Believe It or Not – Some Incandescent Bulbs Are Green!
For over two decades, I have lived with the goal of making my home, green and sustainable. And while I would love to relay this quest to the world in general, I, like most people feel overwhelmed when considering the ecological reformation of seven billion people. When overwhelmed, we tend to give up on projects altogether. However success coaches tell us that making a good thing work, often involves downscaling: that is: we divide a huge project into small, manageable bites. Thus, the journey of a thousand miles (or more!) begins with one baby step that is really a giant step in disguise. That very important journey can begin with really thinking about how light bulb use impacts our homes and the Earth.
Just turn on a light, and for a moment, consider the planetary implications of the act.
The family is the perfect unit for making the planet green again. Yet, even within the family paradigm, making an entire household green can seem vast. Nevertheless, each of us has to change light bulbs. That is why I suggest small, incremental household changes, such as using “greener” light bulbs to make one’s home more environmentally harmonious.
Once we make a change, it is important to sustain it. The good thing is that positive changes soon become habits. Some twenty years ago, we began replacing our incandescent bulbs with fluorescents. Yet, these light fixtures don’t fill every lighting need. The happy news is that more ecologically friendly incandescent bulbs exist, and Conserv-a-Store has them.
You might wonder, why would I go back to using incandescent light bulbs after having undergone the transition to fluorescent lights, which have obvious and proven energy saving capacity? Quite simply, fluorescent lights do not fit every lamp or socket, and the new generation of incandescent lights, characterized by Aero-Tech light bulbs, available through Conserv-a-Store, have a number of important earth-friendly characteristics. For example, Aero-Tech’s basic rough service light bulb lasts for an outstanding 20,000 hours! Not having to replace bulbs is more than a matter of convenience. When you choose such a long-lived bulb, less glass and packaging are used over a greater period of time. The filament lasts as much as ten times longer than that of an ordinary bulb, while providing protection against damage from vibration and power surges. Aero-Tech manufactures an array of light bulbs ranging from the pixie-small to absolute beacons. While not having the ostensible, up-front energy savings of incandescent bulbs, the tangential green qualities are real – and cumulative. Each one promises earth space to spare – since frequently discarded bulbs take up sad space in landfills. I really like the idea of leaving more space for meadows.
Additionally, the basic Aero-tech bulb provides very warm and comforting light that any consumer can feel good about on so many levels. However, this line of light bulbs also offers great benefits for businesses such as restaurants and hotels that rely on traditional incandescent bulbs for signs and displays that fluorescent lighting cannot accommodate. They deliver many thousands of hours more of reliable lighting, decreasing the possibility of burned out spots in signs or displays. This of course, leads to more efficient use of human resources, as workers will have to replace bulbs far less frequently. Aero-Tech bulbs also are great choices for chandelier light replacement. Given the delicacy and often tricky work of replacing chandelier bulbs, 20,000 hours between bulbs replacements is really reason for celebration.
Prior to finding the Aero-Tech bulbs, I believed I had only two choices for lighting: fluorescent or old school incandescent bulbs. However, today, my home is totally free of the latter. For those of us on the sincere path of living in harmony with the Earth, it is always comforting to have more good choices. In the long run, the light bulbs we use to illuminate our homes may seem un-glamorous and even ho-hum. However, I disagree! The way we light our homes is foundational in determining our carbon footprints. The slightly higher prices we pay for greener light bulbs translate into other incremental savings – and it proves that we when turn on the lights, we need not give Mother Earth another black eye!