Wednesday, January 26, 2011

California is turning off all their incandescent lights.

Beginning January 1 of this year the state began phasing out these certain bulbs. Supplies still left in stores will be slowly sold out and eventually become a thing of the past.

Consumers will have to choose from energy efficient bulbs that use no more than 72 watts, including halogen incandescents, compact fluorescents, and LED bulbs.

The switch helps in the fight against global warming and cuts our nation’s electric bill by $10 billion annually says Noah Horowitz a senior scientist with the Natural Resources Defense Council.

It comes from the federal Energy Independence and Security Act that President George Bush signed in 2007, to reduce energy use and greenhouse gas emissions.

The change is a bit of an expensive one. According to Nick Reynoza, manager at Royal Lighting in Los Angeles you can buy four incandescent bulbs for $1 while halogens will set you back $5.99 and LEDs $20.

The initial purchase price may seem steep but the overall life of the bulb makes the price worth it in the end. Compact fluorescents burn six times longer than incandescent bulbs.

Simple changes like this are the steps we need to changing how we treat our environment. It’s a step almost everyone can take as it doesn’t change much about our daily life.

The rest of the country is expected to follow suit by 2014 and they will join Australia, the European Union, the Philippines and Argentina.

Read the rest of the post here.