Week Four--The Light Way

Now that you've successfully changed out all of your incandescent light bulbs for compact fluorescent ones (or at least are in the process of doing so), here's a new light-related habit I'd like you to try for Week Four: turning off the lights whenever you leave a room. For some folks, this might already be second nature. But for others, with a home that always looks like it's lit up for Christmas day, this notion of turning off the lights when you leave a room may seem like a foreign concept.

One way to avoid constantly having the lights on is not to turn them on at all. Simple, obvoius yet true.

For instance, on bright days throw open your shades, curtains and window treatments, and let the sun shine in. See how many hours you can go without any lights on, using only the natural light from outside to illuminate the inside. Make it a game. Can you apply your makeup without the lights on? Can you load and unload the dishwasher without the lights on? Can you find a new, sunny spot in your home to read the morning paper, so you can do it without the lights on?

Of course, if you live in a perpetually dark home, because it is northern facing or you live in the woods, then I wouldn't recommend keeping the lights off during the day. I don't want you to keep bumping into furniture or stubbing your toes or giving yourself a headaches because your home isn't properly lit, and you're struggling to see. No, the idea here is to do more with less light--and save money and energy in the process.

As far as the lights go, if you must turn one on, then turn on the smallest, least energy-using one when you need a light. In my kitchen, for example, I've got a big window that keeps it pretty lit during the day. But sometimes the counters themselves are kind of dark. So we installed inexpensive fluorescent, under-cabinet lighting that I can switch on just to light up a counter where I might be working. We have three counters in our kitchen, each topped with cabinets. So we have under-cabinet lighting above each counter, and this is what I tend to use when I need task lighting--that is, lighting to, well, light up a specific task that I'm doing. Can you figure out ways to do the same? When you're working in your home office, do you really need to turn on your overhead light or that expensive halogen floor lamp (assuming you haven't traded it in for a more energy-efficient model)? Why not just turn on your desk lamp and make do with that?

Then, when you're done doing whatever it is you're doing in a room, turn the light off when you leave. We have a joke in our house that we use whenever someone forgets to turn out the light. Usually if we come across a fully illuminated yet empty room, we'll shout out, "What are we, PECO?" (Our electric company is PECO.) Or instead of yelling at a specific person who forget to turn out the lights, we'll call out, to no one in particular, "Hey, PECO, you forgot to turn out the lights!" Usually, whomever is "PECO" that night recognizes his or her mistake, and runs to turn off the light that he or she forgot to turn off earlier.

We've spent months begging our kids to please turn out the lights when they leave a room--most specifically their own bedroom in the morning after they've gotten ready for school--and finally the message has sunk in. These days, if I head upstairs after the kids have headed off to school, I'll usually find peace and quiet and absolute darkness.

I hope that if you follow some of this advice for your Week Four habits, you'll soon enjoy absolute darkness--and lower electricity bills--in the near future.

Week Four--Light Up Your Life with Less Energy

For Week Four of Green Boot Camp, I want you to focus on the lights in your house. That is, I would like you to go through your home, both inside and out, and count how many lamps and light fixtures you have. Once you have this inventory, I'd like for you to go to the store and stock up on compact fluorescent bulbs or CFLs.

CFLs are those twisty light bulbs that are a huge step-up, light-wise, from the flickering, sickly green-casting fluorescent bulbs we all remember from our school days. No, these new CFLs cast light that looks a bit more like the incandescent "hot" bulbs that we are used to and which use a ton of energy. Because unlink incandescent bulbs, CFLs are cool to the touch, use less energy--and last so much longer.

Switching out all of your regular light bulbs for CFLs is one of the easiest things you can do to adopt a more green lifestyle, to make your home more green, and to save money. Oprah just did a show last week on going green, and she couldn't say enough about CFLs. I can vouch for the benefits of CFLs as well.

Last fall I did what I'm suggesting that you do--change all of our light bulbs to CFLs. While we've adopted other energy-saving measures (many of which I will discuss in coming weeks), these new, energy-efficient light bulbs were probably the biggest and most consistent change we made in our home. And you know what? I've watched our electric bill shrink. I'm talking hundreds of dollars of difference each month.

Now I realize that you'll probably spend a bit more upfront in buying CFLs, because they cost more than traditional bulbs. But trust me--your savings will come to you soon enough.

Studies show that CFLs last 10 as long as traditional light bulbs, meaning a bulb you install in your living room today might not need to be replaced until 2012. At the same time, Energy Star says CFLs use up to 75 percent less energy than incandescent bulbs. So, in the long run, you won't have to buy as many light bulbs for your home, and you won't have to pay as much to the electric company for having your lights on because they use so much less energy.

One thing to consider when buying your CFLs: buy them in bulk and in earth-friendly packaging. Too many companies have packaged CFL bulbs in hard-to-open and impossible-to-recycle plastic clam shell packaging. If you're given the choice, choose your bulbs in a paper-based container instead.