By changing your light bulbs you'll save money, reduce pollution, improve lighting and feel good about your environmental decisions.
Some home improvements aren’t as noticeable as others but they can still be an important step in creating just the right environment for your life. Changing the lighting in your home can not only affect the mood and environment, it can also save you money and improve your green rating. In fact, changing the lighting in your home can be as simple as changing your light bulbs.
Compact fluorescent light bulbs are becoming more available and more reasonably priced, and will save energy in your home and will eventually cut your energy bills. On average CFL bulbs use about 75% less energy than incandescent lights, which means less pollution is generated and your realized savings can be somewhere between $36 and $59 throughout the life of the bulb. CFLs are also estimated to have a lifespan that is somewhere between 8 and 10 times longer than traditional bulbs.
Compact fluorescents also light your home in a more radiant way that is a bit confusing at first. The wattage of a CFL is much lower than that of an incandescent so you can use a much smaller wattage bulb to get the same amount of light or you can boost the light level in your home by using a higher CFL bulb. For example, if your lamp says that the wattage cannot exceed 60 watts you’d normally pick up a 60 watt bulb. If you switch to a CFL bulb you only need 15 watts to get the same amount of illumination as the traditional 60 watt bulb produced. So you still have several more watts (45 to be exact) to play with and can get a higher wattage/brighter CFL bulb for the same lamp.
There are some downsides to compact fluorescent bulbs; they contain about 5 milligrams of mercury. In theory CFLs are a more environmentally friendly solution to home lighting as they use less energy and create less pollution, but if not disposed of properly the mercury can cause some environmental problems. Keep in mind that if the bulbs are used appropriately there is no danger to using them at all, it’s just in the disposal that there can be a problem. To find out what your local hazardous material refuse rules are, contact your local waste management office or check online at www.earth911.org to find regulations related to your zip code.
Some companies, such as IKEA, are involved in a take back program and you can return your old bulbs to their stores and they’ll properly handle your waste. Other retailers are joining this program so if you aren’t lucky enough to have an IKEA nearby you might have another store that will accept your trashed bulbs.
If you happen to break a bulb use a broom, not a vacuum, to sweep up all fragments and residue. Then use a damp cloth to wipe up the area. Seal the broken shards and the washrag in a Ziploc style bag. Then, if possible, let your room ventilate a bit.
Making the right lighting choices for your home is really more than simply selecting the right fixture or picking a color coordinated lampshade, sometimes even the most basic decisions can affect the atmosphere and mood of your home.
