It’s a predicament we all have faced in the aisles of our local store — we know that fluorescent lights are better in the long run, yet it is still hard to fork over triple or even quadruple the cost of the incandescent one. If you broke down and went for the cheaper version; you aren’t alone. There are so few people actually buying the more efficient fluorescent bulbs that California assemblyman Lloyd Levine recently proposed California bans the sale of incandescent light bulbs by 2012.
While this may seem a little extreme, it appears that something needs to be done to increase the awareness for the benefits of fluorescent light bulbs. Here are just a few:
- Fluorescent light bulbs last 10 times longer then their incandescent counterparts. If I could avoid climbing up on that ladder to change a light bulb 10 times less often, I would be one happy camper — not to mention the money I will be saving in the long run.
- That brings us to the cost factor. While initially, the fluorescent bulbs cost more, in the long run, the American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy believes they can save a consumer $4 to $13 a year for each bulb. That can add up to big savings!
- Now for the kicker: according the the website eartheasy, if every American home replaced a single incandescent bulb with a fluorescent one, we could keep a half a ton of Carbon Dioxide (CO2) out of the atmosphere. Ninety average size power plants could be shut down if everyone in the U.S. used energy-efficient lighting.
It is actually hard to find any downfall to using fluorescent light bulbs — other than their appearance which many find unattractive. Even if you start by just replacing the light in the garage, its a step in the right direction!