Bright Idea - Lighting the Way
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Bright Idea
Lighting the Way
Momentum is building in the U.S. Congress for a bill that would require Americans to forsake regular incandescent light bulbs in favor of compact fluorescents (CFL) and other, more efficient lighting technologies. The bill would require household bulbs to be three times more efficient by 2020 and phase out 40-, 60-, 75- and 100-watt incandescent light bulbs by 2014.
Apparently incandescents convert only about 5 percent of the electricity they consume into visible light. Proponents say that installing more-efficient alternatives could save U.S. consumers some $6 billion a year in energy costs and effectively cancel demand for 80 coal-fired power plants. The United States is the largest single market for incandescent light bulbs, accounting for nearly a third of the global market.
Meanwhile, the government’s Energy Star "Change a Light" voluntary pledge campaign continues to encourage Americans to make the switch. They calculate that if every household changed one bulb to a CFL, we’d collectively save "5.6 billion kilowatt-hours of electricity per year, or $526 million a year in electric expenses." CFLs use two-thirds less energy, emit 70 percent less heat and last up to 10 times longer than standard incandescent light bulbs. And they now come in sizes and shapes to fit almost any fixture.
Take the pledge at EnergyStar.gov; search "Change a Light Pledge."
