Another Green Idea

Bing Crosby may not agree with the lyrics as much as his beloved White Christmas, but the world’s a different place and we all need to be a little more environmentally conscious wherever and whenever we can and that includes Christmas. No, we’re not talking about green snow, but we are talking about making your holiday lighting eco-friendly. Following are three changes to incorporate into your holiday plans if you truly believe that a green Christmas will do the earth more good than a white one. 1.Choose LED lights whenever possible. These little powerhouses use 90 percent less (yes, you read that right) energy which means less greenhouse gas emissions (while potentially putting more money in your pocket, as well). 2.If you see anything with an Energy Star rating or logo, use it. These bulbs use as much as 75 percent less energy than the old-school Christmas lights. And here’s an interesting statistic to get you even more motivated to make the switch: if every new string of lights purchased in the US were ENERGY STAR qualified, as a country we would save over 2 billion kWh of energy every year, which would be equivalent to (more…)

Did you know that lighting is said to account for between 10-15 of a households energy use? In fact, traditional incandescent bulbs convert only 5 of the energy they receive into light. This is not only a waste of your money; it’s a big waste of valuable energy. Thankfully, experts have created an eco-friendly alternative to the old inefficient bulbs.If you haven’t already, do yourself and the environment a favor by switching to CFL lighting. CFL stands for compact fluorescent lamp. These bulbs work just as well as traditional light bulbs, plus they last longer and use way less energy. We recommend Energy Star qualified CFL bulbsthey use 75 less energy and last up to 10 times longer. Did we mention you save 30 over the course of every light bulbs life? (more…)