I could do Cali....
On the coat tails of Chris' latest enviro-post extolling the virtues of the NDP's new environment plans I post this kudos to the only place really visibly seeming to do more than nothing or just talking about positive environmental change: the state of California.
This article, posted on Slashdot, demonstrates (again) the good 'brain stuffs' coming out of the state that Arnold rebuilt! A politician has proposed the "How Many Legislators Does it Take to Change a Lightbulb Act" which proposes the ban of incandescent light bulbs in the state of California. I'm not sure if the ban will go through, but it's definitely a good idea! I suspect someone out there has estimated the energy savings this country (and many others) could reap by switching all those old, inefficient incandescent bulbs to new compact fluorescent bulbs, but I hope you all understand that it would be massive, even if I can't provide the figures to show you!
Just in case you are totally clueless about these energy efficient bulbs, here is a little cost comparison.
The compact fluorescent equivalent to a 60 Watt incandescent bulb requires about 11 Watts for the same lumen level. I'm sure I don't have to point out that you would be using just over 1/6th the power. Wattage x time in operation x price of electricity (BC Hydro lists $67.10 per 1000 kWh, or $0.0671 /kWh) = cost to you. So, for 100 hours of use you have a cost for incandescent bulb of $0.403 and $0.074 for compact fluorescent. As expected, the cost for incandescent is over 5 times that of compact fluorescent. Would you ever buy a product that has an equivalent at 1/5 the price? Sure, there may be a bit more cost up front (for now) for compact fluorescent bulbs, but the long term savings more than pay for the extra investment!
Are YOU using compact fluorescent instead of incandescent bulbs?
This article, posted on Slashdot, demonstrates (again) the good 'brain stuffs' coming out of the state that Arnold rebuilt! A politician has proposed the "How Many Legislators Does it Take to Change a Lightbulb Act" which proposes the ban of incandescent light bulbs in the state of California. I'm not sure if the ban will go through, but it's definitely a good idea! I suspect someone out there has estimated the energy savings this country (and many others) could reap by switching all those old, inefficient incandescent bulbs to new compact fluorescent bulbs, but I hope you all understand that it would be massive, even if I can't provide the figures to show you!
Just in case you are totally clueless about these energy efficient bulbs, here is a little cost comparison.
The compact fluorescent equivalent to a 60 Watt incandescent bulb requires about 11 Watts for the same lumen level. I'm sure I don't have to point out that you would be using just over 1/6th the power. Wattage x time in operation x price of electricity (BC Hydro lists $67.10 per 1000 kWh, or $0.0671 /kWh) = cost to you. So, for 100 hours of use you have a cost for incandescent bulb of $0.403 and $0.074 for compact fluorescent. As expected, the cost for incandescent is over 5 times that of compact fluorescent. Would you ever buy a product that has an equivalent at 1/5 the price? Sure, there may be a bit more cost up front (for now) for compact fluorescent bulbs, but the long term savings more than pay for the extra investment!
Are YOU using compact fluorescent instead of incandescent bulbs?