Walmart, compact fluorescents and practical environmentalism

[Barnabas]

I dont think this is news (I live in a poor country and have had those lightbulbs for years), but if it helps million of people to switch to that kind of lightbulbs, then, it is a good article

[Jon Miller]

Yeah, as I said, I have never bought one at Walmart and I have been using them since I first saw them, about 4 years now.

JM

[Asher]

CFL.
NFL.

LED lights.

[:) Smiley]

Another huge power savings going on is from the switching over from CRT to LCD technology... the monitors pay for themselves at a typical office in a year.

[Jon Miller]

Hmm, maybe I should switch...

JM

[Drake Tungsten]

Another huge power savings going on is from the switching over from CRT to LCD technology... the monitors pay for themselves at a typical office in a year.

[Zkribbler]

There's talk in Sacramento of making use of these energy saving blubs mandatory in California. A friend of mine is freaking out because he has a charming old house and the bulbs will not fit any of his lampshades.

[Drake Tungsten]

There's talk in Sacramento of making use of these energy saving blubs mandatory in California.

Sounds like a solution Al Gore would dream up.

[Adam Smith]

This past Fall electricity rates doubled in Maryland after the state regulatory commission unfroze them from 1994 levels. I walked into the local Home Depot just after Christmas and they had recently put up an entire wall full of compact florescent bulb in every size and type imaginable. (The new “swirl” bulbs have a smaller profile than incandescent bulbs, so they can fit anywhere an incandescent bulb can fit.) The guy stocking the shelves said they could hardly keep the compact florescent bulbs in stock since electric rates went up. I bought a whole cart load of these bulbs, took them home, and installed them. This January we used 10 percent less electricity overall than last January. (We use natural gas for heat, so weather is not a factor in our electric bill.) At this rate the bulbs will pay for themselves in less than six months.

Potential energy savings are not just limited to electricity. Our house was built in 1972, before energy prices went up, and was really inefficient. We’ve been able to cut our natural gas usage by about a third since we moved in in 2000. Some energy savings cost a fair amount of money – adding a layer of insulation under the siding when we remodeled the house; doubling the amount of insulation in the attic; replacing single-pane windows with double-pane windows. But a lot of the savings were simple, cheap, and easy to come by. A programmable thermostat cost about $40 and made a huge difference. Moving it away from the front door also helped a lot. Insulating the ducts that ran through the unheated attic and basement took about an afternoon. We also picked up a small, very efficient heater (uses circulating mineral oil) to warm up a chronically cold room. Next year, when we finish the basement, we will replace our old furnace with a new high efficiency model. When we are all done we should be able to cut our natural gas use to about half of what it originally was.

edit: spelling

[Odin]

I've used CFLs for over a year now. They've done wonders for my power bill.

[LordShiva]

Walmart

One of my first consulting projects was for a major lighting company that's betting big on CFLs and on Walmart's selling of them.

(BTW, Philips didn't invent them)

[Addled Platypus]

hand cranked flashlight/radio --woot

why through lead base batteries into the land fill

[Imran Siddiqui]

Compact fluorescents

Most of my apartment has these now (I have three old style ones in a ceiling fan/light, but those will be replaced by CFLs)

[Sir Og]

Backward countries

We've been using these for other 10 years.

[Dauphin]

Use candles.