19 January 2009

You Can Save Money, and help the Environment- Here's How!

Posted by Dan Satterfield

The best way for this planet to reduce our greenhouse gas emissions, is to come up with ways of making environmentally good energy, the CHEAPEST energy. Right now, the cheapest energy is the dirtiest. Coal to be exact. Oil is second. The best fossil fuel is Natural Gas.

Since most of the electricity in the USA is produced with dirty coal (There is no such thing as clean coal!….remember that from my previous blog post??), then anything we can do to save electricity means less dirty coal is burned. Less electricity means you save money.

So here is what you do. Replace immediately, EVERY light bulb in your house with a compact fluorescent. These things have come light years since they were first introduced. I like the natural daylight bulbs. We saw our electrical bill drops 20$ a month right away. More in the Summer! Why?

Incandescent bulbs are mainly heat bulbs that also put out light. If you live in a warm climate, then most of your bulbs energy is fighting with your air conditioner as it tries to cool your house. Count how many  regular old fashioned light bulbs  you have burning in your house some evening. These added together, put out an incredible amount of heat!

These light bulbs are actually much more popular in Europe where energy is priced higher than here in the U.S. They will be phased out soon in Europe. Many stores there, have already quit carrying the old bulbs.

So if you want to help reduce greenhouse gases, and save money. Get the new bulbs. I even have compact fluorescent yard lights now.

Later,
Dan