Making the change, again

A relatively cheap way to same money and energy is to switch from regular incandescent bulbs to compact fluorescent light bulb (CFL's). As I mentioned here, I switched to CFL's about a decade ago and never looked back. As soon as I learned about how much money they save and how little energy they use I went out and bought enough to change over all the bulbs in the house. I took my remaining incandescent bulbs and gave them to people who still used them.

CFL's have come up in the news a few times as both a money saver and as a potential hazard. They do contain mercury (3-5 mg per bulb. Incandescent bulbs on the other hand do contain lead, so they are not entirely safe themselves). Mercury is poisonous and terrible for the environment. However, if you live in an area that is predominantly powered by coal, such as Kentucky, then the power saved from the CFL's is significantly less than that which would be used by the coal burning to power incandescent light bulbs. Lowe's now recycles CFL's, so when they burn out, take them in and drop them off. This way no mercury goes to the landfill. Be careful if you do break one and take it in to Lowe's.

CFL's are great for saving energy but they do have a few problems. If they are turned on and off frequently they can burn out much faster than advertised. They don't like the cold or recessed fixtures. Completely enclosed fixtures also don't do any favors for CFL's.

We have a few enclosed light fixtures in our house. They look good and serve their purpose well, except they kill of CFL's in a couple of years instead of 7 or more. A simple fix for this was switch out the fixture. As a Christmas present I was given a few Good Earth Lighting fixtures. These fixtures have what is known as a gu24 socket as opposed to the Edison Screw socket. There are two little prongs that lock into place. The nice thing about these sockets are: there are no longer tied to wattage, they all come energy star certified, and the make both CFL's and LED's bulbs that fit. The wiring was simple and easy to do yourself and so far the lights are working great. We'll still have to give it time to see if they last longer than the other bulbs.

But all of that aside, there is a new kid on the block for home use.

The other switch we've been making is to LED bulbs. These bulbs are not bad for the environment, they use even less energy than CFL's, they give off better light, and they last much longer than CFL's. We started by putting them in the rooms where the lights get switch off and on more often, like the bathrooms. Since they don't have the same problem as CFL's they are ideal for rooms such as these. We're not just switching bulbs straight out. If, say, we have a bulb go out in the basement, we'll take a CFL out of the bathroom and put it in place of the dead bulb. And then we replace the bathroom bulb with a LED bulb.

LED are much more expensive but the price has fallen quite a bit in the last year. One by one our entire house will be changed over and we may only have to change the bulb one other time in our lifetime.

Don’t go hog wild and change out things that don't need it. But as your bulbs burn out, replace them with something more efficient and greener.