Challenge #11: Turn off the lights!

Turn off the lights in the room/rooms that nobody is using.

Turn off the lights

“Keep our future bright, turn off the light.”

-unknown

Hey guys!

The light bulb – such a simple invention that makes our lives much easier and makes it possible for us to see when or where there is no natural light.

Before that, people used candles to light up the room. Can you imagine that? Or going to bed the minute the sun sets down.

We simply can’t imagine our lives without the artificial light, can we? But like when dealing with any other electricity consuming object, we can make sure to use it wisely and economically.

Since people are often in a hurry, we tend to forget to turn off the lights. We often leave them on in rooms that nobody is using for hours. Sometimes we even forget to turn them off when we leave our homes. It’s a common thing that happens to all of us.

This week keep extra attention and make sure to consistently turn off the lights when they aren’t being used. Try and do your best not to use any more of the lights than you really need. Even when watching TV in the evening, try to do it with the light turned off, if possible of course.

“Give light and people will find the way.”

-Ella Baker

Facts about the light and light bulbs

Let us start by taking a look at some interesting facts about the light and light bulbs:

  • Visible light is the part of the electromagnetic spectrum that our eyes are able to register.
  • Sun emits white color and as such can be seen from the space. It’s due to light scattering in our atmosphere that makes it look colorful.
  • In 1879 Thomas Alva Edison created the first commercially practical incandescent light bulb.
  • Incandescent light bulbs are surprisingly inefficient, converting up to 90 percent of the electricity they consume into heat.

light-bulb

  • Almost half of the electricity used by industry is for lighting.
  • In homes, up to 25 percent of our electric bill is for lighting.
  • Compact fluorescent lamps (CFLs) and LED lamps are modern more efficient types of light bulbs.
  • Incandescent light bulbs are still the most widely used.
Energy efficient light bulbs

Over the years scientists had realized that incandescent light bulbs have poor efficiency and they’ve managed to develop new types of light bulbs.

First, they came up with compact fluorescent lamps (CFLs) but in the past few years, they’ve also scaled up LED lamps that have even better efficiency.

The fact that makes LED light bulbs so efficient is that they emit only visible light.

Should we all switch to CFLs or even LED lamps?

Switch to energy efficient light bulbs

Here’s a comparison between all three types of light bulbs:

  • Watts (equivalent 60 watts): LED: 8; CFL: 14; incandescent: 60.
  • Lifespan in hours: LED: 50,000; CFL: 9,000; incandescent: 1,000.
  • Cost per bulb: LED: $20; CFL: $3; incandescent: $1.25.
  • Annual cost*: LED: $1.46; CFL: $2.56; incandescent: $10.95.
  • Bulbs needed for 50k hours: LED: 1; CFL: 5.5; incandescent: 50.
  • Cost for 50k hours @ $0.10 kWh: LED: $39.58; CFL: $70.83; incandescent: $300.
  • Total cost for 50k hours with bulb price: LED: $59.58; CFL: $87.30; incandescent: $362.50.

(*Assuming 5 hours a day @ $0.10 per kWh.)

You can see, that by switching over to CFL or even LED lamps, which have way better energy efficiency, you save electricity and even money in the long run.

So, yeah, we really believe that we can all benefit by replacing incandescent light bulbs with CFLs or even better – LED light bulbs.

By doing so, there will be less harm done, when you’ll forget to turn off the lights next time. 😉

Switch to LEDs

Which is the best led light bulb?

Here are three top-rated LED light bulbs: Cree 9.5-Watt, Philips LED 425264 and G7 Power Incline.

This week’s extra:

While doing some research for this post, we ran into a useful item: the LampChamp – the USB lamp socket charger. You just place it under the light bulb and you get an additional practical way to charge your phone.

Take-home points:
  • do your best to switch off the lights when you don’t need them;
  • save energy by switching to CFLs or LEDs;
  • save money by switching to CFLs or LEDs.

Have a lovely week!

Warm regards,

Good Earthlings

8 thoughts on “Challenge #11: Turn off the lights!

  1. Hi there,

    Personally, I would say you are a wonderful human. Thank you for care to our earth. Such a small action, but can bring a big difference if all of us care to the earth as you do. And the way you make it as a challenge is another wonderful ideas. Keep doing and God bless you always!

    • Thank you for such nice words. Stay in touch.

      With love, Good Earthlings

  2. Hey there!

    I do this practically all the time, not because it’s only a very “green” thing to do, I do it because it saves me money. Not to mention that we switched all the Incandescent light bulbs years ago. Even more, where I live they even stopped selling them, due to some law that was invented by the “smart politicians”. Probably did it under heavy lobbyist preasure, but hey I guess it does save energy.
    Thanks for the article.

    • Great to hear that, Dejan. Keep up the good job and join us on our next challenges.

      Warm regards, Good Earthlings

  3. Hi good earthling and thank you for this great reminder. In Australia, you can’t even buy incandescent light bulbs anymore so we are going a long way to get households energy efficient. I only exist with about 1-2 lights on at a time in my house and am constantly following the kids around switching off their lights. They are the future so I am trying to instil in them a desire for energy efficiency.
    Best wishes, Kris

    • Good job Australia! Keep up the good work, Kris.

      Love, Good Earthlings

  4. Reading your article makes me feel so pleased we have LED lights in our home and 20 solar panels on the roof! I didn’t know that lights can take up 25% of the electricity bill, so I hate to think what our bill would be if we didn’t have LED’s or solar panels.
    You are right-it is so easy to forget to turn of lights, and yet if we did, it would definitely help.

    I love your site. Really great information with very important points for our future!

    • Thank you Liz! It’s really great to hear that you’re already using LEDs. Also thumbs up for using solar panels. Stay in touch and join us on performing upcoming challenges.

      Love, Good Earthlings

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