Decreasing our bill, & our burden to the environment

Okay, to illustrate how much of a dork I can be, I've spent the last few days replacing all of the conventional light bulbs in our condo with energy saving bulbs. Not the best time to be doing it before our wedding, I know, but I assured Vandra that it's absolutely the right thing to do, plus we will save money in the long run.

It's all about lessening our environmental impact - a project that I'm attacking with zeal. I'm constantly trying to figure out more ways that we could be helping reduce our pollution and wastefulness, in addition to using less natural resources, and I've blogged about a few - refusing plastic bags in supermarkets/convenience stores when we don't need them, writing letters to companies urging them to not issue sales receipts longer than my arm (I wrote over e-mail, fellow wise asses, so I'm not wasting paper writing to save paper), frequenting environmentally friendly companies, etc. Our light bulb change is just the latest thing, but it won't be the last.

As if you needed further proof of my dorkiness, I actually like them! They light up differently than your standard, you-don't-even-notice-them bulbs. Flip the switch and they start off dim, and then they gradually brighten up. This is an awesome thing to have in a bathroom bulb. We have a four-globe set in both of our bathrooms, and when we put in these energy saving globes...

...I loved it! Nothing beats goin' to the bathroom in the middle of the night and being greeted with a dim light that slowly gets brighter, allowing your eyes to adjust. Righteous! As you can see above, energy saving bulbs are available in just about any size and shape. (The above, a candleabra, is for a small lamp. Our bathroom globes have the wider socket.) Inside these frosted bulbs are the spiral bulbs pictured at the beginning of this piece.

I put these in our hallway.

And these frosted indoor floods are now in our kitchen.

My advice? Do it! It will save you money in the long run, and will, most importantly, use much less energy, too.

Here are a few cool facts about energy saving bulbs:

To replace a conventional 60 watt bulb, all you need is a 14 watt energy saver for the same brightness.

These bulbs use far less energy than regular bulbs - they average a seven-year lifespan. Some brands, like the GM one at the top, guarantee the bulb for five years. Simply save the receipt and UPC from the package, and if it burns out in less than five years, GE will replace it for free. Sweet.

Since you will use so much less energy, you could leave a bulb on to keep your home more secure... for less dough.

These energy savin' bulbs produce very little heat, so you'll save in another way in the summer - using less air to keep the place cool when the lights are on. Double savings = double coolness (pun intended).

The average home has 20 sockets. If you replaced half with 60 watt equivalents (14-16 watt) and the other half with 100 watt equivalents (about 23 watts, give or take, depending on brand), you could save up to $900 over the life of the bulbs, again, depending on the brand you choose.

And lastly, I read somewhere (don't know if this one is true, but it seems plausible) that if every home in America decided to switch to energy saving bulbs (and that's a lot of switchin' and savin'), enough energy could be saved to provide energy to 8 million homes every year.

One last bonus - since I got on the bulb craze, it's made me more aware of our energy usage. I can't tell you how many times in the last week I've caught myself leaving a light or TV on when I'm not in the room. So, energy awareness can translate into more savings, too.

If you haven't already, get on board the energy savin' train. There's a first class seat ready for you.