In one of those “power of the internet” moments, Instapundit mentioned the One Billion Bulbs movement last week. The idea behind the site is to get one billion incandescent light bulbs replaced with compact fluorescents. The site lets you calculate how much power you save, based on wattage and estimated daily hours of use. His post on it led to hundreds of people signing up on the OBB site, joining the Instapundit group, and documenting the number of bulbs they’ve swapped out.
Now, I’ve held off on buying these things for a while, because I heard they gave off crappy light. But, on Insta’s recommendation, I picked up a pair of 20 watt GE Soft White CF bulbs at a local hardware store (Home Despot only carries a limited selection) and plugged them into the lamp in my office, which is in use 8 hours a day. The light’s just fine (it’s a shaded lamp, which probably helps), and the 20w CFB is the equivalent of 60-70 watts of incandescent light. I haven’t noticed much of a difference in the quality of the light, which I take as a good sign.
So, in the spirit of Instapundit, but with infinitely fewer readers, I’ve started my own group on One Billion Bulbs. If you’re of a mind to start replacing any of the incandescents in your home or office, click on the One Billion Bulbs banner in the sidebar (above the Links section), sign up at the site, and join Byron’s Brigade (it’s a Pynchon reference; sue me).
(But do your due diligence first, or you might find that you’ve spent $5-$8 on a bulb that gives off really crappy light.)