Be Cool!
News Flash!
Living Like Ed: A Guide to the Eco-Friendly Life is available in bookstores and on line. A new book by actor, environmentalist and Beyond Nuclear supporter, Ed Begley, Jr., shows how all of us, in economical and simple ways, can live a more ecologically-friendly lifestyle. No theoretical text book, the advice is all drawn from Begley's own experience and practices. Check out Ed's advice at www.edbegley.com/.
Fascinating Facts
Did you know that if every U.S. household installed just one compact fluorescent light bulb in place of a traditional incandescent bulb, it would displace the need for the electricity generated by one nuclear power plant?
1=1! It’s a simple step that all of us can take.
Compact fluorescent light bulbs use 66% less energy than traditional bulbs, last up to 10 times longer and generate 70% less heat.
So be cool and switch to compact fluorescent light bulbs and other energy-saving measures today! Here’s the difference you’ll make:
Ten Ways to Be Cool!
1. If every U.S. household installed one compact fluorescent light bulb it would displace one nuclear power plant. 1=1!
2. Twenty compact fluorescents in every U.S. home would displace at least 25% of U.S. nuclear plants.
3. Updated lighting, appliances, heating, cooling and other electrical systems can save more energy than all 103 U.S. reactors produce annually.
4. Cost-effective energy efficiency measures for homes and business can save from 20% to 47% of electricity use according to a study by five U.S. national laboratories.
5. Turning off and unplugging electrical equipment not in use; or line-drying clothes seem like small measures but make a big difference.
6. Homeowners and renters alike can choose to buy green power instead of nuclear-generated electricity.
7. Properly sealing and insulating your home can save between 25%-40% of building heat loss.
8. Renewable energy sources can meet 25% U.S. energy needs by 2025. Talk to your state representatives about ensuring that your state maximizes its use of renewable energy in the form of a renewable portfolio standard.
9. Shifting to locally generated electricity avoids waste, reduces brownouts and blackouts, increases efficiency of service and creates jobs.
10. Climate change is underway. Renewable energy can be brought on line faster, more cheaply and more safely than nuclear power.
Learn more about the growing movement to Change a Light and Change the World.
Mercury concerns and CFLs
The amount of mercury in CFLs is relatively small, approximately 5 milligrams (mg), which is roughly enough to cover the tip of a ballpoint pen, according to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). For comparison, older mercury-based thermometers contained about 500 mg, or 1/10th of a teaspoon. Even so, incandescent bulbs aren't entirely mercury-free. They require substantially more coal power to operate, which in turn releases much higher levels of mercury—along with other hazardous heavy metals such as lead and arsenic—into the environment via power plant emissions. From there, mercury travels to oceans and waterways, where it accumulates in fish and then returns to your home when those fish wind up on your plate. Depending on where you live (and the mixture of your local energy supplier), you could be releasing as much as 18 mg of mercury into the atmosphere to operate one incandescent bulb over its lifespan. A CFL, on the other hand, produces an estimated 4 mg over its lifespan as a result of burning coal (9 mg total when added to the 5 mg that exist in the bulb). If one billion incandescent light bulbs were replaced with CFLs, we could prevent 100 million grams of mercury emissions.
