Recent Green Weeks:
September 5:
Cook More Efficiently
August 29:
Use Cold Water for Laundry
August 22:
Find New Uses for Old Phones
August 8:
"Bee" Kind to Pollinators: Limit or Avoid Pesticide Use
August 1:
Reduce Waste: End Junk Mail!
July 25:
Encourage Pollination: Help Bees!
July 18:
Use Less Oil: Walk or Bike at Least Once this Week Instead of Driving
July 11:
Water Lawns and Outdoor Plants in the Morning or Evening Only
July 4:
Practice Safe Souvenir Buying
June 20:
Reuse Paper Scraps
June 13:
Safely Dispose of Hazardous Wastes
June 6:
Give New Life to Old Stuff
May 30:
Make Your Own Non-Toxic Cleaners
May 23:
Find Ways to Consume Less
May 16:
Reuse your food scraps and yard waste: make compost!
May 9:
Make Sure Your Seafood's Sustainable
May 2:
Use a Low Flow Showerhead
April 25:
Reduce Weight in your Vehicle
April 18:
Use a Reusable Water Bottle
April 11:
Switch to Fluorescent Bulbs
April 4:
Buy in Bulk
March 28:
Unplug Your Appliances When They're Not in Use!
March 21:
Turn Off Your Engine Instead of Idling Your Car
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Idea of the Week: Use Fluorescent Light Bulbs
(But remember to recycle old bulbs!)
What to do:
Reduce your electricity use (and your bill) by replacing as many lights in your home as possible with fluorescent
bulbs, AKA Compact Fluorescent Light Bulbs, or CFLs.
NOTE: Fluorescent bulbs last 10 times longer than regular bulbs, but when your bulbs eventually do burn out, it's especially important to recycle them. Although CFLs save energy and prevent pollution from power plants, they do contain small amounts of mercury. Find a recycling center near you by visiting Recycle a Bulb. Recycling bulbs keeps mercury from being released into the environment.
Why it Helps the Earth:
Fluorescent bulbs use approximately 75% less electricity than an incandescent bulb.
Since power plants are one of the world’s biggest greenhouse gas producers, reducing electricity use is
extremely important.
What the Research Says:
According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and U.S. Department of Energy’s joint project
Energy Star, if each American household replaced one bulb with a CFL,
we would save 9 billion pounds of greenhouse gas emissions each year!
If you're concerned about the mercury in fluorescent bulbs, check out Energy Star's Mercury Fact Page for an explanation of how using fluorescent bulbs actually reduces mercury emissions. (The fact sheet explains that power plants are the largest sources of mercury emissions, so the best way to reduce mercury pollution is to reduce power consumption and use CFLs.)
Why it Helps You:
Simply put, saving energy saves you money. Energy Star estimates that replacing an incandescent light bulb
with a fluorescent bulb will save you $ 30 over time. Presuming that your home has at least 10 light bulbs,
that's a minimum savings of $ 300!
For more information about when and how to use CFLs, try visiting GE’s
CFL Fact Sheet.
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Last Revision: July 6, 2010