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The Effects
What happens if you replace just one regular incandescent light bulb with
an energy-efficient compact fluorescent light bulb (CFL)? Read on!
What Switching to CFLs Will Do
Clear the Air
Most of our electricity comes from burning coal and other fossil fuels.
But burning those fuels releases tons of damaging pollutants into the
air. Burning coal, for example, produces smog, soot, acid rain, and toxic
air emissions. So change a bulb and you can help change the quality of
the air you breathe.
 Cut the Coal: More than half of the electricity produced in this country comes from burning coal.
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Sulfur
Savings: Replacing just one regular bulb with a CFL bulb stops
the emission of up to 20 pounds of sulfur dioxide, which contributes to acid rain. |
Help Health
Pollution isn't good for your health. No shock there. But you might be
shocked by just how much pollution a typical power plant produces. In
one year, for example, a single coal-fired plant emits 10,200 tons of
nitrogen oxide, 720 tons of carbon monoxide, and 500 tons of tiny particles
that can cause bronchitis, asthma, migraine headaches, and other conditions.
Start saving energy so everyone can breathe a little easier.
Be Cool
Using less electricity can help fight global warming. That's because burning fossil fuels to make electricity releases gases into the atmosphere that create a sort of "greenhouse" around the planet—that is, they trap heat from the sun and don't let it bounce off into the atmosphere. Translation: Warming up to CFL bulbs can help the planet cool down.
Hot Spot : Scientists believe that the greenhouse effect will
make global temperatures rise an average of at least 2.5 degrees
and as much as 10.4 degrees across the globe in the next 100 years.
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A
Bright Idea: Replacing just one regular light bulb with a CFL
bulb stops the emission of 3,000 pounds of carbon dioxide
a year. |
Be a Good Neighbor
Reducing your energy consumption can reduce the need to build more power
plants. That's good news for lots of people—especially those who would
have to live near one. More often than not, new power plants are built
near communities that don't have the money or political power to say they
don't want power plants near them. Saving energy helps the environment
and people, too.
Plant Placement: Nearly 80% of African-Americans live within
30 miles of a power plant, in comparison to a little more than 50%
of European-Americans.
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Assist Wildlife
Producing electricity can be bad news for wildlife. For example, oil and
natural-gas drilling disturbs wildlife in the tundra, the ocean, and tropical
forests. Hydropower dams can interfere with salmon migrations. Coal plants
can kill fish and other animals when they draw in water from nearby lakes,
rivers, and ocean waters, and when they release this later as wastewater-warmer
and full of toxic chemicals. This means that saving energy is a boost
for us and all other living things.
Fish Fry: In the course of a year, water sucked into power plants contains an average of 21 million fish eggs, fish larvae, and young fish.
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This
Land Is Mine Land: In West Virginia , more than 300,000 acres
of forest and 1,000 acres of streams have been destroyed by mountaintop
removal and other surface-mining techniques
since1984. |
The Bottom Line
CFL bulbs are more environmentally friendly than incandescent bulbs. And
they can also last more than six years longer. That means they can provide big savings
to you, your parents, AND to planet Earth. So here's our final question:
When it comes to lighting your room, why not make the switch?
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