A bright idea

We purchased our first CFLs this weekend, and have installed four of them. CFL stands for Compact Flourescent Lamp, and while it's not exactly the wave of the future (LEDs are), it's a step in the right direction.

CFLs replace your regular old run-of-the-mill incandescent light bulbs. The technology has progressed to the point where a CFL creates the same light as an incandescent for a lot fewer watts. And they're a lot better than the old flickery flourescent lights that you remember from hotels back in the nineties. They don't flicker any more.

The package we purchased (at Sam's no less), says that one CFL bulb replaces 10 incandescents due to their longevity. 10 bulbs! And, they put out a lot less heat.

We decided to convert our incandescents to CFLs as they started burning out, and this weekend the yard lamp (three bulbs) and the porch light (one bulb) needed replacing, so we started. I'm so gosh darned excited about it that I'm ready to replace 'em all.

M says not to get too excited because as efficient as CFLs are, they are nothing compared to LEDs. However, LED technology is still relatively new and it's therefore cost prohibitive to run around converting all your lights to LEDs. For instance, just one of the can lights in our living room/kitchen would cost $55 to convert. That's just the bulb. LEDs (and CFLs for that matter) will work in regular sockets. Anyway, since we have six in the living room and four or five in the kitchen...yeah...

So, we're making our little effort to reduce excess use of energy and try to halt the freight train that is global warming.

This may not seem like a big deal, but I get totally stoked about finding new ways to help the environment.