Save Energy by Turning off the lights.. How much?

Go Green by Turing Off the Lights
By Erin K Kennedy


It doesn't matter what kind of bulbs you have in your lamps, turn them off when you leave the room! Not only will you save money every month when you go green by turning off the lights, you are also keeping unwanted CO2 omissions from further contributing to global warming.
Let's talk about the numbers. Let's say you have a 75 watt incandescent light bulb. And let's say it's a lamp in your entry hallway. You come home in the evening and turn it on so you can see your way into the rest of your home. But after you are in the rest of the house, you leave it on for 3 hours till you go to bed. If you were to turn it off after you are safely in, and going into the rest of the house, you would save about 125 pounds of CO2 from being emitted into the atmosphere. That's only one lamp. If you are one who turns on lots of lights all over the house, just leave lights on for hours at a time even if you aren't in the room, ya, you can do the math.
If you still have incandescent light bulbs, change them out and replace them with CFL bulbs. These are compact florescent light bulbs and use much less energy to light your home and save the environment from dangerous levels of CO2 from entering the atmosphere. It is getting easier to find CFL bulbs, but they are still not available in every store. Home Depot is a good place to start.
Keep in mind that just as incandescent bulbs come in different wattages and colors, so do CFLs. Here is a simple guide to wattages to buy for individual rooms:
Your bathroom:
23 watts: You want it bright enough to make sure that you see everything and can make your self beautiful without having to squint!
Guest bathroom:
19 watts: You guest needs to be able to see, but you don't want it so bright that they won't want to turn on the light.
Kitchen: 19 watts
You want the light to be bright enough for you to see to cook, but not feel like you are stage.
Living Room: 13 watts
This gives a nice soft light, but bright enough for you to read.
Bedroom: 11-13 watts
Depending on if you want a low light as if it was candle light, or you need it brighter to read by.
Be aware that CFLs contain a small amount of mercury, so you can't just toss them when they finally do burn out. There are places that recycle them, like IKEA, but if push comes to shove, double bag them in zip-top baggies and carefully throw them away so as not to break the bulb.
It really isn't that hard to go green by turning off the lights. You don't have to be an athlete to accomplish this; all it takes is a little wrist or finger action to work a light switch, or screw in a new bulb and you are doing a great service to the environment and saving yourself some money. How can that be a bad thing?
I have been writing articles and publishing editorials for over 3 years covering a number of popular topics about everyday life. My interests as of late have involved temporary handicap access options and researching motorized wheel chair options for a short term situation. Discover the innovations and choices I found about wheel chair ramp options and choices to provide for temporary access needs.


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