Since this is such an easy switch to make, you might ask why everyone has not yet done it. Believe it or not, there are people out there who still fall for the many myths out there about CFLs.
The first myth you might have heard is that the energy saved by replacing your incandescent bulbs with CFLs is insignificant. Many people therefore believe that the money saved by switching is not worth paying the extra price for a CFL. These beliefs could not be further from the truth. According to the Department of Energy, CFLs use about one quarter of the amount of energy used by incandescent bulbs and last six to 10 times as long. These drastic reductions are possible only because incandescent bulbs are grossly inefficient. Unlike CFLs, they heat the filament inside to about 2,300 degrees Celsius, making the filament glow white-hot with emitting light. With this method, only five to 10 percent of the electricity used becomes light, with the rest expended as heat. CFLs, on the other hand, do not use electricity to heat a solid object; rather, they consist of a gas-filled tube that emits light when current is passed through, producing 90 percent less heat.
Here at Amherst, the amount of energy produced by our efficient, natural gas-powered cogeneration plant is fixed, with about 50 percent of our peak electricity demand being met by the Mt. Tom coal plant in Holyoke. Therefore, when you save electricity in your dorm room, you are directly preventing that amount of electricity being purchased from the coal plant. Our Department of Facilities has calculated that if only 19 percent of the Amherst student body switched to CFLs, Amherst’s energy consumption would be reduced by 47,853 kilowatt-hours per year, which is enough energy to light 40 homes. This means a reduction of 16 tons a year of carbon dioxide is equivalent to taking three cars off the road or planting four acres of trees.
A second common myth about CFLs is that they are unsafe due to their mercury content. However, most people don’t know that CFLs contain between 0.01 and 0.001 the amount of mercury found in an oral mercury-based thermometer. While it is true that consumers should keep in mind that CFLs should be disposed of properly through recycling programs provided by places like Home Depot or our Facilities Department, the dangers are miniscule. (But if by chance one of your CFL bulbs does break, instructions on how to dispose of it properly can be found on the Department of Energy website).
From an environmental standpoint, people also don’t realize that far more mercury is released into the environment when using an incandescent bulb than when using a CFL because mercury is released when burning coal. Using a 100-watt incandescent bulb for 10,000 hours releases between 40 and 70 milligrams of mercury, whereas a 25-watt CFL releases only 10-18 milligrams of mercury in the same amount of time. Even when taking into consideration the five milligrams of mercury contained within the CFL itself (if improperly disposed of), mercury released in the use of an incandescent dwarfs that of a CFL.
The biggest myth regarding CFLs is their unsatisfactory aesthetic quality. Many people believe CFLs emit cold or blue light, flicker, or are too dim or too bright. While a few of these misconceptions may have been true a decade ago, they certainly are not any longer. CFLs nowadays are engineered specifically for consumers expecting incandescent light; they produce “soft white” light that mimics natural light from the sun, and the brightness is equal to that of a comparable incandescent bulb.
It is so easy to make this one change in your lifestyle — we promise you won’t even notice. Several countries have already banned the sale of incandescent bulbs, including Venezuela and Cuba, with the European Union, Canada, Australia, the Philippines, California, Connecticut and New Jersey planning to follow suit. The College’s Department of Facilities is doing its part by sponsoring the Green Amherst Project’s light bulb swap program in Keefe this week that provides a free CFL for every incandescent bulb brought in. Two wattage types will be available, and the top two dorms in terms of light bulbs swapped per capita will receive dorm pizza parties.
Conserve energy, save money and get free pizza. We flipped the switch to CFLs … Will you?