Sometimes going green isn't always environmentally motivated. More often than not, the green we are all trying to save is that which lives in our wallets, which in my case runs the greater risk of extinction.
One way that many of us try to save the wallet (and planet) is through energy conservation - how else do you explain the wild success of the Snuggie? But energy conservation can be a broad topic and the expense of trying to "save" can run high when you start looking into alternative energy solutions, i.e. solar power, wind power, etc.
Most folks, myself included, start with the most basic form of energy conservation: actual energy conservation, that is, limiting the amount of energy we use in our day-to-day lives. And a simple way to get started, besides flipping the switch, is replacing incandescent light bulbs in your home.
Compact fluorescent lights really came to the forefront of energy conservation about 10 years ago as a small change that almost everyone could be involved in. They were relatively inexpensive to purchase and they used about 25 percent less power than their incandescent equivalent. We made the switch in our home to CFLs about six years ago and saw an impressive decrease in our monthly electric bill. While we are all elated with the prospect of lower electric bills, CFLs do have some serious drawbacks - with a few safety issues topping the list.
Most CFLs aren't dimmable - place one into a dimmable switch and burn down your house. OK. It probably isn't that bad, but a fire can start, and fire in your house occurring outside of the fireplace or apart from candles on a birthday cake doesn't usually end well. CFLs also contain small amounts of mercury and if an expired bulb isn't disposed of properly, they might be doing more damage to the environment in the long run than would've been done by using an incandescent bulb.
The most common gripe about CFLs is that they don't fit very well into receptacles or lamps made for incandescent bulbs. We experienced this ourselves when we made the switch; some of our lamps required us to purchase new lampshades that attached to the socket of the lamp as opposed to the bulb itself.
Despite the issues with CFLs, many utilities and governmental agencies are pushing (quite literally in some places) their use in an attempt to phase out the use of incandescent bulbs.
But another solution that is beginning to shine as a replacement for incandescent lighting is the light emitting diode, or LED - a light that uses less power, burns cooler, and as a result, lasts much longer.
An LED's lifespan and cool running temperatures are due to the lack of a filament inside the bulb - nothing to get hot, nothing to burn out. The simple explanation of how an LED works is that it is illuminated by the movement of electrons through a semiconductor.
LEDs, in fact, aren't anything new; they've been used for decades now in many common household electronics and appliances - mostly as power or status indicators, and infrared bulbs in television remote controls. What's new about them is the proliferation in the ways we are using them: television and computer screens, mobile devices, flashlights, and now light bulbs.
LEDs use very little power - approximately a tenth of the power used by an equivalent incandescent bulb and half of the power used by a CFL. It is estimated that if each household in the U.S. replaced a single 60-watt incandescent bulb with a 7-watt LED, the country would save over 23 mega (million) watts per day. That is a savings greater than the daily output of the largest nuclear power plant in the country. So why don't we dump the odd-shaped, dirty mercury filled CFLs and jump on this LED thing?
LEDs are expensive - prepare to spend $12-$70 per bulb, and for the price, the light output is usually less than spectacular.
Around the time my daughter was born about four years ago, I purchased my first LED light bulb. It cost about $35, used less than a watt of power, and put out about as much light as a lit match. It was a disappointing foray into the world of LED lighting.
So we placed the bulb into her crib side lamp and used it as a night light. The light produced was so dim that you couldn't tell if the bulb was on during daylight hours, and as a result, we forgot to turn it off during the day. That bulb has burned continually - minus the occasional power outage - for almost four years. I probably paid more for the bulb than it will ever cost me to light.
But with all things technological, things are looking brighter for LEDs. I'm happy to see that many LED light bulbs are in fact, getting continually brighter and most brand name lighting manufacturers now carry at least one line of LED lighting. Unfortunately the cost still remains high. It will probably be a long time coming before you can swing by the dollar store and pick up a four-pack of LED bulbs.
But if you can live with a dimmer light, even by CFL standards, and can afford to fork out a few more bucks for an LED bulb, you will be afforded with an array of sizes, shapes, and colors of bulbs - something CFLs will probably never be able to do.
In general speaking,
12V LED has become more and more affordable, therefore
auto LED bulbs have been used widely.
