The Nest

Friday, September 14, 2007 4:46 PM

Switch bullbs. . for the bears' sake!

This week a sad/scary report came out that the world’s polar bear population will be down by two thirds in 2050 if climate change can’t be curbed. And if the Arctic ice cap melts even MORE quickly than predicted the situation will be worse. I was horrified, because even though those bears are supposed to be pretty ferocious, they sure look cuddly and I like knowing they’re up there, so I went on the Live Earth website (which is excellent, btw) looking for some fresh new way to reduce my carbon footprint.

Instead of something new, I stumbled upon a tip I’ve heard 1000 times before but always sort of ignore: Switch to compact fluorescent (CFL) light bulbs. Despite my vows to be eco-conscious, only three of the 20+ bulbs in my home are CFLs, because nearly all of my lights are on dimmer switches, and I’d heard that you can’t use CFLs with dimmers. But as I thought about the polar bears I had to ‘fess up to the fact that I hadn’t really tried too hard to find dimmable CFL bulbs. It took a few minutes of Googling, but I found a list of CFL bulbs that work on dimmers, as well as a super-helpful guide to picking the right bulb for your light source. (One thing I learned is that CFLs use about ¼ of the wattage of a regular bulb to give the same amount of light. So if you ordinarily use a 60 watt bulb in a lamp you’d look for a 15 watt CFL.) This weekend I’m off to the hardware store to find CFLs for every light in the house—my husband will be ecstatic at this suggestion, as the hardware store is his version of Barney’s or Saks.

Have you made the switch to CFL bulbs? Tried any dimmable ones? I’d love any tips on which ones to pick.