By Paul Smith •
May 29, 2008
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How do you sell $2 CFL lightbulbs in Nicaragua, a country where the average monthly income is $60-$100? If you’re Llamadas Heladas, you do it by directly demonstrating the savings, and appealing to their desire for reliable power. Let me back up. Nicaragua, especially in the rural areas, is a place that largely depends on generators for power. And it often goes out, due to various reasons, including too much power usage. People are quite price conscious there.
Putting those two together, Llamadas Heladas, a company that offers among other things a phone booth on wheels, partnered up with TecnoSol, a local renewable energy company, to promote the use of CFLs during Earth Month. Yes month, they don’t mess around down there. The joint campaign was called No Apagones. Basically, it’s reframing these lights to be a source of less blackouts, due to reduced energy use. They may cost four times a regular lightbulb, but they last 10 times as long, and use less energy, saving you both money and the headaches of power outages. A simple, compelling argument. Watch the video on their site. No Espanol needed, the message is clear.
So, what’s the bigger danger to the American public: Al-Qaeda, or compact fluorescent light bulbs (CFLs)?
If you follow the conservative punditry, online or off, it’s a tough call. Today’s (April 24) “Mallard Fillmore” comic strip is just the latest example of conservatives taking aim at these energy-saving bulbs, focusing primarily on the fact that CFLs contain mercury.
So, for Mallard Fillmore author Bruce Tinsley, Thomas Sowell, Rush Limbaugh (whose content is not publicly available) and the crowd at WorldNetDaily, let’s review the facts:
Have you joined Huddler yet?
The EcoGeek calls Huddler “The Finest Green Shopping Community So Far“. What is Huddler?
Launched in March of 2008, Huddler is a network of niche product review communities. By focusing each “Huddle” on specific areas of interest, Huddler hopes to provide a home for the most knowledgeable, passionate consumers to meet one another and share what they know in an interface that even novice internet users can take advantage of. By integrating custom built discussion forums, wikis, product reviews, image hosting, and more, Huddler not only helps you decide what to buy, but how to better use what you already own. Huddle together. Shop Better.
Huddler is holding a contest to celebrate its launch. Simply join Huddler, share you knowledge of the green products you use, and win! “From hybrid vehicles to solar arrays, CFL bulbs to green cleaners, efficient appliances to geothermal heat pumps, Huddler wants to know about your experiences and help you learn from like-minded peers.” You could win a green prize pack containing:
By Jennifer Lance •
March 13, 2008
Update 3-19-08: Rumors of an outbreak now spreading to schools in Florida and Maine. Visit Treehugger for the latest news on this crisis!
Recently, schools across the country have been experiencing increased absences due to a nasty strain of the flu. It appears that children and teachers aren’t the only ones falling ill, but school office equipment has succumb to a different, common disease.
By Maria Surma Manka •
February 19, 2008
I just had two super-efficient compact fluorescent lightbulbs (CFLs) burn out on me, which surprised me since they’re only about a year old. Then again, my husband does leave the bathroom light on a lot…. At any rate, the rest of my bulbs are still going strong, even after several years for most of them. Here’s a great video on CFL 101.
Tip of the hat to Dave over at e-Strategy blog.
In a collaborative effort for public environmental awareness, electronics giant Philips and news station SKAI are giving away 50.000 compact fluorescent lamps in Greece. When compared to incandescent lamps of the same luminous flux, CFLs use less energy and have a longer rated life, saving thousands of tons of CO2 and other greenhouse gases.
On January 26th, Philips and SKAI representatives will be giving away CLFs in the city of Athens, Piraeus, [...]
By Gavin Hudson •
January 9, 2008
At night, South Korea is literally aglow. When the sun goes down you’ll find a vibrant night life of kareoke (”norebang”), street markets, and sujo bars. Still, per person, Koreans use only a little over half the energy used in the United States. How do they manage to light up the night–every night–and still save energy?
Part of the answer might be South Korea’s high usage of compact fluorescent light bulbs (CFLs).
It took me almost two months of living in Korea before I saw my first incandescent (”old fashioned”) light bulb. All of the others were energy efficient CFLs, like the one pictured here at this outdoor market.
By Olga Orda •
January 8, 2008
An http://www.greenprinteronline.com dispatch.
LATEST in CFL Debate: No Actual Data on CFL migraine scare in The Daily Green
Conservative bloggers denounce US Congresses’ move to CFLs as a mercury health hazard and a “High Priest Al Gore of the Church of Global Warming of Modern Day Idiots (MDI)” falsity while of course, sourcing the “science” behind their claim as, what else, another conservative blogger’s opinion.
By Lee Welles •
January 3, 2008
I’ve been a a fitness and wellness professional for 18 years and I believe that tools we employ to improve personal health can also be employed for planetary health. Measuring progress through fitness assessment and “proving” that actions are producing results is huge motivator. Seeing empiricle data can help solidify new habits.
Although I am a right-brain, creative type, I enjoy measuring results as much as the next person. This past year, It seemed like everywhere I went, someone was handing me a Compact Fluorescent Light Bulb (CFL) and explaining how this 15-second change will remove CO2 from the air and fight global warming. That is why I got a kick out of One Billion Bulbs.
Altough there are other sites that will calculate your savings if you switch to CFLs, One Billion Bulbs lets you form a group and measure the results of making the switch.
By Jim Gunshinan •
January 2, 2008
December 28th, 2007 by Jim Gunshinan
Broke Your CFL? Don’t Panic!
The typical dose of mercury in a CFL is about the sizeof a pen tip
(circled in red), and these doses have been getting smaller and smaller.
(Photo provided by EPA.)
Australia has already begun to phase out the incandescent light bulb,
and the energy legislation recently signed by President Bush has
begun that process in the United States. Every time I turnaround,
it seems, someone is handing me a brand new
compact
[...]
By Amy Stodghill •
October 22, 2007
Even if you’ve switched all your bulbs from incandescents to CFLs, it’s still good to practice turning off the lights when you don’t need them to save on energy.
Turning off the lights depends on the bulb. If you still have incandescent bulbs, it is always best to shut the light off when no one is in a room or if you aren’t using the light. Fluorescent lights are a little different, since constantly
[...]
