I Heard About Those Efficient Light Bulbs

I'm sure you've heard friends or family talk about how much money you can save on installing high efficiency light bulbs otherwise known as compact fluorescents (CFLs), but does it really save energy and money on your electric bill?

I thought I'd do the research for you and give you a taste to make your decision.

As the CFLs story goes for us...

When my husband piled up those old (which were really new since we had just moved into the house) incandescent bulbs into a box 6 months ago, I had a certain bit of anxiety. I thought to myself, "why don't we wait until they go out and replace them one by one" and "what are we going to do with all those perfectly good light bulbs. We can't just throw them away-that would be wasteful" and "maybe I'll just keep them up high in the pantry until we need a light bulb and we are in a pinch and out of the high efficiency ones." Well, turns out there they still sit. They are on the top shelf of the pantry and when I die my children will find them there 70 years from now. (I'll 103 by then, by the way.) At least it seems like a good compromise I made with my own subconscious- grew-up-with-sortof-pack-rat-really-thrifty-father.

My Father would think we were insane if we told him we replaced all those light bulbs that were perfectly good. First, who cares that much about the environment if you are not seeing the money savings in your hand right now? Second, why would you replace good light bulbs? I better keep that box out of his sight when he comes to visit or he might try to take it back to the farm with him!

The facts.

• Compact fluorescents (that's the name for high efficiency bulbs, remember?) use four times less energy, and last eight times longer (8,000h instead of 1,000h) than incandescent light bulbs.
• The compact fluorescent will be more expensive to buy, but you will need to replace it eight times less often
• CFLs at the end of their operating life should be disposed of properly so the mercury inside can be recycled.
• "A 22 watt CFL replaces a traditional 100 watt incandescent. Although initially more expensive to buy, they’ll last way longer than the old bulbs."
  
• CFLs use about 66 percent less energy while producing the same Photo sensors measure the amount of daylight amount of illumination as incandescent bulbs.
• In the average residence, lighting consumes about 10-15% of the energy used.
  
• On average, homeowners spend $100 per year on lighting with incandescent light bulbs.
• A little known or thought about fact is that incandescent light bulbs also produce excess heat in your home. 95% of the energy consumed by these bulbs is turned into heat. So, the question is how much more does your A/C kick on to balance that excess heat?
  
• You could do a simple calculation of just multiplying your average bill by 10% to see what percentage is used for electricity. Then take that number and multiply it by 1/3. That should tell you your monthly utility bill savings for installing CFLs.
  

I found a lot of great information on Greenpeace's website if you want to take a closer look.

I'm happy my husband made the switch for us even though I still glance at that box from time to time in my pantry. Now that you know the facts maybe you'll find an old box to store your light bulbs in your pantry.

Brought to you by Greener Grass Notes.

No Pre-rinsing of the Dishes? Huh?

This is probably pretty obvious to most of you, but it wasn't to me. I guess because I grew up rinsing my dishes before putting them into the dishwasher I just always have done it that way. I was reading in a magazine a list of top ten ways to be green in 2008. One of the ideas was to skip the rinsing of your dishes.

Hmmm...really, just skip it? I was skeptical. I decided to try it. It worked. My dishes still got clean. I then began to really break this down in my head. How did it work? How was that so? Everyone knows you actually wash your dishes prior to washing them in the dishwasher.

Well, I decided that back in the day it was necessary to pre-wash. Today dishwashers do a better job. So, we pre-wash because that's what we always did.

On a side note, I've been skipping the heated drying in an effort to save on energy for quite some time now. If my dishes get spotty, then oh well. I can live with that.

So, I dare you to try it. Put those dishes in un-pre-washed and let 'er rip!

H20 Mop

Let me start out by saying this is not an advertisement - well sort of - but the company selling this product is not paying me. (hmm, but maybe they should be.) Since I am a mother, I am constantly looking for ways to improve the air quality and overall environment for my child in my home. My husband is equally concerned.

So, for Mother's Day 2008, he bought me the H2O mop. I was skeptical, then I used it. I fell in love. Never in my life did I ever see myself sitting around with a bunch of other mothers showing off my new household item. I'm just not that person. But, right out a scene from the 1950's, I proudly brought that mop out of my laundry room to show it off to my mom-friends during our weekly storytime gathering.

I talked about all the benefits and features as I was trained to do as a long time sales person. And for free. I guess the benefit for me was just as I am doing now. Showing you something that is great for the environment and for our children.

The mop uses water - no chemicals. No sticky chemical residue left behind - have you ever noticed that after mopping? Basically, hot hot hot steam comes out and kills everything that may have been living on your floor. It is very light and easy to maneuver. There are no throw away refill products to buy. I simply throw the cloth that glides along the floor in the washing machine with my dog towels or rugs.

It is fairly inexpensive considering you never have to buy refills again or chemical cleaning supplies again. The cost is around $100 and well worth it. Check it out.

http://www.thane.com/products/housewares/h2omop/h2omop.php

The Cloth Grocery Bag (and the Important Sticker!)

I am resolved to doing the easy "green" things that do not require much monetary investment. So, I loaded up on the $1.00 cloth grocery bags.

Sidenote: I have always thought the plastic bags your get from the store are a nusiance anyway. I normally end up with 50 or so stashed in my pantry until I get that strange (yet brillant) invention from IKEA hung up on my wall in the garage to stuff the bags. I haven't gotten that hung up in my new house. Instead of fighting it, I use the cloth bags 80% of the time when I go shopping. I say 80% since the leftover 20% is for all the times that I forget the bag or I am already out and about and decide to pop into the store. Hey, I'm not perfect.

So, onto my really great tip. If your grocery store did not provide you a sticker to put on your rearview mirror of your car, then just make your own sticker from a mailing label, etc. My grocery store gave me a sticker to place on the rearview mirror to remember the bags! I almost lost my mind with excitement when the clerk handed it to me since that is the battle that I constantly face - taking the bags in the house with groceries, but forgetting them on my next trip to the store! Brillant!

Ok, it is the small things that excite me. So, buy the bags, put up the sticker and use the "I forget my cloth bags only 20% of the time with this system" bags to pick up the dog waste on your morning walk with your pooches!