The Fry Side

Two Years Ago, I wrote this:

I have gone through my entire house and cut the electrical cost of lighting my home by seventy-five percent. While there may have been a bit of initial investment in these small, spiraling compact fluorescent bulbs, they will last me for years and each one uses less than one quarter of the energy of the equivalent light output from an incandescent bulb. Believe it or not, the initial investment wasn’t much at all. If bought in some bulk, they come out to around two dollars a bulb for the basic wattages that one would expect. Take into account that they last over five times longer and use one-fourth of the energy, and you’ll find they save tons of money over the rather long haul. If you keep your eyes peeled, you can find them for even less. We went to Lowes recently and they were offering rebates making packs of four bulbs free! The cost of lighting my entire house dropped seventy-five percent, and we have barely spent a dime. Please folks, do yourselves and the rest of the world a huge favor. Make your homes more energy efficient. You’ll save tons of money, our rather old electrical grids won’t be as strained, and in the end we’ll decrease our need for so much fuel in general.

In two years, I have changed zero compact fluorescents. None at all. And there are two or three that are burning almost permanently. The only bulbs I’ve changed? The one in the garage door opener. Our garage is not heated and incandescent bulbs work better in the cold.

Well, after having changed about half a dozen bulbs in three weeks (I used the leftovers from the house) I finally caved and put a CFL in there. It still works, though is a little dim when starting up. But you know what? I’m not going to think about it anymore now. And I’m all about not thinking.

I still have no idea how much energy I’ve saved. At least my conscience is clear.

Thanks, free will. I’m always happy you’re there.