How Many Greenies Does It Take To Change A Light Bulb?

Just one, you. And that's what today’s Easy Eco Idea is about; switching your incandescent light bulbs out for compact fluorescent light bulbs (CFL).

I know we've all heard this one a hundred times now and since there’s nothing really much to this tip I thought I would give you some reasons why you should switch other than that they last roughly 8 times longer.

Lighting accounts for 25% of American electricity consumption and is the largest source of greenhouse gas emissions.

Standard incandescent lights convert 90% of the electricity they use to heat and only 10% to visible light. These inefficient lights cost us about $110 in wasted energy every year. Replacing a 100-watt incandescent with a 32-watt CFL saves at least $30 over the life of the bulb.

If every U.S. household replaced 1 light bulb with a CFL it would save as much pollution as removing 1 million cars from the road. By replacing 4 bulbs you can prevent the emissions of 5,000 pounds of carbon dioxide. If every household replaced its 4 most commonly used bulbs with CFLs our annual carbon dioxide emissions would be lowered by about 125 billion pounds!

So just doing this one little thing can have a huge impact on the planet. You can even get dimmable CFL bulbs now so there’s really no excuse not to replace your bulbs. Yes they do cost more to start so switch them out slowly if you need to.

CFLs do contain mercury so don’t just throw them into the garbage, contact your local waste removal company or go to earth911 to find out how to properly dispose of them.

The info listed above came from the Sierra Club.