100 Million Lightbulbs
This is awesome, awesome, awesome, awesome - I read on Gristmill that Wal-Mart is gonna try to sell a low-energy swirl bulb (compact fluorescent) to every one of its hundred million regular customers. If they do that, the amount of energy saved will. be. huge.
From the original article in Fast Company -
What that means is that if every one of 110 million American households bought just one ice-cream-cone bulb, took it home, and screwed it in the place of an ordinary 60-watt bulb, the energy saved would be enough to power a city of 1.5 million people. One bulb swapped out, enough electricity saved to power all the homes in Delaware and Rhode Island. In terms of oil not burned, or greenhouse gases not exhausted into the atmosphere, one bulb is equivalent to taking 1.3 million cars off the roads.
AWESOME AWESOME AWESOME.
Also, look how great these bulbs are -
Swirl bulbs don't just work, they pay for themselves. They use so little power compared with old reliable bulbs, a $3 swirl pays for itself in lower electric bills in about five months. Screw one in, turn it on, and it's not just lighting your living room, it's dropping quarters in your pocket. The advantages pile up in a way to almost make one giddy. Compact fluorescents, even in heavy use, last 5, 7, 10 years. Years. Install one on your 30th birthday; it may be around to help illuminate your 40th.
ALL OF Y'ALL WHO ARE SITTING AROUND BORED AT HOME - how 'bout you go out and buy some new lightbulbs? Next time a bulb goes, you can replace one and not replace it again for 10 years!
Gristmill piece here.