Posts Tagged ‘Environment’

Raining cats and dogs

Friday, January 25th, 2008

It sure is here in the bay area. It feels like it’s been raining the whole week even though it’s been only a few days, I think.

I guess it’s making up for last year when we barely had any rain.

I’ve not been following the news but hopefully our rain/water levels are now over 100% of normal…and hopefully, worries about drought are over, or almost over.

Of course, that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t be responsible about water.

I’ve shut off the lawn sprinklers for almost 2 months now. My water bill was $10 less per month. Yet driving around, I still see people’s lawn sprinklers coming on.

Bay Area residents! Shut off your sprinklers in the winter! Not only will your water bill be less but you’ll be conserving our precious water supply!

Discarding regular light bulbs and CFLs

Tuesday, November 27th, 2007

I called up our city’s waste services today coz I looked everywhere to see what I should do with those extra regular light bulbs that I now have but couldn’t find an answer.

So, regular light bulbs CANNOT go into the trash. They are now considered as hazardous waste as well.

If you live in the bay area, just go to the nearest Orchard Hardware Supply and drop them off there. The lady at the city’s waste services mentioned that Home Depot will take them as well. By the way, batteries may be dropped off there as well.

There is actually a great website that tells you where to recycle stuff in the bay area. It’s searchable by products and it’ll give a list of locations all around the bay.
http://www.recyclestuff.org/Search1.asp?Cmd=New

I used it to find what I should do with leftover paint cans. Those have to be dropped off with the Household Hazardous Waste Recycling and Disposal. You call up this number (408) 299-7300, make an appt and show up at the place and time designated.

Compact Fluorescent Lights, Regular and Dimmable

Tuesday, November 27th, 2007

We moved into our current house several months ago and while most of the lights we use regularly are already fluorescent lights, there were still a few left that weren’t.

It’s been on my list of things to do.

Anyway, I was at Costco last week and they had the regular CFLs, 18Watts, on sale - 4 for $0.99! That’s less than 25 cents a light bulb. Actually they had the CFs at lower wattage, maybe 13W as well. Those were even cheaper something like 10 for $1.99.

Regular CFS, 4 for $0.99 at Costco

I bought 2 boxes. I came home and took them out of the box. That’s when I realized these CFLs cannot be used in dimmable lamps (it is stated on the bulb).

I searched on the web and was really surprised to see how expensive dimmable CFLs were. They are over $10 each!

Given the price and that I needed 6 for the dining room light fixture, I had pretty much given up on them and made a mental note to not use the dining room fixture too much.

So, I was really surprise when I walked into a Lions grocery store today and saw these dimmable CFLs, 23W, priced at 2 for $1.99!

Dimmable CFLs, 2 for $1.99 at Lions Grocery Store

I bought a box and tried them out. They work, granted they did make a sound when I first turn them on. So I’ll be going back to buy 2 more boxes.

CFLs used to cost much more than regular incandescent light bulbs so not everyone could afford them. Now that they’re so readily available and so cheap, there’s really no reason not replace the old bulbs with them.

They use less energy so they will save you money. Plus they last longer so you won’t have to keep on replacing burnt out bulbs.

Consider these facts:
- Every year Americans buy over 1 billion incandescent lightbulbs. That’s 3 acres of bulbs every day.
- If every American home replaced just one incandescent light bulb with a CFL, we’d save enough energy to light 2.5 million homes for a year and prevent greenhouse gases equivalent to the emissions of nearly 800,000 cars.

By the way, I have also seen these CFLs sold at Ranch 99, 23W, at 4 for $1.00. They are placed at the cashier’s check out counter.