Whisper Wels said...
I read your blog and I couldn't agree more! I feel so strongly about it that it inspired me to start a lighting company that only sells compact fluorescent light bulbs. We are running an Arizona BulbMe Challenge asking Arizona residents to change 100,000 light bulbs by December 31st and then we are donating 4,000 light bulbs to low income Arizona residents. These low income residents make up much of the energy usage in our country yet they cannot afford the more expensive energy efficient bulbs or lighting. You can find us at: www.bulbme.com/AZ100.html
All Good Energy Your Way,
Whisper
Whisper makes a particularly good point that, despite the compelling economies, poor people simply can't afford the upfront costs of replacing $1 a bulb incandescent bulbs with $6 compact fluorescents. We need to find ways to help poor and lower middle income folks make this transition.
While we're at it, a couple other points:
--Compact fluorescents are not ideal for lights that are frequently flicked on and off, as they need a few minutes to warm up to achieve their efficiency;
--Lights with dimmers on them will not work well with standard CFL bulbs, but their are CFL's designed for such lights. You might need to go on the internet to find them.
Finally, a policy idea that will help speed the transition to CFL's: why not require homebuilders to equip all new construction with CFL's?
3 comments:
You said:
Finally, a policy idea that will help speed the transition to CFL's: why not require homebuilders to equip all new construction with CFL's?
Clearly, that's not a good idea for ALL new construction, as indicated in your own post. Only certain, heavily used lights warrant CFL. So, maybe a requirement for a certain percentage of CFLs be included in new construction.
Of course, for residential consturction, there is no way to prevent the new home owner from immedialely replacing the CFLs with other bulbs.
We agree. By "all new construction" we meant that all new homes should be required to include CFL's where appropriate, not that all lights in such homes should be installed with CFL's. The way to do this is to have the drafters of building codes work out a minimum standard. Building codes are suitably detailed to work this kind of thing out.
If you need help finding CFLs for more specialized fixtures like dimmable lights, globe shapes and reflectors, you can search our CFL guide. We include user reviews with the bulbs as well so you can have some idea of what you're getting.
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