Change Your Clock & Change A Bulb
October 28, 2006 by Karen Weideman
Filed under energy saving, money saving idea
Don’t forget to set your clocks back an hour this weekend. The National Fire Association and the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission also recommends that when you change your clocks you also change the batteries in your smoke and carbon monoxide detectors.
Why not take it a step further? Since you’ve already got out the ladder why 
not change a bulb to an energy efficient bulb? Energy efficient bulbs could save you $30 per year, per bulb!!!! (I know. I am in shock too.)
Energy efficient lighting is important in the fall because the days are shorter, therefore we are using more lights.
If every American home replaced just one light bulb with an ENERGY STAR, we would save enough energy to light more than 2.5 million homes for a year and prevent greenhouse gases equivalent to the emissions of nearly 800,000 cars. (source energystar.gov)
Energy Star qualified Compact Fluorescent Light Bulbs:
Use at least 2/3 less energy than standard incandescent bulbs to provide the same amount of light, and last up to 10 times longer. Save $30 or more in energy costs over each bulb’s lifetime. Generate 70 percent less heat, so they’re safer to operate and can cut energy costs associated with home cooling.
To get the most energy savings, replace bulbs where lights are on the most, such as your family and living room, kitchen, dining room, and porch.
For more information, check out Energy Star.
We changed 3 bulbs tonight in my children’s playroom. The new bulbs only use 16 watts each. I wonder how much that will save us.
Well you reached about the same conclusion as I did “$30 per year, per bulb” ….:) and you were better because you did it in a lot fewer words than I could.
Btw, this is a nice blog you have here. I wish I had stumbled upon it earlier. Will be back often
Thanks for the compliment. I’m glad I stumbled upon your blog yesterday too.
Unfortunately for all of us, these bulbs are toxic and dangerous. Doing some research we find that these bulbs contain mercury, and also have a brighter white light than a regular bulb which can cause headaches (even migraines) in many people. Mercury in vaccines have, in some studies, been linked to autism.
The EPA offers a detailed, 11-step procedure you should follow in case a bulb breaks.. something along the lines of: Air out the room for a quarter of an hour. Wear gloves. Double-bag the refuse. Use duct tape to lift the residue from a carpet. Don’t use a vacuum cleaner, as that will only spread the problem. The next time you vacuum the area, immediately dispose of the vacuum bag.
If we have to go through all of that… is it safe for our environment? Forget Al Gore for a second… is it safe for us? Our children?
In the future our landfills arent going to be littered with glass and metal, but with plastics leeching chemicals and other more dangerous and hazardous stuff like mercury.
I was all for CF bulbs until I educated myself further.