Energy Savings and One Billion Bulbs

Over the last few weeks I've been thinking a lot about stewardship and the environment. In particular I've been thinking about the added onus that Christians have as a mandate from God to be good stewards with the resources with which we have been entrusted. And I've been thinking about/reading about ways we can begin to curb our energy consumption and things like that.

Like any mad-scientist--I have begun by experimenting on myself. I've been exploring recycling, and household energy consumption stuff, and it has been really cool. I've taken some flak here and there who already assume I must be really granola because of being Indian and having long hair.

Been thinking about cultural stuff lately too. The old timers used to say that we make our decisions by thinking about how they will affect the next seven generations. Most of the time today people make decisions without considering how they will affect the next seven days.

I'm exploring gardening a bit this year too. I think my generation is the first generation of my family that hasn't kept a garden. All of my uncles keep gardens, and my dad has always planted crops. It's time I learn some of these "old ways". So I hope to explore some of that in a future blog as well. I kind of feel like we've lost a lot of our connection to the earth over the last several years--I know I have.

A few month's ago, Willie sent me a link to this website called one billion bulbs.com. I created a group on the site that I called Friends of Chanchanchepon that i would love for you to join.

Over the last few months I have been changing out my incandescent bulbs for low wattage compact fluorescent bulbs. I have changed out several bulbs, and many of my friends have done the same. The website allows us to track the impact our exchange of bulbs is making.

But I've gotta tell ya--I think I underestimated the number of hours my other bulbs were being used. I've cut my electric bill nearly in half by using these compact fluorescent bulbs. I really recommend the change-over.

Anyway, check out the one billion bulbs site, and make the switch to compact fluorescent bulbs. Unless you have an even better alternative like solar power. I think we can reach our state's goals pretty quickly if everyone will just switch out a few bulbs. Join my "Friends of Chanchanchepon" group, and record your change-over. That way we can track the energy we've helped to conserve. The Compact Fluorescent bulbs are much more expensive, but they last a TON longer too. Plus you will make the money back pretty quick in energy savings. Picture this. If you switch out 1 60 watt bulb for 1 11 watt bulb, the amount of electricity saved in that process is over 80%.

Get out there and care for the planet--starting with your household!

Walmart Pushes for Changing Bulbs

Compact Fluorescent Light Bulb, originally uploaded by strobist.

So, when one thinks about the environment, perhaps walmart isn't the first name that comes to mind. But, according to this recent New York Times article, Walmart is serious about minimizing energy consumption in the United States by heavily promoting compact fluorescent bulbs.
The article is pretty interesting because it goes over pros and cons of the bulbs. I'm planning to change out a few more bulbs myself this year. And of course, I always welcome you to take a step and make the change as well. There has been a lull on the one billion bulbs campaign, but perhaps you will want to make a New Year's Resolution, and join my friends of chanchanchepon group so we can track our collective savings and reduction of waste.

Let's do our part to make the world a better place in 2007! What steps are you going to take?

One Billion Bulbs

This morning I received an email from my best friend on the planet, Willie, about an environmental website that is encouraging people to switch from incandescent bulbs to lower wattage fluorescent bulbs. I've just recently started switching out my bulbs, and the idea behind it is to save money on the electric bill, decrease the amount of environmental waste done through normal lighting, and also reduce cooling costs for homes in the summer.

It's pretty amazing to look at what happens when you change one bulb out. I am in the process of placing some of these bulbs in my house. I am so excited about it that I created a group that you should join!!! I thought it would be cool to see what kind of impact we could have on the environment. If you look on this blog, I have added a link to the sidebar that will track the total impact this group is having, and the total amount of savings that just me and my friends who join the group are accruing.

I hope you will go out and buy some bulbs and consider joining my group!

Also, earlier this year, I had a post about discovering your ecological footprint. In other words, if everybody on the planet lived like you (or me), how many planets would we need to sustain everybody. Click here to find out what your ecological footprint is. I just did mine again this morning, and because of some changes I have made, it would now only take 2.8 earths to sustain the world if everybody lived like me. Only 2.8 earths!