Talk Shop Fridays: Compact Fluorescent Lightbulbs

While I’m sure most of our energy-savvy readers have already replaced their regular lightbulbs with the near-magical power of CFL’s (compact flourescent lightbulbs), research is currently showing that sales of these earth-savers are only timidly increasing. CFL’s use only one-third of the energy of a regular lightbulb, last for up to ten times as long, are safer than regular bulbs, and are only slightly more expensive, yet consumers have been slow to warm to their use. There are huge potential benefits of widespread use of CFL’s; for instance (according to research done by the environmental non-profit group 18Seconds), if every U.S. household were to replace just one regular bulb with a CFL, the effect on greenhouse gases would be equivalent to taking two million cars off of the road. My take on the situation is that consumers are underinformed, as well as turned off by the negative connotations of the word “flourescent.” Even though CFL’s mimic the glow of regular lightbulbs, it looks like people just aren’t getting that. So, brilliant readers, what do you think we can do to spread the word about CFL’s and their planet-saving prowess? We welcome all the comments you can throw at us. It is Talk Shop Friday after all!