Replace incandescent bulbs and reduce greenhouse gases.
Did you know that if you unscrew one incandescent lightbulb and replace it with an energy-efficient bulb, you are taking a small but important step toward reducing the destructive greenhouse effect that is driving global warming? When we lower our use of electricity, we cut down on the release of greenhouse gases from the power plants that create electricity. The electricity saved by changing a single old-fashioned bulb to an energy-saving compact fluorescent light bulb (CFL) will, during the life of that bulb, reduce the amount of carbon dioxide that would have been created to make that electricity by 1,000 pounds (454 kg). And LED (“light-emitting diode”) lightbulbs are even more energy efficient than CFLs — using 85 percent less electricity than incandescents.
These energy savings quickly add up. For every 45 incandescent lightbulbs that are replaced with energy-efficient bulbs, more than enough energy is saved to supply all the lighting for an entire household!
Keep it clean: CFL lightbulbs are now the cheapest and most commonly used energy-efficient lightbulbs, but each bulb contains a small amount of toxic mercury. These bulbs must be handled with care and cleaned up properly if broken, and they cannot be thrown away when they blow out. Ask at your local hardware store about how to properly recycle used CFLs. Visit the following page on the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s website for details: http://www.epa.gov/cfl/.
Illustration by © Clayton Hanmer. Photographs by © Greg Nesbit Photography. All rights reserved.
