit

To quote my favorite green guru, Ed Begley Jr., we picked some "low lying fruit"!  No, not the edible kind, but the kind that will save energy AND money.  Our low lying fruit was the front door lights.   

Every time I'd notice the front lights were ON during the day, I'd cringe.  I knew we were wasting energy and money....ggrrrrr.  The dawn to dusk feature on the motion sensitive front lights was not working, and we ended up leaving the lights on to ensure no one got hurt walking up to the door in the dark.  But, then we'd forget to turn them off, they'd end up being on all night, and many, many times they would not get turned off at all since we don't typically go out that door. 

The electric eye had been broken for some time, and we'd attempted adding a new photo-electric eye, but that didn't work, probably because of the special wiring involved with the motion sensitive part as well as the integrated electric-eye.  We felt so frustrated and confused when the new eye didn't work that we decide to sleep on it before taking any more steps.  But out of sight, IS out of mind and time marched on, and it didn't get fixed. 

I think it was a trip to Lowes that jogged my memory about the lights, and we discussed replacing the fixture completely, and even bought one light figuring we could just replace the one, and move another from around back.  Turns out the one out back also had a busted electic eye!  Hmmm now we began to think that the integrated electric eye was doomed to break, and re-thought our original plan.  We ultimately decided that throwing the lights into the landfill and spending money on two new lamps wasn't the best option either.  

Luckily hubby, being the genius he is, was able to re-wire the existing lights to enable the new electric eye to work!  So we picked the "low lying fruit", and in this situation with a broken fixture, were able to use the two new electric eyes that we thought weren't going to work in our lights, saved the two light fixtures from the landfill, and best of all, are saving electricity DAILY!  I'm so lucky that hubby is such a handyman!!!!

Census WASTE = SENSELESS WASTE

Ok one word comes to mind regarding the Census...SENSELESS. It is BEYOND ridiculous to be wasting the time and money of the American people, not to mention precious resources! Again, I'm not against the census, what I'm incensed about AGAIN is yet ANOTHER mailing! The first mailing told me to expect my formal census in about a week. Then my census came in the mail about a week later. Of course I dutifully filled it out. Now a THIRD mailing came to tell me I should have gotten the census in the mail.

OMG, let's list of the senseless waste that has occurred that I can think of (I'm sure there is way more, but this is just off the top of my head: postage and paper wasted have been wasted; green house gases have polluted the Earth in order to deliver the mail 3x (2 unnecessary mailings); human resources that could have done some positive work was wasted and paid to do multiple mailings; tons of paper that probably ended up in a landfill instead of being recycled x3 was wasted; and of course the MONEY wasted on senseless,unnecessary multiple mailings.

BOTTOM LINE: the government needs to establish better policies regarding resources, waste, recycling, global warming, and be the BEST example to the American Public instead of the WORST offender! The multiple mailings regarding the Census is WASTEFUL, contributes to pollution, and global warming, and I doubt it will make any difference in the outcome. If the government wants to have an impact, they could have a positive green impact by not wasting trees, money, resources, and preventing green house gases.