Global Warming Solutions: If You Haven't Already Done This, You are Wasting Money
In a recent article I described how a detailed analysis of energy production and usage in the US shows that about 51% of the energy produced is wasted. One of the best ways of addressing our energy problems is energy efficiency. True, we need to do more: carbon sequestration (saline wetlands and trees in all but the northernmost latitudes are the best ways of sequestering carbon) and alternative energy are necessary. But even without changing our energy production, we can get a good head start on dealing with global warming by improving energy efficiency. In John and Teresa Heinz Kerry's book, This Moment on Earth, they describe how Texas Instruments was able to design a factory in Texas where energy efficiency was the primary design element that saved them so much money that it allowed building in Texas to be competitive with outsourcing to India. They saved money, saved energy and kept jobs in the United States all by designing with energy efficiency in mind.
Energy efficiency is the smartest step towards dealing with global warming.
There are many ways that you as a private citizen can be part of the solution. Carpooling, using mass transit, bicycling, walking, buying a hybrid car, turning your thermostat down a degree in the winter, and up a degree in summer, turning off lights, insulation, etc. are all ways where YOU can both save money in the long run and save energy. They all make sense both for your budget AND for dealing with global warming. You should do all you can to do these things. But there is one that is such a no-brainer, that if you haven't already done it, you are losing. The number one change you should have made at least 5 years ago is to switch your light bulbs to compact fluorescent bulbs.
The one difficulty is that the initial cost is higher. You have to shell out more money when you buy a compact fluorescent bulb than when you buy a regular bulb. But...the overall savings are pretty big. For every regular bulb you replace with a compact fluorescent bulb, you save $35-$60 on energy bills over the life of EACH bulb (5-10 years depending on usage). My wife and I replaced all our bulbs about 6 years ago. We have saved about $200 over that time. And saved thousands of pounds of carbon from going into the atmosphere. They are more convenient, too, because they last 8-10 times longer than regular bulbs, meaning you don't have to change bulbs as often. Compact fluorescents contain more mercury than regular bulbs, but if you account for the mercury emissions from producing the extra energy that a regular bulb uses, you still wind up putting less mercury into our environment. For a full fact sheet on the advantages of compact fluorescent bulbs, go here.
Have you started saving money and the environment yet? Compact fluorescent bulbs are now sold in many hardware stores, some grocery stores, at CostCo...yes, even at Wal-Mart if you want to buy them from THAT irresponsible, law-breaking company. If there is no source near you, you can buy them here.
If you haven't done it yet, I don't really know why. There is no disadvantage to you in the long run and many advantages to you and to our children. We have, by most estimates, 10 years to mitigate global warming. Make your first year's actions be, at a bare minimum, making your life more energy efficient. As Texas Instruments discovered, there is no real downside to doing this.
Submitted by NanceConfer on 29 April 2007 - 9:34am.
we are in the process of switching over and I was surprised to see how affordable the CFL bulbs were. A pack of three or four was about a dollar more than a pack of regular bulbs. Reasonable even for a curmudgeon like me.
Submitted by NanceConfer on 29 April 2007 - 10:39am.
THK's blog tour has started/continued some good talks about what real people can really do.
A wonderful unschooling Mom (WUM) and I were agreeing yesterday that a lot of what is being suggested comes down to being the frugal shoppers or re-users we already are. This was prompted by the thread at Cocking a Snook -- http://cockingasnook.wordpress.com/2007/04/26/can-you-believe-whos-
here-blog-tour-comes-to-snook/ -- and we talked about how we don't always need to reinvent the wheel but just be more encouraging about some of the things a lot of us already do.
For instance, in addition to the name brands of places to make and receive donations -- Freecycle, Goodwill, etc. -- WUM told me about a local place that her Mom helped to start.
We live in an area where there are a lot of extremely affluent people and then the rest of us. The affluent have kids too, it turns out , and when they outgrow or never use clothing, they are sometimes encouraged to donate to an outfit called the 4C Club (a link? yep, they have one -- http://www.the4cclub.org/).
"Caring Children/Clothing Children, Inc. is a charity for children. We are a non-profit, all volunteer organization which collects very good clothing that school children have outgrown. These clothes are passed to needy children by way of The 4-C Club store which is located in Stuart, Florida.
"The clothing is collected, sorted, and presented in a department store fashion by an army of volunteers. The recipients are qualified by recognized charitable agencies that provide children with vouchers to shop free for three outfits each including new shoes, socks and underwear. Used athletic equipment, children's books, stuffed animals, novelties and baby items are also available."
It's a local project that I had never heard of and there are probably a lot of these things we could all become more aware of.
or at least they were the last time I tried using compact fluorescents, just 2-4 years ago? Hated it, HATED it -- I am too old and could not see well by their supposedly equivalent light. *Especially* not to read and do kakuro and crosswords, etc. I just have to have really good light -- so are you saying those formerly thin, pale (yes, and flickery) lightbulbs are now strong and steady enough for even old readers like me to love?
Comparison shopping applies to everything. In Germany the switch to CFL bulbs started 15 years ago with few complaints. My German friends think Americans are stupid (their word!) for being so slow to change.
What can I tell you? You make your own decisions but we are fine with them and I know many others who are fine with them. We know we have some big problems over the horizon, including some pretty big flooding in Florida. Solutions aren't just for thinking about, they have to be implemented. I can make suggestions but the action has to come from our governments (with pressure from us) and from individuals. Some would say we need a change of thinking away from the "can't do" to a "can do" attitude. I am trying to encourage that kind of idea, inspired by the many stories in the Kerry book, that we HAVE solutions and WE can be part of the solution rather than sitting around waiting for the flood to rise.
So, many like CFL bulbs as their first step to a solution. We are among them.
because I was really hoping (expecting even) you'd tell me they are much improved now, and getting better all the time. That was your cue, what happened?? I guess I broke the cardinal lawyer's rule about not asking a question if you don't already know the answer. Darn, I always mess that one up when I really get interested and engaged -- sorry mole!
It was supposed to be a compact, energy-efficient softball for you.
Sometimes I just get the same old questions over and over and get impatient with them. I know you are not a troll, but I get this kind of response from trolls all the time and, as with any product you will ever buy, there is a range of quality and styles to suit a variety of tastes.
My first CFL bulb was 10 years ago and it didn't last long, so wasn't worth it. Later tried another version and it was great. There are supposedly natural spectrum CFL bulbs, though I am not sure they are THAT good. Maybe they are. But it will be some time before we need to change a bulb so it may be years before we have a chance to test it...darn those long lived bulbs!
I know I'm not a troll too, so it's really kinda nice that we agree on that part. (Shall we now sing "Kumbayah" together? *bigottergrin*)
Looking around the current apartment while typing this message, I see that with the minor exceptions of light bulbs that live in the fridge, the oven, and the mickeywave, then there isn't an unnatural non-solar light source in here that *isn't* either CFL or just plain FL. Wow.
(Windows -- non-Micro$loth ones, I mean real windows as in aperture thingies -- *do* count as solar light sources for at least part of the day, right?)
So, anyway, crappy color temperature slash broken-spectrum specs ain't exactly the driving force here. But I really do I could find actual full-spectrum CFL lamps like the ones I already have in my FLs here on Planet Otter.
Full-spectrum CFL lamps may indeed be available, in fact I assume that they already are, except for that they are neither commonly-available nor even relatively cost-effective. Like certain endangered medical procedures, apparently they are still safe legal and rare.
For the nonce, though, I haven't seen full-spectrum CFL lamps lurking on the shelves in any of the places I customary dawdle in the aisles. At such time as I do, then I will take notice and grok them accordingly.
However... since as you duly noted, these damn things do last forever, then I reckon as how by the time I'm finally shopping for some new replacements CFLs the nicer, friendlier, kindly-to-the-amygdala versions will be as ubiquitous as wingnut bloggers regurgitating recycled RW talking points...
Haven't tried them, and the prices seem high, but a quick google search gets this, this, and this not to mention a bunch of other sites. I would still assume quality and spectrum vary from brand to brand, but there are at least bulbs that CLAIM to be what you want.
That being said, I use them anyway -- but until 5200+ degree Kelvin (i.e., in the range of natural daylight color temperature) CFL's become available, I'm still gonna be grumpily curmudgeonacious about it anyway. I'm a recovering movie & tv gaffer, color temperature readings matter to me, what can I say.
Jeebus K. Ryst, mole333, if I didn't know better I'd think that reading that there TMOE book had some kind of actual effect on you.
JJ, Nance, et al -- since the virtual blog tour in re THK's recent Womens' Health & the Environment conference in Pixbug has been working out so well, we've just about convinced the publishing house behind 'This Moment on Earth' to let us do one for the book itself. You guys want in on that?
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"Look, Queen Elizabeth has more diamonds than me. Why don't people attack her for it? .While they were telling NBA players to take off their medallions for game days, why don't they tell the Pope not to wear his medallion to work?"
, and when they outgrow or never use clothing, they are sometimes encouraged to donate to an outfit called the 4C Club (a link? yep, they have one -- 
Actually
we are in the process of switching over and I was surprised to see how affordable the CFL bulbs were. A pack of three or four was about a dollar more than a pack of regular bulbs. Reasonable even for a curmudgeon like me.
Nance