April's Green Challenge: Socket to me
In theory, I should all have a CFL in every light fixture that I own ... but I don't. I have no good reason except that I haven't gotten around to it and I feel silly tossing a perfectly good light bulb. Did I happen to mention that I have ten foot ceilings and dragging that ol' ladder out is just too much of a bother? I have plenty of excuses. We all do and that's why I am starting the Green Challenge.
Every month I am going to make one small alteration to make my life more green. Rather than overwhelming myself and becoming discouraged to the point of burnt out, I'm going to tackle green living bit by bit. But here's the fun part: I want you to join me.
At the beginning of every month I will lay out the challenge and once the month is complete, I'll check back and say how it went. As a participant I'd love to hear your comments and tips. If you have any photos you'd like to share, that's even better!
You may have guessed this month's challenge: Change one incandescent bulb in your home to an Energy Star qualified CFL. It's that easy ... do this one little task and you will have nothing more to think about for the next four weeks. Not to mention, that bulb is going to pay for itself over the years that it is at your service.
The best place to switch would be in a room that you use frequently. The kitchen might be a better choice than a closet for example. However, if you are reluctant to get started, the closet is better than nothing!
CFL fun facts:
- Incandescent bulbs can reach up to 350 degrees; CFLs go as high as 90 degrees.
- CFLs use about 75% less energy than conventional bulbs.
- Although their price tag is higher, CFLs pay for themselves in savings.
- CFLs come in many different shapes and sizes making it easy to switch just about every light you own.
- If every American home replaced just one light bulb with an ENERGY STAR, we would save enough energy to light more than 3 million homes for a year and prevent greenhouse gases equivalent to the emissions of more than 800,000 cars.
Take the challenge. It's the only way to keep me honest. I'll be checking in throughout the month to document my progress.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
4-01-2008 @ 12:04PM
VW JUNKY said...
I have been trying to switch over to the cfl bulbs but had a few hang ups. Like you I did not want to get rid of my current bulbs as they work just fine. So I decided to just by a pack or 2 at a time and change over. I got 2 4 packs of 60 watt equivilent CFL but they were so bright that we had to relocated them to lamps with shades and out-door porch lights. One pack also had a bad one in it and that made me mad as they are already expensive and to have one bad out of the box made me grumble. We have some celing fan lights that you can see the bulbs and since the 60 watt ones were too bright I decieded to go to 40 watt and they were too bright also. I guess I will have to try the round versions of the CFL for those lights. I also don't like that some take awile to warm up and work while others don't have a problem.
So in all I have stopped buying them unitill they either make better ones, or make them cheaper and the quality is better. Granted it these were the cheap ones from HomeDepot but hey they still cost more that regular bulbs! Maybe some day the LED ones will be affordable.
later
e
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4-01-2008 @ 12:50PM
Cheap Like Me said...
@ VW Junky, try different brands - some are great! I got a 10-pack at Costco made by FEIT Electric - they do not have a delay to come on.
Also, save your packaging and RETURN the ones that don't work. They are too pricey to waste your money on, and I've encountered a high percentage of non-functional bulbs, too, so take 'em back so they company knows they aren't working.
4-01-2008 @ 12:28PM
kelly.leahy said...
I haven't had a problem with the bulbs being too bright but I have experienced different results with different fixtures from flickering to a long "warm up" period. I have found that the round bulbs have an even longer warm up period so I would wait before you buy any of those. I'll go into more detail next week.
Thanks for the comment!
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4-01-2008 @ 12:50PM
Cheap Like Me said...
I've changed a lot of bulbs at my house (all living room, kitchen, bedroom, hallway, closet, upstairs bath, porch lights - whew! - and a few of our floods in our basement can lights). I think we've seen electricity savings of about 15% to 20% (I'll know more when I see this summer's bills). So it's a big cost-saver as well, especially over the long term.
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4-01-2008 @ 2:50PM
Lewis said...
I read a little about the potential for hazardous materials to end up in the landfill if you just throw out CFLs. Here is more info from GE:
http://www.gelighting.com/na/home_lighting/ask_us/faq_compact.htm#disposal
Because the bulbs won't last forever.
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4-01-2008 @ 3:31PM
Craig said...
Good idea, I will be joining in on the challenges.
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4-02-2008 @ 1:30PM
kelly.leahy said...
Glad to hear it!
4-01-2008 @ 4:00PM
Phil L. said...
I'm tired of all the reminders to recycle CFL/fluorescent bulbs: I go to the many web sites that supposedly tell you where to do this - and somehow, none of them will take my bulbs. Everything listed in earth911.org for my area is either for commercial recycling, or don't allow residents outside their municipality to recycle (it appears my municipality doesn't offer bulb recycling).
Meanwhile, the pile of dead fluorescent bulbs in my basement grows. I don't like it, but I understand why my neighbors simply put them in the trash. I want to tell them to recycle the bulbs - but it's not terribly useful if I can't tell them *where* to recycle them.
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4-02-2008 @ 1:33PM
kelly.leahy said...
Phil, I completely understand your concerns. It's true that recycling CFLs is difficult for a lot of people that don't live near recycling centers or retail outlets that will take the bulbs (i.e. Ikea). I am convinced that more places will accept used CFLs as demand continues to grow. Until then, keep on bugging your local centers.
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4-02-2008 @ 3:33PM
Salma said...
The visuals were helpful as well, thank you for this post.
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4-02-2008 @ 10:09PM
Yanna said...
It's hard because I'm a teen living under my parent's roof. It seems like such a hassle for them whenever I tell them to replace stuff in the house.
I'll try my best to convince them to do this, though. I really want to participate in this challenge. I did something green for March though: http://theinquirer.wordpress.com/2008/04/01/humid-december-nights-chilly-march-mornings/
I'll update you when we're already using CFL bulbs at home!
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4-03-2008 @ 4:21PM
Cony said...
So... I did this a couple of months ago. I got married in october, so in our house we just bought CFL bulbs. The only problem is that there are some colourish like blue light and a yellow light, I prefer the yellow one cause the other reminds me of a Hospital.
But I think its really a good thing, One step a time we can make our world a better place...
Blessings from Chile
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4-22-2008 @ 10:07PM
Marshall said...
If money is not an issue, you might consider LED bulbs over CFL. They have come a long way in the last few years. Now there are a lot of options to replace your current bulbs without looking "weird" or having overly blue light. The cost is still up there, but that is changing too.
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4-22-2008 @ 10:09PM
kelly.leahy said...
Every LED light I've seen is blue but those are only Christmas tree lights and outdoor solar lights. I'll take your word that they are improving and keep my eye out for a bulb to try!